The Second Life of the Malicious Colonel's Daughter novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Sale Sign

The sale sign went up on the building at six on Friday morning, the day before the memorial.

I was crossing Depot Street with a duffel bag in each hand when I saw the man tape it inside the glass.

FOR SALE, it said, in red, with a phone number.

Under it, the front window of Bettis Lock and Key still said what it had said for forty years.

I stood in the road with the bags.

The man did not look at me.

He finished the last strip of tape and went back to his car.

Colonel Redfern had made good on his threat from the diner.

I loaded the duffels into my truck bed, one and then the other, and slammed the tailgate.

I had packed in forty minutes.

Everything I owned fit behind the seat with room left over.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Marva stood on the shop step in her red apron, with her arms folded and her reading glasses on her head.

"Marva."

"I asked you a question."

"Anywhere he isn't," I said. "He'll do it to you, to Isaiah, to the whole street. As long as I'm here he'll find another sign to hang."

"So you pack your truck."

"I put a lock on his cage. I took pictures. I got a man suspended and a woman's lease threatened. Everything I touch pays for it."

"Jessamine Burris."

"The general has the carbon and the pictures. They don't need me."

"The general needs you at six tomorrow morning in a clean blouse."

"I'd just be in the way."

Marva came down the step.

← Chapter 18 · All chapters · Chapter 20 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend