The Villainess Who Refused to Die

"One piece of clothing. One million dollars." That was the offer. Made by a trustfund prince, in front of a packed room, to make his heroine feel better.

The day I woke up inside the rotten one that got away, I had twenty grand to my name and two days of pills left. I counted what I still had on. Then I took off my dress.

Chapter 1 The first thing that came back was a voice putting a price on me. "Stay the night with me. One million." I turned toward the voice. Soren? Soren Roarke? Hard to be sure.

The one I remembered wouldn't have opened with a price. The Soren I knew smiled all the time. Sweet kid, easy to lead around.

The man on that couch had the same smile, ten years older and gone bad with it. Nothing hidden in it.

Not even the malice. "Soren?" He laughed under his breath. "What, you don't want to?" I opened my mouth. That was when the comments came. They just appeared.

Rows of them, sliding across the air in front of my face. [Okay but is Soren going a little far here?] [?? Bleeding heart much? This is THE villainess.

She's wrecked the heroine like fifty times.] [Did you all forget she faked depression so she could drag the love interests away from Dawn every single day?] [Thank god they finally saw through her.

Poor baby Dawn. That little miss innocent put her through hell for years.] [? Easy on the misogyny. She's a villainess, sure, but nobody deserves this.] [And there it is.

Don't like a female character, must be misogyny!] [Verdict's in. Comment above is a misogynist.] [lmao is this a misogyny loop] My eyes ached from the scroll.

Then memories shoved their way in. Not mine. Ten years of them. I sorted out what mattered. Ten years. I'd skipped all ten and woken up in my own body at the far end of them.

This was a book. A reverseharem serial, the kind where readers bet on which love interest wins. I was the villainess in it.

Once, I'd been the one that got away for every single one of these trustfund princes. Then my family went under. Both my parents died.

Then I went after the heroine out of jealousy, and the princes handed down my sentence. And now I was sick. Terminal. Due to be written out.

Which was why I was in this room, trying to borrow money off people who used to love me. And why they were using it to get even for her. I looked down at the carpet. Right.

Of course. We went under. No wonder he felt safe talking to me like that. When I didn't answer, Soren raised his eyebrows. Propped his chin in his hand. Very reasonable.

Very generous. "Fine, then. How about this." He seemed to genuinely think it over. "One piece of clothing. One million dollars." "Come on.

That's a deal." He sank back into the couch and winked at me, like he'd just moved mountains on my behalf. Auden Bellamy frowned from the next seat over. Said nothing.

Rowan Vale looked like none of it had anything to do with him. Everyone else in the room was having a wonderful time. I wasn't angry. I was doing math. Two days of pills.

Twenty grand in the account. Nowhere near the surgery. And the surgery was the cheap part. But I wasn't ready to die. I looked down. One white dress. That was all of it.

No hesitation. I caught the hem, pulled up, and had it off in one motion. When the dress hit the carpet, the room went quiet enough to hear the ice melting. I straightened up.

Looked at him. "That's one." "Put it on my tab." 02 Apparently nobody thought I'd actually do it. Soren's smile froze. His eyes went wide. Auden turned his head away, frowning.

Around the room, somebody whistled. Somebody else started whispering. The comments lost their minds. [WHAT. Why is it blurred out??

She actually did it???] [What exactly is my premium subscription paying for!!] [okay the villainess has BALLS] [God. Celia has no shame at all.] I kicked the dress aside.

Then I lifted my hand and hooked a finger under my bra strap. "Soren." "I've got three more." Chapter 2 [Does she have zero shame? Throwing herself at him like that] [?

Go get your head examined instead of talking out of your ass] I let the comments tear each other apart. I didn't care what anyone in that room thought either.

Why would I be ashamed? The one who should be ashamed is the man who tells a woman to take her clothes off. Not the woman who's cornered into doing it. I looked at Soren. Calm.

His eyes went down my face, hit my chest, and snapped away like he'd touched a burner. He turned his head.

