They’d deleted her book.
Trying not to panic, she went to the other sites selling her book only to find her book gone and her accounts frozen along with a negative balance. She quickly closed the web browser and opened her email only to feel her stomach drop as hundreds of emails suddenly appeared, the subject lines letting her know just how furious the senders were about what she did.
She quickly scrolled through the emails until she found an email sent from the publishing site only to find herself reading a legal notice letting her know that she could expect a certified letter from their attorney within the next few days.
“This isn’t happening,” Amber mumbled weakly, swallowing hard as she closed her email application and clicked on the surveillance application that she’d downloaded on her computerso that she could check the cameras she’d set up in Kristen’s house only to find them offline.
She should have removed them when she had the chance, but she couldn’t resist leaving them there to see what else she could find out. She-
Swallowed hard when a knock at her door had her going still. The second knock had her reluctantly placing her laptop on the couch, and the third, had her getting up and making her way to the front door, telling herself that everything was going to be okay.
She could still fix this.
She just needed to figure out a way to get out of this mess and everything would be okay. She’d write another book, pick a new pen name, and publish through a third-party distributor to get around the ban they’d placed on her, Amber decided as she opened her front door.
“Amber Cooper?” a man holding a wrapped gift asked with a warm smile.
“Yes?” Amber said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as he held the present out to her.
“This is for you,” he said as Amber glanced down at the wrapped gift in her hands only to go still when he added, “Consider yourself served.”
When she looked back up, she found herself staring at two large police officers. She watched numbly as one of the officers’ lips pulled up into a smile as he pulled his handcuffs out of his pocket and-
“Mr. Bradford said not to worry, he’ll make sure this makes it into the sequel.”
EPILOGUE
Ten Years Later…
“Idon’t see how this benefits my client,” Garrett said, never taking his eyes off the adorable little girl sitting across from him as he tossed the list of demands that she’d written in crayon back to her.
“He gets to live,” Bailey said, making his lips twitch as she narrowed her baby blue eyes on him, letting him know that she wasn’t about to backdown.
“The top bunk is Connor’s,” Garrett said, watching as his baby girl’s lips pulled up into a pitying smile.
“Is it, though?” she asked, her face squishing up adoringly as he sat there, struggling not to smile.
“They made a deal, Shayne gets the bottom bunk and the best game controller in the house and Connor gets the top bunk,” Garrett reminded her.
“And your client went back on their deal,” Bailey said, never taking her eyes off him as she reached down and grabbed the black and white game controller that all the kids fought over and placed it between them on the table.
“Meaning?” Garrett asked as Nicholas grabbed small handfuls of his pant leg and tried to pull himself up onto his lap.
“That this is a dummy controller and that boy,” Bailey said, pausing to point a damning finger at her twin brother, who was sitting next to him, “Bought this off a kid at school for a buck and kept the good controller for himself.”
“Where’s your proof?” Garrett asked as he reached down and picked his baby boy up and placed him on his lap.
“You mean besides the text message bragging about it?” Bailey asked, blinking at him as she reached over and snatched the cellphone from Shayne’s hands, and after a few swipes and clicks, placed it on the kitchen table and shoved it towards him.
“Anyone could have grabbed his phone and sent that message,” Garrett pointed out, watching as his baby girl narrowed her eyes dangerously on him.
“You really want to play that angle, Daddy?” Bailey asked as she sat back in her chair and folded her small arms over her chest as she leveled a glare on him that reminded him of her mother.
Absolutely. Fucking. Adorable.
“Unless you can prove that my client sent that text, I’m afraid that you don’t have a case,” Garrett said, moving to stand up when her next words had him going still.
“He didn’t pay you yet, did he?” Bailey asked as her expression once again turned pitying. “What did he promise you? Half his Easter candy?”
