I Gave Him Half My Liver, Then He Sold My Father's House novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Flag Elena Sent

Harland reaches for the copied title flag and calls Nell 'Mrs Vale,' as if marriage gives Gregor a second signature.

Elena catches the page before his fingers touch it. 'The review is already open,' she tells Nell. 'His conveyancer is on the way.'

The movement pulls at the healing skin beneath Nell's coat. She keeps one hand pressed against her side and watches Harland look from the red notation to her face.

The records room is narrow and overheated, packed with deed boxes and old conveyancing files. A printer complains behind them, starting and stopping without producing anything useful.

'I am Mr Harland, acting for Mr Vale's conveyancer,' he says. His cuff is clean, his solicitor's watch expensive. 'You were told this was an internal file matter.'

'No one told me anything,' Elena says. 'I found the flag in a title search attached to a live completion file.'

Harland takes the page from the table. 'You copied a restricted document.'

'I copied a document that was being removed from the file.'

His mouth tightens. He has the patient expression people use when they want pressure mistaken for concern.

'You are making a serious allegation.'

'I am recording what happened.'

Nell sits at the end of the table with Gregor's settlement papers closed beneath her hand. She has read them twice. The sale is due tomorrow, and the house remains hers in every way that matters, except the world has not been forced to admit it.

Harland turns toward her. 'Mrs Vale, this is not the place for you to involve yourself in a professional dispute.'

'It is my name in the underlying title history.'

His eyes flick to Elena. He expected Nell to sit still, accept the chair, and take the money offered for her silence.

'You have no registered interest,' he says.

'That is not the same statement.'

He looks down at the flag. 'The conveyancer has confirmed the issue was clerical. The transfer documents are being corrected.'

'By whom?'

'By the parties responsible for them.'

'Which parties?'

He pauses. Gregor had given him enough to collect his fee, not enough to answer that question safely.

Elena holds out her hand. Harland keeps the flag just beyond it.

'You will withdraw this immediately,' he says. 'The buyers have not been informed of any formal objection, and completion is too close for a manufactured dispute.'

'You want me to withdraw a Land Registry warning because your client needs the sale completed before anyone reads it.'

'I am asking you to correct an error.'

'You are asking me to create one.'

Harland turns back to Nell. 'Your husband has offered a substantial settlement. You would be wise to accept it before this becomes expensive.'

The word husband sits between them. He uses it as if marriage grants Gregor a second signature.

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