Page 67 of Novel Problems

After exchanging pleasantries with Rosie's boss, Lucy, who was waiting for us in the room, we took our seats.

Lucy leaned forward, furrowing her brow. “First, I just wanted to say how sorry we are about your identity being made public.” Her face relaxed, and her tone brightened as she continued. “But on the plus side, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect from a publicity perspective withThe Realm of Furiesjust being released. It’s really helped increase interest in the book. We’ve had a lot of media reach out to us, asking if you’d be available for interviews, and Emma has been fielding similar requests. I know this wasn’t how you wanted things to play out, but agreeing to some of these requests would be amazing publicity forThe Realm ofFuries.” Lucy’s eyes flashed with excitement. “I mean, we’re talkingGood Morning America, NPR, The New York Times…opportunities most authors would kill for. Now that everyone knows who you are, you don’t have a lot to lose. I’ve printed out a list of media offers and put stars next to the ones I think we should definitely accept. Just let me know which ones you’re comfortable with, and we can set them up.”

I stared at her, lost for words. The whole point of this meeting was to talk about how best to protect my privacy, not to completely blow it up. What the hell was Lucy thinking?

Maybe without Tania—who was so highly regarded—going in to fight for me anymore, the publicity team thought they could get away with this.

I frowned as a thought struck me. Had Lucy or Rosie leaked my identity? As Lucy had just said, the timing had been perfect from a publicity perspective. Anger welled in my stomach at the thought. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. I had no proof it had been them and I didn’t want to derail the purpose of the meeting, which was to minimize the fallout of the leak, with unsubstantiated accusations. Better to wait until the outcome of the internal investigation Michael mentioned.

Emma shot me a concerned look. “Do you want me to speak?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. I’ve got it.”

I looked Lucy squarely in the face. “Lucy, I’m not going to do any interviews. My identity may be out there now, but I still want to keep a low profile. Agreeing to these would just attract more attention, which is exactly what I’m trying to avoid. I set up this meeting to talk about how to minimize the fallout from my privacy being breached,not capitalize on it. I know you wantThe Realm of Furiesto do well, and so do I, but I’m not willing to sacrifice my privacy to achieve it. In any event, I understand that pre-orders and interest from booksellers was strong even before my identity was leaked, so clearlyThe Realm of Furiescan speak for itself.” I kept my voice steady and polite but assertive.

Lucy made one more attempt at trying to convince me to at least do theGood Morning Americaappearance, but being on national television was literally my worst nightmare, so I didn’t have any trouble rejecting the suggestion forcefully and changing the topic to focus on my key area of concern, which was the exact opposite of Lucy’s: how to reduce attention on me.

By the end of the meeting, we had a standard response for Emma and my publisher to use when turning down interview requests, and Lucy had reluctantly agreed that her team wouldn’t engage with any social media posts about my identity or provide any further information about me. My official author bio would continue to only mention my pen name.

Michael was leaning against a wall, waiting, as we exited the meeting room.Huh. I wonder what he’s doing here.“Hannah and Emma, do you have a few minutes? I wanted to talk to you about the leak.”

I swallowed, my mind racing. Did Michael know who it was?Shit.If he’d found out who it was, that probably meant it was an inside job. Maybe it had been Tania? Or Lucy or Rosie? Or was Michael about to confess himself? As usual, Michael’s facial expression gave nothing away.

Michael waited for Lucy and Rosie to leave the room and then led Emma and me back in, gesturing for us to sit.

Once we were seated, he cleared his throat.

“So, we discovered the source of the leak.” Michael shifted on his seat.

I stared at him expectantly, willing him to go on.

He cleared his throat again and then tugged at his collar.Okay, he’s definitely uncomfortable about something.

“So, who was it?” I blurted out, the suspense killing me.

“It was, uh…you.” Michael grimaced.

I blinked.What?

“Me?” I squeaked, confusion swirling though my mind.How could it have been me?

“Um, yes. One of the assistants called the journalist who broke the story. They were tipped off by a video on TikTok from a reader who’d pre-orderedThe Realm of Furiesand had been confused to discover that it been signed by H. M. Taylor rather than H. M. Stuart. The journalist Googled your real name, saw your degree andThe New York Timeswedding announcement about you and Tania getting married, and put two and two together.”

Blood drained out of my face, and I grasped the table for support as Michael’s comments sunk in.

Shit.I’d been so tired the night that I’d signed all the books at Novel Gossip, it wasn’t surprising I’d made a mistake. I wondered how many books I’d mistakenly signed using my legal name. I winced.

“Oh my god,” I murmured.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked softly, putting a hand on my arm.

“I feel so stupid,” I said, heat rising again up my cheeks. I’d been suspecting everyone else of being at fault. I never stopped to consider it could be me. If I hadn’t put off telling George who I really was and had signed the books as planned on the first day I arrived at Novel Gossip,I was sure I would never have made that mistake. Talk about karma.

“Hey, everyone makes mistakes,” Emma said, patting my back.

I turned to Michael. “I’m so sorry about wasting your time with the investigation.”

“That’s fine. It was no problem at all,” he responded.

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