Chapter 52: Reason To Fight Back

Back at the cliffside estate, the afternoon sun was just beginning to dip over the horizon when I heard fast footsteps echoing down the hallway.

The heavy doors to the living room burst open, and Ruby came sprinting in, her face flushed red and her eyes wide with pure, ecstatic shock. She was clutching her phone so tightly her knuckles were white.

"Look!" she gasped, running straight up to me and shoving the screen right into my face, her breath catching in her throat. "Look at this!"

I took the phone from her hands. The acoustic cover we had uploaded just a few hours ago was skyrocketing. The view counter was spinning like a slot machine, and right beneath the clip, the heart icon glowed bright red: 102,400 Likes. The comment section was a complete warzone of people losing their minds over her voice, asking who this mystery talent was and openly admitting her version ruined Hailey’s original track for them forever.

"Over a hundred thousand likes..." Ruby whispered, covering her mouth as a tear of pure relief spilled over her lashes. "In less than three hours... I can’t believe this is real."

"Told you," I grinned, pulling her into a tight, warm celebration hug. "I told you your voice was undeniable. This is what happens when you stop hiding."

Ruby wrapped her arms around my neck, squeezing me with everything she had, practically buzzing with adrenaline. The sheer validation of knowing her raw talent was being recognized by the world—without Travis’s fake studio polish, without Hailey taking the credit—was completely breaking down years of her self-doubt.

"We did it," she laughed breathlessly against my shoulder, her heart pounding fast against mine.

"No," I said, pulling back slightly to look her dead in the eye with a confident smirk. "You did it. And trust me, Ruby... this is just the beginning."

I reached for the crystal bottle on the marble counter, popping the cork with a crisp, satisfying pop. Foam bubbled over the rim as I poured two glasses of champagne, handing one to Ruby as she stood there beaming, still riding the high of a hundred thousand likes.

"To the real voice," I said, raising my glass. "To taking back what’s yours."

Ruby smiled, lifting her glass to clink against mine—but right before the crystal touched, her phone vibrated violently in her hand.

A sharp, high-pitched alert tone echoed through the quiet kitchen.

Her smile instantly froze. The color drained from her face as she looked down at the screen. Slowly, her hand began to tremble, and she set her un-tasted champagne glass down on the counter with a quiet click.

"What happened?" I asked, setting mine down next to hers.

"It’s... it’s gone," Ruby stammered, her voice dropping into a shaky whisper. She held out the phone for me to see.

Across the screen, a bright red banner had taken over her video:

[ Content Removed / Audio Muted ]

This video contains copyrighted material owned by Apex Music Group / Travis Sterling. The audio track has been muted globally due to a direct Manual Copyright Strike.

"They muted it..." Ruby said, a fresh wave of panic rising in her eyes as the old trauma of being silenced threatened to pull her back down. "It was just a casual acoustic cover... people post covers of that song every single day without getting taken down! Why did they target mine?"

"Because it wasn’t an automated system flag," I said, my eyes darkening as a cold, dangerous smile spread across my face. "An automated system doesn’t hit a brand-new account within three hours of going viral. Someone filed a direct, priority takedown."

Travis.

The moment Hailey threw her temper tantrum in that salon, her father had mobilized his entire legal team to manually strike the video down before it could completely destroy Hailey’s credibility. It was a desperate, scorched-earth move—proof that our little acoustic grenade had hit him right where it hurt.

"They’re scared, Ruby," I said softly, turning to her with absolute composure. "They wouldn’t be pulling legal strings over a small cover unless you terrified them. They think striking your account will shut you up."

Ruby looked up at me, the fear in her eyes slowly hardening into a spark of anger as she realized just how fast Travis and Hailey had panicked.

"So... what do we do now?" she asked.

"Now?" I picked my champagne glass back up, taking a slow sip. "Now we make them regret giving us a reason to fight back."

I took the phone from her hand and opened up her profile stats to get a full look at the damage. The video itself was muted, but the impact hadn’t been wiped out completely.

Right under her blank avatar, the follower count was steadily ticking upward.

"Look right here," I said, pointing at the screen.

1,240 Followers.

In less than four hours, her raw, unpolished cover had built a small, dedicated core of listeners. The video was muted, but the comments were already piling up with confused, angry fans asking why the track had been scrubbed and begging her to drop a link to her music elsewhere. A tight circle of real music heads had caught a glimpse of her voice before Travis pulled the plug, and now they wanted to know exactly who she was.

"One thousand followers..." Ruby whispered, staring at the number as her eyes softened. "Real people... actually following me?"

"A thousand real listeners who chose to hit follow after hearing you sing once," I corrected her, turning the phone back to her. "It’s a small start, but it’s an organic base. Travis can strike down a video, but he can’t erase the fact that over twelve hundred people just chose you over Hailey."

The sharp sting of the copyright claim faded as Ruby traced her thumb over the follower count, a quiet, genuine smile returning to her lips.

"So," she said, looking up at me with a steady gaze. "If they’re going to strike my covers... what’s our next move?"