Chapter 139

Elena POV

My button camera was recording when he approached our table.

Mom had just returned from the stage, her face pale, the oversized check trembling in her hands. Dad immediately took it from her and whispered something I couldn’t hear.

Then Darren was there, standing the required distance away—I’d counted the feet earlier, memorized where the five-hundred-foot boundary would be. He was right at the edge of it.

“Eleanor,” he said, and I hated that he used that name. “May I have a moment?”

Everyone at nearby tables turned to look. The room had that charged energy of people watching drama unfold but pretending not to.

“No,” Mom said immediately.

“It’s okay, Mom.” I stood up, my heart hammering. The pen camera in my clutch was recording too. Backup. “Just a conversation. In public. With you right here.”

“Elena—”

“It’s what we agreed. Remember?” I looked at Dad. “I stay where you can see me. I don’t go anywhere with him.