Harassment Issue: Job Loss, Defamation, Other Legal Threats

Hey all, I am currently experiencing a situation in which someone I dated for a few months did a 180 on me and has now sent me hundreds and hundreds of texts and has made social media posts that have caused me to be dismissed from my job. Location: California.

EDIT FOR CLARITY: The original agreed upon date of repayment has passed, but the date was adjusted with mutual agreement on the new date (9/20/26), which has NOT passed yet.

So, the situation is that I was waiting on a late payment for work I had performed a few weeks ago, and had mentioned the financial hardship this had caused during conversation with her. She is well-off and offered me some money to cover some of my expenses. I accepted $650, and told her that I would pay her as soon as payment from my work was received. This was agreed upon verbally at the time, and she asked that she be paid by a certain date. When that date was approaching, I let her know that I still had yet to receive payment, but was expecting it soon and was unaware of why it was delayed or when I would receive payment. She pushed the date forward without complaint or any sign of hardship, and we agreed on 9/20/26, tomorrow. I believe this change was discussed over texts.

On Wednesday 9/16, I slept later than usual on my day off. I awoke to find that throughout the morning she had sent multiple normal texts until she began to ask if I was ok. When I woke up, she was cold and distant and after a short while began to lengthily berate me for ghosting her. I explained and engaged normally and reiterated that I'd see her later that day when we had made plans. At this point, I chose not to engage much further than that because she was taking an attitude about it that I did not want to participate in. This led to her becoming enraged, at which point she began demanding the money be paid immediately and began laying a lot of blame on me for "extreme emotional distress" related to lending me money that I was unaware she had been going through. Up until she mentioned this, all of our conversations about the loan had been normal, friendly, and agreeable. On the previous night before this incident began, we had spent a very lovely time together, after which she expressed how much she was enjoying our time and shared space, and how much she liked me. I agreed and told her I shared the sentiment and was interested and excited to see where we would go. So, this aggressive attitude surprised me and I apologized and reiterated the situation and our agreement, which further enraged her and she began saying extremely rude and mean-spirited things about me, my character and person, and my conduct.

Since then, this has escalated and has not ceased. She has taken it upon herself to reach out to my parents and my sibling by calling, emailing, and texting them, and has made several social media posts accusing me of ghosting her and taking advantage of her and otherwise ranting about me with my accounts and my employer's accounts tagged. Yesterday, she began stating plainly to me that she will be suing me and taking me to court and has included legal threats such as "I can afford a way better lawyer and he's going to wring you dry" and "you're going to have a warrant on your ass and you're gonna pay me way more than the $650". I am currently quite baffled and in awe of the change in heart.

It is now Saturday morning, and since yesterday morning, I have been stating plainly "Please stop contacting me. You will be paid as you always were going to be." in response to her continuing threats and character disparagement. I have said little else. I have reported the posts and I have not joined her in the escalation. Prior to her legal threats and me ending all conversation in response, I was coming at it from a level headspace, saying things like "I am sad that I have caused you to feel this way, and I am shocked at how this has turned out. I do not want to fight with you or engage with this kind of language. You will be paid back, as you always were going to be, and as I have stated since we made our agreement. I apologize about having taking longer than expected to pay you back". I have not deviated very far from this statement, and I have not made threats, said anything disparaging about her, or reacted in a volatile manner to her words and statements.

On top of all of this, yesterday I got a call from my employer during which they fired me due to the social media posts she had made about me that had them tagged.

I am planning on going to court on Monday to obtain a temporary restraining order to stop her contacting me and ideally force the removal of the social media posts and stop the creation of any more. I have blocked her on all social media and reported the posts but have kept texts unblocked and have simply told her I will no longer be responding. She has slowed down for the time being because she is asleep, and time will tell if it continues today. Her texts are vicious, cruel, unprovoked, and I believe they constitute legitimate legal harassment. She has said some wildly mean things and has even told me that she "hopes I fucking die" while expanding on the various ways that such a thing could happen (no direct threats, all accidental death wishes...but still, holy moly wtf).

In addition to the extreme personal attacks, public defamation, and continuous, high-intensity harassment, she has refused to take the posts down until she gets paid, and has been firm about her intent to sue me and has stated she has already talked to her lawyer. I have still yet to be paid, but as soon as I am paid, I am sending her the money I owe her in full, and have no intentions of not doing so or deviating from our agreement.

My question now is what should I prepare for if she does indeed sue me? Should I sue her for defamation creating a situation that caused me to lose my job? Is there anything I'm missing or should be aware of? Anything else I should be doing? This is all so unexpected and has given me such whiplash. I am in shock, and deeply baffled by the way things have gone.

Thanks all for your time and help.