Ground it out. "You've really become something, Celia." "…Put it back on." He didn't have the nerve to make me take off a second one.

The tone rolled off me. "Pay me." He choked on that. Then laughed like I'd made him angry, and glared. "And if I don't?" He gave me the whole whatareyougoingtodoaboutit face.

I tilted my head. "So you're backing out." "Yes." He didn't look away this time. He watched me. Comfortable. Bending down, I picked the dress up off the floor and put it back on.

Then, with him watching, I walked over. I grabbed the bottle off the table and swung it into his head. The crack of it. Wine and blood, all down his face.

Being sick, I didn't have much strength behind it. It was enough. Soren screamed. He hadn't caught up yet. I climbed onto him with the broken bottle and put my knee on his chest.

The jagged edge went against the artery in his neck. That was when the room caught up. Shouting. Threats. Somebody listing what would happen to me. None of it reached me.

I stayed where I was and pressed. "Wire it," I said. "One million." His throat moved. Blood ran down from his hairline, past the corner of his eye, and turned everything red.

The shock had worn off by then. There was nothing in his eyes that belonged to a man with glass on his artery. He looked thrilled. He tipped his chin up.

His mouth was very red, opening and closing. "You're different today, Celia." I didn't answer. I just leaned on the bottle a little. Auden spoke up from the side. "Celia.

What game is this." Auden was basically the boy next door. Same schools since preschool. He'd always run the cold, untouchable, don'tcomenearme routine.

I used to wind him up for the pleasure of watching him lose the thread. I was the only one he ever showed the real thing to. A kid's face, alive.

Now his face was back to the deadfish default. 03 I turned my head, looked right at him, and said it. "None of your damn business." His eyebrows came down. "You're a girl.

Where did that mouth come from." I said it again. "None of your damn business." Something twisted in the ice for a second.

He looked away and muttered, "You've actually lost it." Once more, like a bot on loop. "None of your damn business." His face went dark.

He edged down the couch until he was as far from me as he could get. A snort. Soren was laughing. Fullbody laughing, shaking with it. His neck dragged against the glass.

More blood. He didn't care. He kept going. When he was finally done, he looked up at me again. There were tears in the corners of his eyes.

For a second he had that face out of my memory. Obedient. Young. I didn't let go.

If anything, the broken edge went down another half inch. "Soren." Very calm. "How many days do you think I have left to do time?" Chapter 3 "I can't exactly wire anything like this," Soren said.

He blinked at me, helpless, innocent. So I went into his pocket myself. The idiot made a sound. Low, in his throat. Not the sound a person makes when something hurts.

I got the phone out and held it up in front of his face. He took it. A few taps later, my bag chimed from across the room. Only then did I let go. I started to climb off him.

His arm came around my waist and pulled me down against his chest. My hand went up on instinct, bottle first. He caught both my wrists and pinned them behind my back.

Which left me lying on him. He was laughing hard enough that I could feel it in his ribs. So I opened my mouth and bit down on the muscle right in front of it. Hard.

I didn't let go. My mouth filled with the taste of copper. I'd broken skin. Obviously. The whole point was to make him let go of me. He acted like it didn't hurt at all.

That sound came out of his throat again. Low, wrong, pleased. And the body under me had a very clear opinion about the situation.

That was the moment the door opened, and a small, delicate shape appeared in it. The comments went into free fall. [AAAAH our baby girl is HERE] [She's so soft and good!!

Mama loves you] [Soren you unfaithful MAN. I hereby remove him from the loveinterest lineup] [I just saw it, Rowan is the one who texted Dawn to come. Wow.

What a schemer] [so he did this on purpose so the heroine would walk in on it?] [lmao entire room full of people and the villainess is the only one who doesn't know she's being played] [lmao whatever it takes to get the wife] [Seriously though, when does this villainess get written out?

She's an eyesore] [? Dawn hasn't even picked one of them yet. Why is the comment section acting like a wife catching a homewrecker] [? Are you okay? Dragging the heroine again?

