On social media, several red-hot trending topics shot to the top of the charts.

#LilyYarielPlagiaristMistress# — Marcus Miles, president of the online literature giant CloudScript Group, was exposed for cheating on his wife with Lily Yariel, the top author on their female-fiction platform. Flirtatious and explicit chat logs were leaked, leaving no doubt about the affair. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

#LilyYarielIsAPlagiarist# — The number one romance author on CloudScript Books’ female-fiction platform plagiarized *Shinra, Shinra, Don’t Say Goodbye to the World!*. After eagle-eyed netizens posted a color-coded comparison chart proving the theft, her own editor-in-chief could no longer stand by. The editor published an article overnight confirming Lily Yariel’s plagiarism and exposing her improper relationship with a married man...

After the story broke, Crystal Rowan, the editor-in-chief at CloudScript, immediately deleted the post and issued a statement. She claimed her account had been hacked and that the previous night’s post was false.

Lily Yariel quickly followed suit, posting on her own social media to play the victim. She claimed she was constantly being targeted and slandered by jealous peers, that she was incredibly upset, and that she would be taking a break from writing.

Her comment section was flooded with paid shills offering comfort and encouragement. There wasn’t a single negative comment in sight; they had likely all been deleted.

Seeing Lily Yariel’s post and her fans’ reactions, Claire Sinclair realized, ’This woman’s PR skills are first-class. She’s a formidable opponent.’

’No wonder she’s gotten away with plagiarism for so many years without falling. The team backing her is not to be underestimated.’

’It looks like hacking alone won’t be enough to take this woman down. I’ll have to go on the offensive under the banner of the Astoria Daily.’

Claire Sinclair took a deep breath. ’This time, I’m going big.’

Her next story would be about taking down a plagiarist.

...

For a journalist, truth is the foremost principle.

Claire Sinclair used her connections to find contact information for several authors who had been plagiarized by Lily Yariel. Through phone interviews, she obtained reliable, firsthand accounts of the plagiarism.

She also interviewed several academic and legal experts, recording their insights and analyses on plagiarism to be repurposed for a news format.

Finally, she combined the case studies from her interviews with the expert opinions to write her feature story, titled: "A Scholar’s Craft: Borrowing or Outright Theft?"

The article explicitly named Lily Yariel and detailed her plagiarism. It also listed several other web novelists under the CloudScript Group who had likewise risen to fame by plagiarizing.

Upon publication, major media outlets across the country began to share it. The topics of Lily Yariel’s plagiarism and her status as a mistress were thrust into the center of a media firestorm.

Claire had thought this would at least force CloudScript Group to step in and handle Lily Yariel’s plagiarism. But not only did CloudScript Group remain silent on the matter, they even issued a strongly-worded statement under the company’s name—

[Regarding the article "A Scholar’s Craft: Borrowing or Outright Theft?" published by Astoria Daily reporter Claire Sinclair, which defames our company’s author Lily Yariel with accusations of plagiarism and our president Marcus Miles with accusations of infidelity, our company views this matter with the utmost seriousness. We will be issuing a letter from our attorneys imminently.

For the Astoria Daily, as one of our nation’s most authoritative media outlets with an audience in the tens of millions, to allow a junior reporter to publish such a false report is reprehensible. We will use the full extent of the law to fiercely protect our interests!]

’So this is a formal declaration of war, is it?’

After reading the statement, Claire Sinclair felt a thrill course through her veins.

’If a plagiarist actually manages to sue their victim and win, wouldn’t that become the joke of the year?’

’She was eager to see who would have the last laugh in this war: the plagiarists, or those who stand for justice.’

Three days after her article "A Scholar’s Craft: Borrowing or Outright Theft?" was published, Claire Sinclair got what she was waiting for: letters from the attorneys of both CloudScript Group and Lily Yariel.