LOVELORNED

HEARTMENDED (CHAPTER ONE)

HEARTMENDED

Book 2 of the LOVELORNED Series

CHAPTER 1: THE EMAIL

The email came at 2:17 AM.

Subject: URGENT: Cease & Desist - Copyright Claim LOVELORNED

I was awake.

I’m always awake at 2 AM. That’s when the house is quiet. That’s when my brain is loudest.

That’s when I write.

My dorm was dark except for the fairy lights strung above my bed. Kayla was snoring in the top bunk. On my desk: a half-eaten cupcake, 3 notebooks, and my laptop with 4 tabs of Dreame open.

The phone buzzed.

legal@valecorp.com

My stomach dropped before I even opened it.

Dear Ms. Hart,

This letter serves as formal notice that your novel "LOVELORNED" infringes on intellectual property owned by our client, Ms. Addison Vale.

Ms. Vale co-authored the original manuscript with Mr. Caleb Reed in 2023. All rights belong to Ms. Vale.

You are to remove the book from all platforms within 48 hours or we will pursue damages of no less than $50,000.

Sincerely, Vale & Associates

I read it once.

Then again.

Then a third time, like if I stared hard enough the words would rearrange themselves.

Co-authored.

All rights.

Remove.

The room felt too small.

The red umbrella by my door — the one Caleb left here 2 months ago — looked back at me.

Someone who shows up, he’d said.

He showed up. But he didn’t tell me this.

My hands were shaking. Not from fear. From that hot, ugly thing that lives under heartbreak. Rage.

I grabbed my phone.

Called Caleb.

Voicemail.

Called again.

Voicemail.

On the third call he answered. Voice rough, sleepy.

“Maya? It’s 2AM. Are you okay?”

“Did you co-write LOVELORNED with Addison?”

Silence.

The kind of silence that answers for you.

“Caleb. Did you?” I whispered.

A long exhale. “Yes.”

The word hit me like glass in my chest.

“Oh,” I said. Small. “Okay.”

“Maya, listen to me—”

I hung up.

Kayla stirred above me. “You good?”

“No,” I said to the ceiling. “I think I’m being sued.”

I opened Dreame.

87,432 reads.

4,201 comments.

“This book saved me.”

“Maya, are you okay? This feels so real.”

“Please don’t ever stop writing.”

48 hours.

That’s all I had before they could make it disappear.

I pulled out notebook #1. Lily’s handwriting on the first page:

“If the world tries to take your voice, write louder.”

Lily was gone.

But her words weren’t.

And neither was mine.

I didn’t cry.

I opened a new document and titled it:

HEARTMENDED - Draft 1

If they wanted a fight, they were going to get one in writing.

End of Chapter 1

Coming in Chapter 2:

Caleb shows up at 6 AM with no umbrella and the whole truth.

And I have to decide if I can forgive him... or if the lawsuit already broke us.