Part 3Letting My Toxic Ex Burn

The manager was dragged out of the VIP room by security. The doors clicked shut.

Gigi sank into the velvet sofa, crossing her arms and pouting.

"I was just trying to help, and everyone is being so mean to Gigi!"

Her eyes lit up, and she quickly dug her personal phone out of her bag.

"No, Gigi is the victim here. I need my internet family to set things straight!"

Gigi was a mid-tier influencer with a couple hundred thousand followers. Her entire brand relied on acting like a helpless, infantile baby to milk donations from lonely men online.

She went live on her streaming app. Within seconds, thousands of viewers flooded the stream.

Gigi instantly put on her signature tearful face, big watery eyes blinking at the camera.

"Hi guys... Gigi is having a really, really bad day. I'm being bullied so hard right now."

The live chat went wild:

Who dared to make our princess cry?! Give us names!

Don't cry, baby girl! We're here for you!

Gigi sniffled, turning the camera to point directly at me, her voice dripping with artificial sorrow.

"It's my brother's mean girlfriend... and a scary old man from the bank."

"Gigi was just trying to help her with some investing, using some leftover money that was just sitting around. I wanted to make her a little extra pocket money."

"But she screamed at me! And the old man tried to hit Gigi!"

"They're ganging up on me... Gigi's heart hurts so bad..."

The comment section exploded with vile, vitriolic abuse targeted at me.

Who is this bitch? She looks like a total nightmare.

Gigi tried to make her rich and she gets mad? What an ungrateful snake!

Dox her! Destroy her life!

Seeing the support, Todd stepped into the camera frame. He wrapped his arm around Gigi’s shoulder, adopting the posture of a protective, wealthy CEO.

"Hey everyone, I'm the lead director of the regional infrastructure project here."

"I can personally assure you all that Gigi is the sweetest, most innocent girl in the world."

With Todd's endorsement, the chat went into a frenzy. Gift donations started filling the screen, users spending hundreds of dollars to show their support.

Gigi smirked at me, tilting her chin up in triumph.

"Hear that, Gwen? The world knows who the bad guy is."

"You need to apologize to Gigi right now, or my fans will ruin you."

I sat quietly in my chair, watching her perform like a cheap circus animal.

"Apologize?" I let out a soft laugh. "Gigi, why don't you tell your fans exactly what kind of 'leftover money' you used to buy those stocks?"

Gigi rolled her eyes, scoffing directly into the camera.

"It was just that stupid hundred-million-dollar flood fund!"

"It was just sitting in an account collecting dust anyway! Gigi bought some stocks to double it, and once we make the profit, we'll build them an even bigger dam! They should be thanking me on their knees!"

The chat froze for a split second. Then, the comments began to scroll at a dizzying pace.

One hundred million? Flood funds?! Holy shit, you can't touch that!

Wait, what stock did Gigi buy?

Gigi proudly turned the camera to face the monitor.

"Look! GreenTerra Solutions! See how pretty the green is?"

The financially literate users in the stream immediately lost their minds:

Is she fucking insane?! That stock is getting delisted today! It's flatlining!

Embezzling $100M of public emergency money into a dead stock? That is federal prison territory!

Call the police! This girl is literally brain-dead!

The tide turned in an instant. The adoration evaporated, replaced by a wall of sheer panic and disgust.

Gigi stared at the screen, her face pale as comments like "felon," "idiot," and "enjoy prison" flashed by.

"You're lying! Gigi didn't do anything wrong! Gigi is a princess!"

She abruptly shut down the stream and slammed the phone onto the sofa.

"Todd! They're all bullying me! Do something!"

Todd's face had gone pale, but his arrogance kept him from admitting defeat. He glared at me, his eyes filled with a sudden, vicious malice.

"Gwen! You set us up!"

"You're going to write a statement for the press right now. You'll tell them you forced Gigi to buy those shares. You're the mastermind behind this!"

It was almost laughable. The ship was sinking, and he was still trying to play the heroic protector.