She Left With His Secret Child And Built Her Own Throne novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: The Man at the Door

I crossed Wabash Avenue against the light.

A taxi braked and honked. I did not turn my head.

The man in the gray coat lowered his camera, and he did not run.

"Ms. Merrick," he said.

"Larkin."

"My apologies. Ms. Larkin."

He was about fifty, with a tired face and a cheap watch.

"Who are you working for?" I said.

"I can't say."

"Then I'll say it. You work for my ex-husband."

He did not answer, which was an answer.

Ansel had followed me across the street, and he stood at my shoulder without speaking.

"Mr. Merrick asked me to confirm one thing," the man said. "That you're alive, and that you're well."

"Is that all?"

"That's all I was hired to report."

I looked at the camera in his hands.

"He sends a man with a lens to find out if I'm well?"

"I didn't say it was subtle."

I almost laughed again.

"Here is your report," I said. "I'm alive. I'm busy. And I read every page of the terms."

"I'll tell him."

"Tell him I want nothing from him. Not a dollar, not an apology, not a visit."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Tell him that if he sends anyone else, I'll hang the photograph on the wall of my first show with his name under it."

The man's mouth moved, and I thought it might be a smile.

"One thing," he said.

I waited.

"There was a car on you before I was." He glanced up the avenue. "A black sedan. It's followed you twice in the last two weeks. I don't think it's his."

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