"Someone did," Alice says sympathetically, squeezing my arm. "And you really need to find out if this is the extent of it, or if they have access to anything else."
"Jesus Christ." I sink down into a chair, hanging my head. This is a fucking disaster. "What does Roni think?"
"Roni is pissed, but we're on your side in this," Alice says carefully. "You aren't responsible for someone posting your manuscript without permission. Our IP lawyers are all over it already. DMCAs and cease and desists have been going out all morning, but…"
I jerk my chin in a nod, but don't say anything. What the fuck am I supposed to say? Once it's on the internet, it's forever. She doesn't have to say it. I'm well aware of how this shit works. There's no forcing overseas entities to comply with a DMCA, especially in piracy-friendly countries where most of the servers are housed. Hell, we're lucky if we get Google to stop indexing those sites in search results.
But this is bigger than just the IP laws that were violated here. I've poured my feelings for Jasmine into every line I've written since meeting her. This manuscript is steeped in her. And the whole goddamn world has access to parts of it before it's finished. Before she's even read it and given me permission to move forward with publishing it. Before she even knows that I'm in love with her.
It's my work, work I wasn't ready to share with anyone except her yet…and someone has taken that right away from me. IP law aside, the loss of control of something not meant for everyone else is seriously fucked up.
Alice's desk phone rings. She snatches it up, placing it at her ear. "Alice," she says, her voice sharp, her eyes locked on me. "Hey, Roni. He's here now."
Fuck.
"I'll put it on speaker," she says, then hits a button and drops the phone back into the cradle.
"River," Roni says, fury in her raspy voice. "What the fuck happened? Who are we suing?"
"I don't know. I only just found out it's been leaked."
"I need names," she growls.
"The only two people who had access are my assistant and my girlfriend," I mutter wearily. "Samantha signed an NDA, and she's been my assistant for five years."
"And your girlfriend?"
"She wouldn't have done it," I say, my voice flat…deadly.
"I need a name, River," Roni says impatiently. "The whole upper floor is currently losing its collective shit over this. I need to give them something."
"Her name is Jasmine, but you aren't giving them her name, Roni," I say, climbing to my feet. "If you do, I'll spend every fucking dime I have voiding our contract so those pages are the only part of this manuscript anyone ever sees."
I've already sent Jasmine to jail once. I'll be damned if I let my publisher threaten to do it a second time over something she didn't do.
"We need to do something."
"No,Ineed to do something," I snap. "And I will. Just give me the day, please. I'll have answers for you by morning."
Silence rings down the line, and then Roni mutters a curse. "Fine. You have until morning, River. And then I'm putting our legal team on it. The series is under contract with us. They didn't just fuck you over when they leaked these pages. They fucked us over, too. It's nowhere near publication-ready."
She hangs up before I can say anything else.
"That went well," Alice mutters dryly.
I shoot her a dark look.
"It did," she says. "Trust me. She isn't threatening to sue you, and she's giving you until the end of the day to find out who to sue. Usually, she's a pit bull."
"I don't need a pit bull right now," I mutter. "I need to find my fucking assistant."
Alice's face falls. "You think it was Sam?"
Do I?
I don't know, but I know in my bones that it wasn't Jasmine. Who the fuck else could it be if not Sam? I don't know, but the fact that Sam is avoiding my calls isn't giving me high hopes here.
Chapter Twelve
