Chapter 90: Accepted
The word accepted appeared only after I told them where one page had once been unsafe.
On Saturday, the final disclosure panel held the source review and my new risk entry side by side.
The source table supported independent characters, places, puzzle structure and wording.
The risk entry concerned one early extract printed on a shared household device.
It cross-referenced the existing custody note rather than turning my recollection into a new technical report or widening access to the old device.
I identified the print date as 8 September and the later access deadline as 9 September at 18:00.
The print therefore occurred before the household-device boundary took effect.
That timing established a possible access route, not permission and not misuse.
I disclosed one page.
I did not add a second print, hidden drive or accusation unsupported by the existing technical note.
The note still read ACCESS RISK — NO USE FINDING.
My editor asked whether any evidence showed Oliver had read, copied or supplied the page.
I answered no.
The rights editor asked whether any current published or submitted comparison established infringement.
I answered no again.
The disclosure was accurate because it preserved both the vulnerability and the limit.
North Quay entered the page on a controlled observation list.
The list recorded the extract hash, authorised reviewers and escalation threshold, while keeping the underlying unpublished text outside ordinary marketing and production access.
Any later specific overlap would require preservation and a limited review through the proper channel.
The observation did not grant the publisher access to unrelated household files.
It did not suspend Larkspur, accuse Pippa or reopen the old series.
It did not change the Saltmere source-table result.
The rights editor signed the risk classification.
The editor signed the completed content review.
The production coordinator confirmed the final manuscript hash, page map and revised audio link.
My £310 personal rerecording payment remained separately disclosed and reconciled.
The contract panel displayed the acceptance conditions one last time.
The manuscript had been received, reviewed and revised once under the agreed process.
No old-world licence was required for the submitted work.
The one-page access risk remained observed without a finding of use.
I signed the final author disclosure as Grace Ellison.
At 10:32, the editor clicked ACCEPTED.
The word replaced RECEIVED — SUBJECT TO ACCEPTANCE on the delivery record.
The system generated the formal acceptance certificate and its hash.
The certificate linked the accepted manuscript, one permitted revision, source table and limited disclosure without changing any document's separate evidential purpose.
My contract balance moved from contingent to payable under the existing timetable.
No part of that balance entered the joint account by automatic rerouting.
The finance notice went to my nominated account and permitted contract recipients.
Production received authority to execute the already approved release plan.
That authority covered Saltmere under its own ISBN, files, territory and stock account.
It did not authorise a new Marian Crowe book or change the old six-book schedules.
I saved the read-only certificate, payment trigger and release instruction in my clean room.
North Quay retained the originals in the contract delivery system.
The project state changed from delivered to contractually accepted.
My book could now move through release execution without another creative signature.
The observation duty stayed narrow and inactive until a concrete comparison existed.
I left the panel with no allegation to publish and no fact omitted.
Before I closed the acceptance panel, its observation entry opened one final scheduling card.
Midnight at Larkspur had registered a public trailer for 14 January through its separate project channel.
The card carried no audio, script, preview file or allegation my team could inspect.
It did identify a bonus episode as the source of the scheduled extract.
The rights editor set the escalation threshold: preserve and compare only if public expression matched protected text, not because two coastal stories used fog or bells.
I left with Saltmere accepted and 14 January marked in red beneath one rule: compare only what became public.