19

“We’ll talk soon.”

“Bye.”

I tucked my phone into my pocket and returned to the living room, where I took a seat on the couch. Since this had become my office, my laptop was already in front of me, and I logged on to the database, searching for Love’s profile. She had signed up exactly thirty days ago. At midnight last night, the system would have sent her an email, asking if she wanted to move from a thirty-day trial membership to a subscription. If she made the switch, she would have to provide her name, address, and payment information—things we only collected from paying users. If she ignored the email and didn’t sign up for the subscription or if she canceled her trial, her status in the database would turn from active to idle.

I was just clicking on her username when the change happened.

Idle.

The cancellation request appeared on her account then, her username locked until she returned—if ever—to Hooked.

She’d warned me that she was going to quit. I wasn’t surprised, but I was so