I Kept the Hero on the Villain's Dime

I woke up inside a book as the evil sugar mama, and the system ordered me to humiliate the male lead with my money. Then it forgot to give me any money to start with.

My wallet was so empty it echoed. Two hundred dollars a month was all I could scrape together for him.

The male lead took one look and sneered. "Broke, and still playing the big spender?" So I did the only thing left to do.

I latched onto an actual big spender, a man with more money than sense, and used his money to keep the male lead. It worked.

A year later, the system finally came back from wherever it had gone. When it found out how I'd solved the problem, it fell apart and told me the truth.

That "big spender" was the villain of the book. And the male lead I was keeping was his mortal enemy. Chapter 1 I heard the system out, and it took a second to land. "The villain?

Where is there a villain?" There was nobody here but the rich sucker I'd latched onto. More money than sense.

A couple of sweet words in the right direction and he'd hand over all the money I needed.

I took that money, played the sugar mama in front of the male lead, and took him on as my kept boy.

That was the plan, the one I'd spent ages racking my brain to come up with after the system disappeared.

And now the system was falling apart. [The one with his arm around you right this second!

That's the villain!] [Host, out of every person you could have tangled with, how did you go and tangle with the big villain!] Right as it said that, the hand at my waist tightened.

Rhys bent his head and kissed the side of my neck. "What are you spacing out about?

Thinking about which bag to buy again?" I came back to myself and looked at the man in front of me. Everything about him pressed down on me.

I asked the system, with my heart in my throat, "So if I've tangled with the villain, what happens to me?" The system was past crying. [You're the villainess.

Humiliating the male lead with your money was already a great way to get yourself killed.] [Now you have tangled with the villain on top of it.

Host, it is very hard for me to guarantee your personal safety a hundred percent...] My vision went dark. "Then what do I do?" In the year I'd spent as Rhys's kept woman, his mother had even come to my door to set me straight. "Remember, you're nothing but a kept woman my son pays for.

Don't go getting ideas you shouldn't have." So I behaved myself and stayed inside the lines.

I never asked where he was going, I left every decision to him, and I went along with whatever Rhys wanted, no questions.

Maybe he was satisfied with how sweet and obedient I was, because Rhys was generous enough with me.

The system thought for two seconds and handed me a plan. [If you can make him sick of you, so that he ends things himself, that works.] "How do I make him sick of me?" I asked, fast. [Easy.

What he likes about you is that you're sensible and you behave.] [So starting now, you go full gold digger. Squeeze him for money.

Track where he goes, make him check in with you, don't let him talk to another woman.] [Run that whole routine and the villain will be so sick of you he'll be counting the days until you're gone.] It clicked.

Meanwhile, Rhys had noticed I still hadn't answered. He raised an eyebrow, caught my cheek and turned my face back to him, and said, low, "I asked you a question.

Which bag do you want?" I jolted. The old me would have been graceful and considerate about it and said I didn't need a bag. But not now.

I pulled out my phone, brought up a list a mile long, and held it out to him. "This one and this one and this one...

I want all of them!" Rhys paused, like it hadn't occurred to him I'd suddenly ask for this much. As soon as I'd said it, my nerves kicked in.

He'd think I was a grabby little leech now and start getting sick of me, right? The next second, I heard a soft laugh. "Sure.

I'll have my assistant send them over tomorrow." Chapter 2 The system was shocked. [He's that patient? It's fine, Host.

Now go track where he goes and start policing who he's allowed to be friends with.] I nodded.

I latched onto Rhys's arm and asked, unhappily, "Which assistant of yours?" "Is it that female assistant?

Could you stop talking to other women from now on?" The moment those words were out of my mouth, Rhys finally turned a searching look on me.

I was afraid the sudden switch in character had been too clumsy, that it would make him suspicious, so I added, all pitiful, "Rhys, it's just that when I see you talking to your assistant, it makes me feel awful inside..." Rhys played with a strand of my hair and reminded me, unhurried, "Naomi.

That isn't a question a kept woman gets to ask." "You were the one who said it, back at the start. What you and I have is about money." The system got excited. [See!

He's started warning you already!] [Keep it up, Host.

Give it time and you'll get out of this clean!] When I got back from Rhys's place, Oliver, the male lead, was carrying dinner to the table dish by dish, his face cold.

