Chapter 3 - Celina Had Been Preparing to Send Ellie Away Before the Wedding
The relocation form was not an ordinary boarding-school brochure.
It came from Hartwell House.
A private residential therapeutic program three states away.
Children lived there full-time.
Some placements lasted months.
Others years.
The program itself was legitimate.
The application was not.
Under “reason for placement,” someone had written:
Severe attachment disturbance. Chronic behavioral dysregulation. Persistent rejection of future stepmother. Fixation on absent biological mother.
Luciano read the words slowly.
Ellie had no such diagnoses.
She attended first grade.
Had friends.
Loved art.
Cried when frightened.
Slept with a stuffed rabbit.
That was it.
Yet attached to the application were supposed behavioral summaries.
Tantrums.
Aggression.
Food refusal.
Night screaming.
Destructive episodes.
Several contained Luciano’s initials.
Forged.
The most chilling page was titled:
Parental Consent for Residential Placement.
His signature sat at the bottom.
Again, forged.
Admission date:
Four days after the wedding.
Luciano stared at the date.
Celina had intended to marry him on Saturday.
Then remove his daughter by Wednesday.
The white boxes in the hall were not preparation for temporary storage.
They were packing.
Marianne sat across from Luciano later that night.
“I caught her telling staff to empty Ellie’s room this morning.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I did.”
Luciano checked his phone.
Nothing.
Marianne continued.
“Celina took my phone after I confronted her. Said you already knew.”
Luciano’s expression darkened.
“She told everyone I had approved this?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed her?”
Marianne met his eyes.
“No.”
That was why she carried the box herself into the reception.
She planned to put it directly in front of Luciano.
She wanted him to see what was happening before Celina controlled the story.
The rabbit incident happened first.
But Marianne had already realized something was wrong.
Then she added:
“There’s more.”
Luciano looked up.
“Celina told the staff that after the wedding, Ellie’s bedroom would become a nursery.”
His jaw tightened.
Celina was not pregnant.
At least not that Luciano knew.
“Nursery for what?”
Marianne’s face hardened.
“She said you two were starting your real family.”
That sentence stayed inside Luciano like broken glass.
Real family.
As if Ellie were rehearsal.
May you like
As if Grace’s daughter could be packed into boxes once a new wife arrived.
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