Chapter 5: After the Curtain Falls

Lucas glanced at the chaos, ice-cold. "Anyone who trashed my wife before—watch yourselves."

The guests and director looked ready to faint, terrified of being blacklisted. I jumped into Lucas’s arms. "I want your grilled cheese and tomato soup."

He melted instantly, stroking my hair. "Anything for you. We’ll make it at home."

Then he gave the room a death glare. "As for the troublemakers, I’ll deal with you soon."

With that, he wrapped an arm around me and headed for the exit.

Someone whispered, "Uh, we’re still rolling..."

He scoffed, "A show full of clowns isn’t worth filming."

Halfway out, he paused, pulled off a cufflink, and tossed it to the staff. "For the breach of contract."

The staff looked lost. The chat noticed:

"Wait, that’s a limited edition cufflink!"

"Those are impossible to get, even with money. Lucas Grant just handed it over like it’s nothing!"

"I looked it up—this cufflink alone covers all the show’s penalty fees!"

"Is this guy even real? Is there a cheat code for life? 😂"

I tugged on his sleeve. "You’re being extra again."

He tapped my nose. "Not when it’s for you."

After we left, the director stubbornly tried to keep the show going for the sake of the hype. But for hours, all they got was hate. The chat was a wall of flames. The show had always been popular, but never like this. The director, caught in the corner of the frame, looked like he was about to cry. He’d gone all-in on Savannah and ended up ticking off Lucas Grant—a total dead end.

As for Savannah, she never saw Carter turning on her and spilling everything live. Now, 90% of the hate was aimed at her. She just sat there, spaced out, nobody coming to her rescue. Near the end, the livestream was suddenly cut. The screen flashed: "This livestream has been temporarily closed due to community guidelines violations."

The chat freaked out:

"It just went black? Too much hate?"

"No way. I’ve seen tons of drama on this show and never saw this happen."

"My friend in media says they pissed off someone big and got shut down. Looks like it’s game over..."

"Was this Lucas Grant’s doing? All for his wife?"

"Damn, that’s goals. CEO’s wife takes on Hollywood—she’s living the dream!"

I was watching the chaos when the screen cut out. I turned to Lucas. "The stream’s gone."

He was reading, didn’t even look up. "Yeah."

I rolled over into his arms. "Was that you?"

He adjusted his glasses, pulling me closer. "What do you think?"

I snuggled in. "You didn’t have to."

He grumbled. "They had it coming for slandering you."

He looked so indignant, I couldn’t help teasing him. "But I’m a celebrity. There’ll always be haters. You really think you can take on the whole internet?"

He met my eyes. "If it’s for you, yeah."

Not long after, Savannah’s endorsements vanished. Her film projects got yanked. She disappeared from the industry, rumor had it she skipped the country to dodge her debts. The director was blacklisted and stuck doing odd jobs. I thought that was the end, but Lucas, that stubborn man, actually sent legal notices to everyone who’d trashed me. He even posted a long screenshot thread of the evidence on his new account, captioned:

"The internet isn’t lawless."

My manager stared at the trending tab, jaw dropped. "Girl, your husband’s a legend! He should join our legal team—think of the money we’d save!"

I rubbed my forehead. "He’s too much."

Back home, I sat Lucas down for a talk. As a public figure, I have to deal with public scrutiny—some people will like me, some won’t. If he goes too hard, people will say he’s just silencing critics.

But Lucas didn’t budge. "When we were secretly married, you wouldn’t let me step in—I respected that. But now everyone knows. How could I just watch? I can deal with people not liking you. But slander and abuse? Not happening."

"...Fine, you win."

Soon after, my haters deleted their accounts, and old nasty posts vanished. I scrolled through glowing PR articles and sighed. "You really are the industry’s number one anti-hater."

Lucas just grinned. "Is there anything your husband can’t do?"

I laughed. He typed out another post: "My wife, I’ll protect her." And tagged me.

Netizens: "Help, single people have feelings too! 😭"