He saw me come in and asked, still cold, "Where were you? Why are you back so late?" I put on my villainess face immediately and looked down my nose at him. "You're a kept boy.

What are you asking so many questions for?" Then I sat down at the table and started eating without waiting for him. Oliver's cooking was as good as ever.

When I finished, I nodded, satisfied, took out two thousand dollars in cash, and slapped it against his chest. "This month's money." The system was stunned. [Stop, stop, stop.

You're keeping the male lead on two thousand?

Didn't the villain give you a fortune?] I snapped back at it. "You think getting that two thousand out is easy?" "Rhys gives me six figures a month, sure, but it's on a card in his name, and he watches where every dollar of it goes." "Sneaking out two thousand in cash is already an achievement, okay!" Back when the system first disappeared, I'd realized in a panic that it had forgotten to give me any startup money.

My wallet was so empty it echoed.

It took everything I had to put together one outfit of knockoff designer pieces, and then I went straight to the male lead, who was working a job and going to school at the same time.

I swallowed my guilty conscience and said to him, from a great height, "You've caught my eye.

Care to be mine?" Oliver, in his coffee shop apron, looked up in the middle of the rush and let his eyes travel over the logo on my clothes, the one that screamed fake.

Then he asked, "How much a month?" The question stuck in my throat.

The thing was, I had no money then either, which meant I would have been secretly picking up shifts on the side to keep him. And once I took out my rent, my transit, and my food...

My voice got smaller. "I could give you two hundred..." Oliver let out a short laugh. "Broke, and still playing the big spender?" I was pretty desperate myself.

But I really didn't have any money, so how was I supposed to do the mission? How was I supposed to get the ten million dollars for finishing it? I lost a lot of sleep over that.

Until I met Rhys. Once I'd latched onto a real big spender, I sneaked two thousand dollars out and went straight back to Oliver. "How about this?

Will you be mine now?" "And you'd be living with me, so I won't charge you rent." Oliver finally said yes. He said yes, but his attitude toward me stayed less than warm.

What he said most often was, "Never seen a sugar mommy this broke." Well, I was the villainess, so I gave it right back to him. "For someone like you, two thousand is already too much!" It made him absolutely livid.

Chapter 3 But Oliver must have really needed that money, because he moved in with me anyway, hating me the whole time and humiliated by it the whole time.

The system heard all this and was floored. [Host, that really is pretty humiliating.] [I mean, he does your laundry, your cooking, your cleaning.

Hiring somebody for all that would run you at least thirtytwo hundred a month.] While it talked, the system moved a big pile of money into an account only I could touch. [There.

Now you can give him more money and humiliate the male lead twice as hard!] With the system's help, I finally didn't have to siphon that two thousand out of Rhys's account anymore.

So I transferred Oliver twenty thousand dollars on the spot. Oliver went still. There was no delight on his face at all.

He frowned. "Where did you get that kind of money?" At last I could answer him with my whole chest. "I told you my family is rich!" "You've been behaving lately, so here's a raise." Then I sat down on the couch and gave him his orders. "Now go run me a footbath and give me a pedicure." Oliver looked at me for a long moment, his eyes heavy.

In the end he got up without a word and went to fill the basin. The whole time I soaked, Oliver stayed kneeling beside me, waiting.

When I was done, I wiped my wet feet off on his shirt, treating him like a towel and nothing else.

His face went darker. "Naomi, you're disgusting." I raised an eyebrow. "I'm paying twenty thousand to keep you.

Watch your tone." Then I pressed down harder on his shoulder with my foot. The movement slid my long skirt up a little.

I didn't think anything of it and was about to say something else. The next second, a hand clamped hard around my ankle. Oliver was staring at a line of finger marks on my calf.

Out of nowhere, he asked, "How did you get this?" My eyelid twitched, and I followed his eyes down. My skin was pale, so the ring of red stood out.

I couldn't help thinking back to Rhys that afternoon.

I'd tried to get away, and Rhys had just caught my calf and dragged me back, laughing low. "You're like this and you still want to run?" I hadn't expected it to leave a mark, let alone for Oliver to see it.

My nerve was going. I tried to pull my ankle out of his hand while I forced my voice up at him. "Why are you being so aggressive?

Let go—" But Oliver, who was usually obedient enough, held my ankle tight and said it again. "Naomi. Sinclair. How did you get it?" I was too miserable to even cry.