Three grown men can't pick a lane and somehow it's her fault] [Seconded.

The three of them are the real trash here.] 04 Dawn Merrick took in the room and her eyes went red. "Ren, you, how could you…" "Why are you with her…" She'd gone white.

She swayed like something in a greenhouse. Fragile, wounded, devastated. The full arrangement. I unclamped my jaw and started fighting to get up.

Thirty seconds in, I was out of breath. A sick body is a useless thing. I tried to be reasonable about it. "Dawn's here." Soren didn't so much as glance at the door.

Which confused me. These people were supposed to be in love with her. They fought over her. They humiliated me on her behalf.

And now she was standing right there and he couldn't be bothered to look. Dawn went a shade paler. When he still didn't answer her, she turned and ran, crying.

Auden got up to follow.

He passed us and gave me a look. "So this is your method, Celia." "You know Dawn likes him." "I actually believed you'd changed." Then he was gone after her, disappointed in me all the way down the hall.

I said nothing. Certifiable. I fought again. This time it worked. Soren let go, smiling. His mouth was wet and red.

With the blood on his forehead and at his eye, and his hair soaked through, he looked like something beautiful that had crawled out of a well. Say what you want about him.

He is very pretty. He looked up suddenly, watching me through all that blood. The laugh had gone soft. "Celia." "Last time you looked at me like that, it was ten years ago.

Wasn't it?" Chapter 4 I didn't answer him. He'd been a spoiled little princess since he was small. Better at it than me, even.

I gave him a onceover. "Want me to call 911?" He shook his head, still grinning. "It doesn't hurt, Celia." I stopped talking to him, picked up my bag, and left. 05 The next morning my head was heavy.

Out of habit, I looked at the nightstand. No glass of warm milk. My mother used to leave one there every morning. Right. Of course. I'd skipped ten years. The family was gone.

My father jumped. My mother didn't stay long after that. Something turned over in my stomach. I made it to the bathroom and threw up over the toilet.

My body seemed used to the shape of it. Afterward I lay in bed and looked at the balance on my phone. One million dollars. To a normal person, that's a fortune.

To this disease, it's a cup of water on a house fire. Surgery. Rejection meds. The antirejection drugs I'd be on for the rest of my life.

Six more months on pills before I'd even qualify for the table. That's what the doctor said. So. Six months.

If the money isn't there by then, there's no point thinking about the rest. It was nowhere near enough. Which left the question of how to make money. Painting? Please.

I'm not anybody's idea of a master. Who's buying. Piano? Not that kind of money either. I touched my own face. Entertainment industry, maybe?

A face like this belongs to the public, honestly. Waste not to share it. But my body would never survive the schedule. I racked my brain. Then a video came across my feed.

A woman documenting her cancer. Over a million followers. And there it was. My disease is one of the rarest on earth. It should be.

The Author invented it specifically so I'd die slowly. Which makes it a hook. I decided. I was going to be a chronicillness creator. I went down a rabbit hole of tutorials.

Getting an account off the ground, keeping it alive, running it. Best few days I'd had in a while. Then a birthday invitation showed up. Harborview Estates.

The neighborhood I grew up in. Auden's family lived next door. No. Correction. It isn't my house anymore. Auden bought it and gave it to Dawn. It's Dawn's house now.

And Dawn was throwing her birthday party in it. And she'd made a point of inviting me. I rolled that around for a second. Honestly, I didn't want to go. But I was short on money.

And there might be more of it in that house. 06 The day of the party, I put on a little dress and went. She was easy to find. Everyone was standing in a ring around her. Pink.

Tulle. The whole princess situation, and she wore it beautifully. Around her stood a small collection of very handsome men. Soren. Rowan. Auden. The rest of them.

Rowan said something and she laughed, shy about it. When I came in, every head in the room turned. All different faces.

I walked over to Dawn without changing expression and handed her the gift. A silver bracelet I'd bought on the way. Twenty whole dollars.

Dawn looked at the sad little box and accepted it with a sweet smile. Auden frowned. "Celia.

