Five People, Four Rejections, They Voted to Erase Me, So I Erased Them novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Sponsor Reads

The woman from Hearth's board was waiting in the lobby of the Radisson with a cup of tea she had not touched.

She was fifty or so, with short gray hair and a leather folder, and she did not stand up when I came in.

"Ms. Pfeiffer," she said. "I read your email four times."

"Thank you for coming."

"I came because my own staff told me a creator I'd never heard of had posted a video with our logo in it." She tapped the folder. "Tell me why I shouldn't call my lawyers."

I put Colm's phone on the table between us.

Colm stood a step behind me with his hands in his hoodie.

He had not slept.

"This is my brother," I said. "It's his phone, and it's the family group chat. He gave it to me himself."

"Hi," Colm said. "I'm the one who films stuff."

She looked at him for a moment and then at the screen.

"Read from the top," I said. "The pinned message."

She read.

I watched her face while she did.

It was the pinned note from my father, dated the week Hearth signed.

It said: "Make sure the girl is visibly upset at every sponsor read. Contract pays on documented authentic disappointment. Noreen to coach if needed."

Under it, my sister had written: "Done. I'll make sure she has a bad week before each shoot."

"A bad week," the woman said.

"Scroll down," Colm said. "There's one from last year, when she got the flu. They filmed her anyway."

She scrolled.

Her jaw tightened, line by line.

She did not say a word until she reached the bottom.

"Our morals clause," she said, "is two sentences long."

"Does it cover this?"

"It covers everything."

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