Lowen recalls getting a text from her agent, Corey, the night before the meeting after months of silence. While reflecting on her isolation, she connects her loneliness to a childhood shaped by sleepwalking and by a mother who never fully trusted her. Lowen explains that caring for her mother through terminal cancer kept her housebound for months, and that after her mother died last week, Lowen was left with debt, dwindling royalties, and the immediate threat of eviction.

At Pantem Press, Lowen realizes Jeremy, the man who helped her after the street accident, is also heading to the fourteenth floor. In the elevator, Jeremy reveals that his wife is a writer and quickly figures out that Lowen is the author he is meeting. After Jeremy leaves, Corey arrives and admits he deliberately told Lowen the wrong meeting time because he expected her to be late, which means his lie indirectly placed her in the path of the morning’s traumatic accident.

While waiting, Lowen and Corey discuss her mother’s death, her money problems, and the reality that her own publisher will not renew her contract without a stronger public presence. Corey explains that Pantem requested secrecy and has offered no details beyond requiring a non-disclosure agreement. Lowen reflects on her long, messy history with Corey as both former boyfriend and current agent, and she notices his nerves as they prepare for the meeting.

Amanda Thomas from Pantem, lawyer Barron Stephens, and Jeremy enter the conference room. After Lowen and Corey sign the NDA, Amanda reveals that the author is Verity Crawford, Jeremy’s wife, who can no longer complete her bestselling series for medical reasons. Pantem wants Lowen to finish the remaining three books and also handle publicity as the new face of the series, for a flat fee of seventy-five thousand dollars per book. Though the money is tempting, Lowen refuses because she cannot handle the publicity and pressure, and Corey asks for time to speak privately.

Instead, Jeremy asks to speak with Lowen alone. He explains that Verity was in a car accident, that the family has also lost both of their twin daughters, and that Verity admired Lowen’s novel Open Ended and considered her writing style a good match. Jeremy then privately tells Lowen that Pantem is lowballing her and urges her to demand half a million dollars, no publicity, a pen name, and strict secrecy, along with time in Verity’s Vermont office to study her notes. When Corey returns, Lowen relays Jeremy’s counterproposal, leaving Corey stunned.