“Fabrications!” She echoes Derek’s words. “Even if those emails were real, who was I talking to? You don’t know, and that’s because these are all lies. Lies, lies, and more lies!”
“Chill the fuck out,” Parker tells her, pushing her books back and sitting on one of the tables. “You’re losing it, Sienna,” he tells her in an almost bored tone, and that just makes her look even more pissed.
“They shouldn’t even be here! How’s this even allowed?” She snarls into her mic, waving her hand at me and my men. The crowd looks up at her apprehensively, and it’s clear as water that they know she’s trying to worm her way out of a situation she has no control over.
“Well, but there’s one person that’s allowed in here…” Mason tells her, flashing his grin. As he says, a curtain behind the stage is pulled back, and a woman in high heels and a red dress steps onto the stage, her bright eyes locking on Sienna’s right away.
The crowd loses it then, and they start shouting out the name of the newcomer.
“ABBY! ABBY! ABBY!”
That’s right.
Abby.
Chapter 27
Abby
“ABBY! ABBY! ABBY!”
Remember me? Of course you do. I still haven’t forgotten about you, you know? You were there when I met Aidan, and you were there when I battled Grady and Bad Boy Publishing. We have a thing going on, the two us, wouldn’t you say?
I should be used to this by now but, between you and me, I’m not. Thousands of people shouting my name? That’s the stuff dreams are made of. But my life is a dream, so I guess that makes sense. Now, don’t think I’m arrogant; I’m just happy with the way everything turned out. I have Naughty Angel Publishing, the leading brand in the industry, and the love of the most perfect man who has ever lived: Aidan.
I’m happy, and I won’t apologize for that.
“Hello, everyone,” I tell the whole crowd as Parker hands me a mic. They all quiet down at once, hanging on each and every single one of my words, and I can’t help but smile. Sienna was just a blip on my radar a few weeks ago, but she was so adamant on destroying Naughty Angel Publishing that I had to come here myself.
It’s time I lay down the law.
“Let me walk you through it,” I tell the crowd, addressing them as if they were all my personal friends. I wasn’t that charming when I started out—oh, God, I was far from charming, but I picked up a few things from Aidan. If there’s someone who knows how to tame a crowd, it's him. “A few months ago, Sienna bought copies of the entire NAP catalog. She hired a few tech guys, ripped them all, and had them uploaded to a pirate site.”
If the crowd wasn’t entirely convinced of what Cara and her guys were saying, now there’s no doubt in their minds of what’s happening. I can already see a few of the women down there throwing looks of disgust at poor Sienna. Oh, this is going to be a day she won’t forget for the rest of her life, that much is for sure.
>
“She used to be a great author, actually. I read a few of her books when she started out, and they were pretty good. I even considered taking her under the Naughty Angel umbrella. But Sienna ... well, let’s just say she isn’t easy to work with. Instead of seeing her fellow authors as friends, she always saw them as rivals. Competition. And once Naughty Angel Publishing started to grow, becoming what it is today, Sienna started spending more time on scheming than on writing. A waste of talent, I’d say.”
“You’re just … you’re just jealous!” Sienna cries out, her voice quivering as she says it. She sounds out of breath, and I notice that both her hands are trembling. We’re closing in on her fast, and she knows she’s trapped. “Fuck you, Abby! And fuck Naughty Angel Publishing! Sinner Publishing is going to crush you,” she insists, but she’s just grasping at straws.
“Oh, Sienna,” I tell her, a sad note to my voice. “I feel sorry for you.”
It’s the truth, you know? Tearing down a fellow author isn’t something I enjoy doing. I’ve had my fair share of battles in the romance industry, but it’s always disheartening when I have to point my guns at someone who started out just like me. But I do what I gotta do.
Fuck with Naughty Angel Publishing, and rest assured that I won’t stop until everyone forgets your name.
“I hate you, Abby!” Sienna continues, completely losing it. She runs one hand through her short hair (what the hell’s wrong with her haircut?), disheveling it, and she starts looking more and more like a fairy tale witch. “I hate NAP! I HATE YOU ALL!” She lets out a shriek so loud that I feel my skin prickling, and I feel even more sorry for her.
She’s gone mad.
“Someone has to take them down!” She tries and tells the crowd, frantically waving one hand at me. “They do what they want, when they want! It’s not...it’s not fair!”
“FUCK YOU, SIENNA!” Someone shouts from the middle of the crowd and, like a dam that has just burst, everyone starts booing her all at once. She takes one step back, the mic dropping from her hands and falling flat on the floor with a dull thud.
“SINNER! SINNER!” Someone starts a chant, and soon enough the whole crowd takes it up. Under better circumstances, I think Sienna would be pleased to have her artistic surname chanted out, but I guess the crowd doesn’t mean it in a nice way today.
“You fuckin’ bitch,” she growls, walking toward me so fast she almost seems as if she’s gliding. “You won’t ruin me, you won’t destroy me. I won’t let you!”