Love in the Limelight novel Chapter 500

[Hey, you got a problem? Sure, they don't exactly click, but when has Astrid ever given Joana a hard time on the show?]

[Exactly, Joana's just being petty. Astrid is way above all that.]

[Astrid's so tough, right? So how come she's not pulling out all the stops to find Joana? You just know she's hoping something bad happened to her!]

[I'm so over this. Scaredy-cat Joana runs off by herself and somehow it's Astrid's fault? As if my girl Astrid doesn't have enough fans to stand up to this nonsense!]

...

Some rival fans were chomping at the bit to stir up trouble, and they seized this chance to fan the flames.

The fans and haters quickly got into a spat, and that's when Astrid, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, "Joana's not in trouble. She left with someone on her own. Look at this place, it's crafty. There are cameras everywhere except this one path because it's too rugged for cameras. The crew said none of the cameras caught her, which means she deliberately avoided them and left this way."

Astrid's words clicked for Clyde.

Joana was a master at drumming up publicity. She was probably faking her disappearance to get some buzz.

The other guests exchanged knowing looks.

The online crowd, oblivious to the truth, erupted in chaos. [Listen to what Astrid's saying. Is that something a kind person would say? Joana's missing and she claims Joana just left herself? How is that even possible?]

[Why isn't it possible? If someone had taken her, wouldn't there be some kind of noise?]

[Joana's disappearance in the woods is trending. I think I'm starting to get it.]