His Ring on Her Finger, My Name on the Door novel · Chapter 9 of 32
Chapter 9: Watched
Francesca waited in her father's office for an hour.
Michael didn't come back.
At one o'clock she put every photograph back in the brown envelope and tucked it under her arm.
The woman at the front desk watched her go.
Nobody stopped her.
He found her at seven that evening, in the hotel lobby.
She was at the front desk asking the clerk for more towels when the revolving door spun and he walked in.
He still had the same suit on.
He looked like he hadn't sat down all day.
"You took them," he said.
The clerk looked from him to her.
There were people everywhere.
A family checking in with a stroller.
Two businessmen at the bar.
A bellhop pushing a brass cart.
"Yes," Francesca said. "I took them."
She had the envelope in her tote bag.
She took it out, opened it, and threw the photographs at him.
They hit his chest and scattered across the marble floor.
Francesca on the bench at the Gare de l'Est.
Francesca in her first winter coat.
Francesca with her groceries, four weeks ago.
The family with the stroller stopped talking.
The bellhop stopped pushing.
"Three years," Francesca said. "Three years I thought nobody here even knew what city I was in."
Michael didn't look down at the pictures.
He looked at her.
"I knew," he said.
"Who took them?"
"A man I paid. He used to work for your father in Marseille."
"You had me followed."
"I had you watched." His voice stayed level. "Every week. Every move. Every job."
"Why?"
He was silent.
She bent down and picked up the photo of the bench.
She held it up between them.
"Do you know what this was? This was the night my landlord threw me out. I sat in that station until five in the morning with everything I owned. I was so cold I couldn't feel my feet."
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