This was supposed to be a mission. How had it turned into this? The system rushed in. [Host, grow a spine! You are the sugar mommy here.

Humiliate him, threaten him, go!] I took a deep breath and put my hands on my hips. "I banged it on something, obviously. Where do you get off?" "Oliver, don't forget what you are.

You're a kept boy. Without me you couldn't even cover your grandfather's bills every month!" That night, Oliver was silent for a long time.

In the end he let go of me, and I got away with it. A few days later, Rhys texted to say he was taking me to a dinner party.

The old me would have played the gracious, appropriate date. But this time the system spoke up in my head. [Perfect opportunity, Host.

Act out however you want, make Rhys feel humiliated, and get him to dump you!] I nodded.

So at the dinner, while Rhys was talking business with the other guests, I cut in from the side. "I'm so tired, Rhys.

Come get something to eat with me over there." Chapter 4 The businessmen beside us looked over at me, a little put out, like they thought I didn't know how to behave. "Mr.

Ashford, your date can go on her own." I shook my head and hung on his arm and kept acting out. "No.

I want you to come with me..." Rhys looked down at me, and after a long moment he laughed. "Fine. Let's go." We hadn't gone three steps before another woman stopped him to talk.

That got me going even harder, and I fired questions at him one after another. "Who is she? When did you meet her?

How many times have you talked to her?" Maybe I'd been too far out of character lately, because Rhys sighed and asked me anyway. "Naomi.

You've been very clingy lately." "What exactly are you trying to say?" I blinked at him and made my voice small. "It's just, when I see you talking to other people, I can't control myself...

Do you think I'm annoying now?" Then I looked up at him and waited, hoping.

Sure enough, the next second, I heard Rhys say, "In that case, what we have right now doesn't seem right anymore." The system was thrilled. [He means he's ending the arrangement!

He's dumping you for good!] [Host, our move is working. Keep it up!] Hearing that, I was satisfied too. That was enough acting out for one day.

Rhys stayed with me a while, and then I let him go. I stood up, planning to wander around on my own.

When I got out to the garden, I heard voices coming from somewhere nearby. "You got his suit dirty. Do you know who he is? You're paying for it!" "Say something, waiter.

Are you mute?" "If you're not going to talk, we'll get your manager." A few seconds passed, and then a familiar voice answered. "He walked into me first." My eyelid twitched.

I knew that voice. It was Oliver's. Oliver was working this event as a waiter, and getting pushed around on top of it? I knew about the side jobs.

Back when I was giving him two thousand a month, the bills from the care facility and the hospital debt he'd already run up must have eaten straight through it, so he kept taking extra shifts.

But I'd given him twenty thousand a few days ago. He'd just put the extra money away and gone right on working. I moved into a corner and watched the group quietly.

The one in front, in the pink suit, was the most useless trustfund brat in that whole circle. His favorite pastime was making a joke out of people.

He was sitting in a chair, looking down at Oliver. "Tell you what. Finish these bottles and you won't have to pay." Oliver didn't move.

At that, the group simply picked the bottles up to pour them down his throat. I frowned. He was my kept boy, when it came down to it, and I wasn't about to stand there and watch.

So I walked right over, pulled Oliver up, and told them, "Waiters aren't here for you to push around." The pink suit looked me over. "And who are you?" One of his hangerson recognized me as the woman Rhys had brought and murmured it to him.

After that, the pink suit's eyes on me turned wary. Rhys wasn't here anyway, so I traded on his name in broad daylight. "Now you know who I am. What are you waiting for?

Apologize to him." The group hesitated.

They held out for a moment before they said, grudgingly, "Sorry..." I nodded like a woman of great mystery, and I didn't forget to keep playing the big spender in front of Oliver. "See that?

That's how powerful my family is." "All right, come home with me. Wouldn't it be easier if you just behaved and stayed my kept boy..." Chapter 5 I didn't get to finish.

The whole pack of them went quiet all at once. A little too quiet. Something felt wrong, and I turned around without thinking.

Through the weak moonlight and the flower beds, with no warning at all, I walked straight into Rhys's eyes.

His dark eyes narrowed slightly, and his voice came out flat and cool. "Quite the show of power, Naomi." "Who is he?" For a moment, both Oliver and Rhys were looking at me