What are you doing here?" Before I could answer, Dawn spoke up, soft. "I invited CeeCee." She took my hand. "I'm so happy she came." She smiled at me like she meant every word of it.

I let her keep my hand. "Happy birthday." Her smile got sweeter. She leaned in close to my ear, voice pitched low enough that it belonged to the two of us. "CeeCee.

Your old bedroom?

I've kept it exactly the way you left it." Chapter 5 Soren came over with a champagne flute, gauze still taped to his temple, smiling like the sun came out. "Look at you.

Dressed like a real person today." I gave him a glance. The dress was whatever I'd grabbed.

It had faded in the wash. "Thank you," I said, polite. "Not as convincing as you, dressed up as a real dog." I looked at the gauze. "Head still not right?

Next scan, tell them to do a couple extra passes. They might actually find something in there." His smile got wider.

Auden's face pinched, hall monitor to his bones. "How did you turn into this. Every other word out of your mouth." I smiled at him. "You really are a doctor, Auden.

Now you want to treat people's personalities." "If you're that worried about everybody, quit medicine and run for HOA board president." Rowan spoke, which he almost never does. "All teeth and tongue." I kept smiling. "Well.

Mr. Vale, off the sidelines and into the ring today." "Was it good? Should I be invoicing for the performance?" Dawn's face flickered.

She laughed and stepped into the middle of it. "Okay, okay. It's my birthday.

Everyone be nice, as a favor to me." She hooked her arm through mine like we were sisters. "CeeCee, you haven't been back here in so long.

Let me give you the tour." I took my arm back. "No thanks. Nothing to see. I lived here for over a decade.

I'm sick of the view." "Especially my bedroom." "I could find the bed with my eyes closed." I left them to it, loaded a plate with pastries, and went to a corner. Food first.

I'm not exactly in a position to eat like this anymore. I ate an unreasonable amount.

Then I rubbed my stomach and walked out to the back garden, which I could still do without thinking. 07 For whatever reason, Dawn had left the house alone. Nothing had changed.

The swing was still out there. Dressed up now, like something out of a storybook, packed with white camellias. I sat on it and pushed myself back and forth with nothing to do.

Inside my head I was hunting for the next person to shake down. The opportunity walked right up to me. Rowan was behind me. I hadn't heard him arrive.

He looked down at me from a comfortable height. "You've changed," he said. I didn't turn around. I kept swinging. "No." He said it more to himself than to me. "You haven't changed.

You've…" "Gone back." "Back to before your family lost everything." Huh. Not bad, kid. Sharp. He kept going. "You used to be exactly like this. Coasting on the family name. Spoiled.

Highhanded. Impossible to reason with.

The center of everything." "So sure of it that the world just seemed to be arranged around you." "You never checked a single face in a room before you did what you wanted." He listed my defects for a while. "You said you were in love with me.

So you nagged and screamed until our families signed off on the engagement, whether I wanted it or not." "Then I started to want it, and you'd already moved on to Auden." "I never expected that block of ice to fold for anybody.

He folded for you." "And Soren followed you around all day. Celia this.

Celia that." He talked and talked, and then he turned his head to look at me. "All those people who used to orbit you.

Now they line up to be cruel to you, for someone else." "You got jealous. You got scared.

And after the money went, you lost whatever color you had left." "I watched you warp, one inch at a time, into something ugly." Chapter 6 "Except it's strange.

Today, when I look at you, I see the old one." He sounded genuinely puzzled by it. I stopped the swing.

Then I tipped my head back, looked up at him, and smiled. "Wire me a million dollars and I'll give you the answer." Something in his face stalled.

Then he took out his phone and actually did it. I counted the zeros carefully and put my phone away, satisfied. I crooked a finger at him. He bent down.

That very good face came level with my mouth. I stuck my lips out and smacked a kiss on his cheek. For one second, Rowan Vale shortcircuited.

That permanent unbothered mask of his cracked straight down the middle