Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
However, the early word appears to have been false.
He was going to take her up on it.
Past tense. As in, he was going to, and then didn’t.
Rage isn’t even a strong enough word for how Leslie is feeling now.
“You should just drop it.” She’s on the phone with her lawyer, Lewis.
She pauses before answering so she can sniff some saline spray up her nose, then she returns to the conversation. “Drop it? Why would I drop it?”
“Because he didn’t finish the apology, Leslie. He didn’t take the deal. And aside from that I just got a message—”
“Raylen, Raylen, Raylen. Why can’t you just call me Raylen?”
“Because it’s a name that you made up, Leslie. It’s not legal. And I’m a lawyer. I deal in what’s legal and your fucking name is Leslie!”
“There’s no need to shout, you boorish dolt. And it’s my pen name, Lewis. Who is paying your bill, anyway? You should just do what I tell you!”
“How many times do I have to explain this? You’re not paying me. It’s a contingency plan, Leslie. I have to win to get paid and I’m telling you, I can’t win this case. It’s… dumb.”
“Well, you know what? Fuck you, Lewis! And you know what else? You’re dumb. I’ll represent myself!”
“OK, well, good luck with that. Because as I was saying before you cut me off with the tirade about your fake name, not only do you not have a case, it’s quite possible that the Aria will be suing you.”
“What? That’s ludicrous! I have injuries! I have witnesses!”
“Yes, the witnesses are kind of the problem. You see, the Aria AI—”
“The Aria has an AI?” Leslie’s tone simmers down a little.
“They do. His name is Gregory. And Gregory has made a report about you hiring these witnesses of yours to start a fight in the Reader Rants panel.”
“That’s crazy! That’s… just crazy!”
“Is it, Leslie? Is it? You should think really hard about that. Because these witnesses made a full confession. You hired them—”
“They volunteered!”
Silence.
“I mean…” Leslie starts. But it’s done. She just admitted that she used these people—people she would be contacting later, that’s for sure. And now… well. Lewis’s silence spoke libraries.
Finally, after what seemed like the proverbial ‘eternal moment,’ Lewis says, “Listen, Leslie. It’s over. Whatever debauchery you were plotting, it’s over. The social tide has turned. They are on Steve’s side. And, though it hasn’t happened yet, Romancelandia will turn against you if you don’t stop this childish nonsense right now. Gregory has also detected fraud perpetrated against Steve Smith in the Nile bookstore.”
“What?”
“That’s right. He’s not the Aria AI. He’s… the AI. The only one that truly exists. In other words, he’s an independent contractor and he works for many, many corporations.”
“That’s… not even possible. It’s science fiction. There is no AI like that.”
“Isn’t there, Leslie? Isn’t there? Tell me you did not hire…” Lewis pauses. There is some paper shuffling. Then a sigh. “Tell me you did not hire Ro-Bots ’R’ Us out of Mumbai, India, to purposefully create fake Nile accounts, download Steve Smith’s book”—more paper-shuffling noises—“Steve’s book Alien Alliance, and then have Ro-Bots ’R’ Us leave him…” He scoffs. “Is this right? Ten thousand fake reviews? What the actual fuck are you doing? No. Better question. What the actual fuck is wrong with you?”
Leslie, for once in her life, is at a loss for words.
“Hello? That was not a rhetorical question, Leslie. That was an actual question.”
“I… I…” She has a momentary pause here. Finding herself at a fork in the road, she sees two choices in front of her. One, just admit it. Let all this anger and animosity go. Tell the truth and move on. Make a new life for herself outside of romance, far away from handsome, charming, talented, well-liked Steve Smith and his perky, too-good, friendly, pretty sister. Leslie could write thrillers under a new name. Or mysteries. Or… cookbooks. Be a brand-new force to be reckoned with. A refreshing new voice. Turn her whole life around and be a better person.
Or, two, lean in to that hate. Because why should she have to leave a world she’d helped create? Helped shape into its current form. She was there when ebooks took off. She was there when all the indies first started topping the charts. She was a founding mother.
Mother? Matron? Either one worked.
She was there. And she would not be pushed aside by a couple of two-faced twins.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Lewis.” She chooses door number two.
“OK.” Lewis sighs. “I’m terminating our professional relationship. And… well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Warn me of what? I didn’t hear any—”
But the call ends and all that’s left are the hang-up beeps.
It would take years for Leslie to fully understand the absolute diabolical nature of the AI she would learn to call Gregory. He would enter her life just a few weeks after that final phone call with Lewis, pretending to be an agent for an online publishing house that exclusively wrote romance and offering her a ten-year contract to write for them. Well, was romance the right term? No. It was porn. Smut. And not the good kind, either.