Chapter 108: A Recovery I Could Measure
A permanent advantage would have made six stolen lines the co-author of every future result.
On Friday, PageTurn's marketing review displayed a compensation proposal beside the closed incident status.
It offered my Saltmere project additional recommendation credits for the next three release cycles.
The proposal called them reputational restoration after verified unauthorised use.
It also left Oliver and Pippa's project under an extended observation label.
Both measures would outlive the deletion, correction and replacement.
The platform officer explained that the adjustments were optional rather than terms of the signed deed. They had been designed during preservation, before the replacement certificate and signed closure removed the operational uncertainty.
My £8,000 compensation and reasonable verification fees already remained payable under that deed.
Those payments addressed the identified incident without altering future audience allocation.
Extra traffic would make every later comparison carry an invisible thumb.
A continuing observation label would make their lawful replacement perform under a penalty with no expiry.
I asked to see the pre-incident allocation records for both projects. I could compare entitlements and status dates, but not audiences, bids, targeting choices or creative performance.
The officer displayed only the shared rules, not the other project's private audience data.
Each project had an original promotion entitlement derived from its own contract and current delivery status.
The six-line case had temporarily altered those entitlements during preservation.
The replacement and deed had removed the reason for continuing that alteration.
I declined all three extra Saltmere recommendation cycles in writing.
My refusal preserved the one-off monetary remedy and changed nothing about verified costs.
I also requested expiration of the Larkspur observation label under its stated review date.
Oliver and Pippa's ordinary project controls would still apply.
Removal meant no special incident flag, not immunity from future platform rules.
PageTurn restored each project to its original allocation formula.
Saltmere received no extra traffic beyond its contract and earned performance adjustments.
Larkspur received no reduced allocation arising solely from the closed six-line case.
The officer recorded both changes in the incident closeout log.
At 11:22, the extended-credit proposal changed to DECLINED BY CLAIMANT.
The observation label changed to EXPIRED — REMEDY COMPLETE.
The original allocation schedule resumed for the next eligible cycle. Neither project would receive any hidden future factor linked to the closed case.
I signed the closeout receipt without touching either project's content.
PageTurn retained the proposal, refusal and restored-allocation audit trail.
I retained a read-only copy limited to my decision and the symmetric status result.
The choice removed a commercial advantage I could have defended emotionally.
It also removed Oliver's easiest claim that every future result had been procedurally tilted against him.
Their stronger replacement would now compete on the same ordinary platform rules as my accepted work.
My own release execution would have to create its advantage through readers, booksellers and delivery.
The closed case remained visible only through its correction history and enforceable deed.
No new audience intervention carried it forward.
The platform officer closed the recovery panel and returned my remaining action items.
One came from North Quay's termination team rather than PageTurn. The same two names had triggered the template's default matching rule.
The old pen-name deed had imported a generic mutual-settlement worksheet.
Its netting column combined every amount moving between Oliver and me.
The German audio audit remained pending on a separate old-royalty track.
Our marital property schedule remained with the family solicitors.
The six-line payment belonged to neither track.
I opened the worksheet's source references without changing its figures.
The £8,000 entry carried the closed incident deed number.
The next rows carried Blackwater Rooms royalties and household adjustments.
Restoring normal traffic had ended the platform distortion.
North Quay's template was about to create a financial one.
It had placed my new-material compensation inside our joint settlement.