Page 51 of The Billionaire Love Match

“They found your books.”

Casey should have felt something. But there was only shock and then a numbing nothingness. It was inevitable, of course. “Oh. How do you know? I’m guessing not by big sales.”

“No. I wish that were how. I got up this morning and saw someone using the hashtag and sharing your pen name. You’ve gotten a slew of one-star reviews on Amazon and worse on Goodreads. I couldn’t even read some of them.”

“Goodreads is the devil. Has it pulled my average rating down?”

Amanda spoke carefully. “You could say that.”

Casey found herself biting her thumbnail, picking up a habit she’d given up years ago. She had bitten it down to the quick, leaving it tender and throbbing.

“Well, I better end up with Colt. If I’m not going to make more book sales, I might as well get something out of this.”

“Casey—”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I can always create a new pen name. Start from scratch. I’ve had plenty of writing time here. Since I don’t want to leave my room. I’ve got the bones of a good novel I’m coming home with. I won’t be brokenhearted.”

“Casey—”

“Gotta go.”

Casey hung up before her friend could address the fact that she was so clearly crying. Breaking her rule right in this closet that probably had three cameras, a live one trained on her right now. She could only hope that more drama was happening elsewhere in the house so that, for once, the focus might not be on her.

She sat with her head on her knees, sobbing, until someone banged on the door to use the phone.

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