Ficorpio
Chapter 1
After transmigrating into a novel as the villainess supporting character, I was promised fifteen million dollars if I broke up the male and female leads.
So I pulled one outrageous stunt after another.
Then Vivian Hartwell—the supposedly gentle female lead—cornered me against a wall.
“Why not seduce me instead?” she murmured. “What’s so great about men and their third leg?”
“I’m straight,” I said.
“One and a half billion dollars.”
I immediately showed her just how flexible I could be.
Honestly, the whole thing was so absurd I nearly laughed myself insane.
I’d transmigrated into a romance novel as its villainess rival—and, as a bonus, landed in the body of an unknown rookie model struggling to survive in show business.
Talk about getting the full experience.
The original Nadia Cross had spent six years in the industry and had absolutely nothing to show for it.
“Beautiful and pathologically self-destructive.” That was how her manager always described her.
Whenever her manager arranged an industry networking dinner, Nadia skipped it if she felt like it. She loudly insisted that she would never submit to the industry’s unspoken rules, yet secretly spent every day scheming to climb into the male lead’s bed.
After one reckless stunt too many, her agency terminated her contract. Once she was effectively placed on the industry blacklist, she couldn’t cope and took her own life.
That was when I arrived.
System 22 told me that all I had to do was stay in character, keep causing chaos, and separate the novel’s male and female leads. Once I succeeded, I would receive a fifteen-million-dollar mission reward.
Wow.
For that kind of money?
Consider them already broken up.
I spent a small fortune on a backless silk nightgown.
My long black hair, freshly treated and pin-straight, fell over my chest. After carefully applying the kind of barely-there makeup that made me look sweet, innocent, and entirely harmless, I headed for Adrian Sterling’s presidential suite.
Tonight, the male lead, Adrian, had invited the female lead, Vivian Hartwell, to meet him at the hotel.
If I didn’t sabotage a moment like this, what kind of villainess rival would I be?
By the time I arrived, Adrian was already tipsy and sprawled across the bed, his shirt hanging open to expose a set of sharply defined abs.
His angular chin was tilted at precisely forty-five degrees toward the crystal chandelier.
He was handsome. I’d give him that.
But how could I put it?
There was something faintly greasy about the whole pose.
He narrowed his eyes at me. His expression was seven parts aloof, four parts cold, and three parts careless—which was impressive, considering that added up to fourteen.
“Vivian,” he murmured. “I knew you couldn’t stay away from me.”
Chapter 2
Thrilling.
This was my first encounter with a domineering CEO who was apparently nearsighted.
He’d mistaken me for Vivian.
I checked the time. She would be here in two minutes.
I rushed forward and slapped one hand over Adrian’s half-open eyes.
He closed them and issued another imperious declaration. “Vivian Hartwell, I forbid you from ever leaving me.”
What a domineering line.
What a domineering expression.
I punched him twice.
A low groan escaped him.
“Mm…”
“…”
Afraid he would continue polluting my existence, I grabbed a pillow and pressed it over his mouth.
Instead of resisting, Adrian spread himself across the bed, arms and legs splayed. His voice came out hoarse beneath the pillow.
“Vivian, it’s my first time. Be gentle.”
For the love of—
If Vivian hadn’t been due any second, I might have simply smothered him and called it a night.
As luck would have it, she arrived just in time to hear the tail end of Adrian’s demand that I never leave him.
Except…something felt wrong.
The atmosphere wasn’t right.
More importantly, her reaction wasn’t right. She was far too calm.
Vivian wore a fitted evening gown that emphasized her tall, sculpted figure. Her long, softly curled hair had been gathered loosely at the back of her head, making her look as though she’d come straight from a gala.
Her pale, delicate face held a languid expression. Foxlike eyes tilted slightly downward as she regarded me, cool and seductive without being the least bit vulgar.
That body. That face.
No wonder she was the female lead.
Drip.
Drip.
Something warm ran down my face.
Vivian turned, picked up a tissue, and held it out to me.
“Your nose is bleeding.”
“Uh…what?”
I was having a nosebleed over the female lead.
This had to be some kind of divine punishment.
I released Adrian and accepted the tissue. It carried a trace of Vivian’s subtle perfume.
I hurriedly wiped away the blood.
By then, Adrian had finally realized something was wrong. He fumbled around the nightstand until he found his gold-rimmed glasses and put them on.
Before he could speak, I caught my lower lip between my teeth. Tears shimmered at the corners of my eyes as I clutched the hem of my nightgown with both hands.
“Vivian, I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood. Nothing happened between Adrian and me.”
I lowered my gaze with practiced innocence.
“He only said he was cold and asked me to warm him up.”
The alcohol seemed to leave Adrian’s system all at once. He stared at me, frowning coldly.
“Who are you?”
I bit my lip a little harder. “Adrian, sweetheart, it’s me. We met outside the palace set on the studio backlot a month ago. You even told me to leave show business and become your personal assistant.”
In reality, Original Nadia had spotted Adrian outside that palace set a month earlier. She had shamelessly pestered him until he added her on social media, then started preparing to apply for the position of his personal assistant.
Chapter 3
Adrian didn’t question my version of events in the slightest.
He turned to Vivian, his expression once again arrogant and detached.
“Vivian, you know a man in my position never lacks female attention.”
Vivian picked up a glass of red wine from the table and took a measured sip.
“Adrian, if you brought me here just to spout more of this nonsense, I’m leaving.”
Adrian rose and stepped in front of her. After a brief silence, one corner of his mouth curved upward.
“I do seem to remember meeting this woman. But you know I would never hire a woman as my assistant…”
He paused as though what came next should have been self-evident.
“Using a female assistant would be beneath a man of my status.”
I rolled my eyes twice in rapid succession.
Please. I’d been kicking ass overseas since I was eighteen. As if some ordinary man like him could ever have me.
When Adrian looked ready to continue explaining, I flicked the bloodstained tissue straight between them.
His face twisted with disgust, and he immediately retreated two steps.
I spun around, hurriedly squeezed artificial tears into my eyes, then walked up to Vivian with my best fragile expression.
“Vivian, please don’t make me leave. I terminated my contract with my agency for Addy. If he abandons me now, how am I supposed to go on living?”
Vivian’s lips curved into a smile. “What’s your name?”
I froze, then fluttered my lashes and answered sweetly, “I’m Nadia. Nadia Cross.”
“Nice name.”
Oh my God!
She complimented me.
I basked in it for all of three seconds.
Wait. No!
My role in this story was to drive a wedge between the male and female leads. Why was I standing here swooning over the heroine?
It wasn’t my fault. Vivian was gorgeous, and she was so soft.
I coughed twice, leaving a single tear trembling on my cheek. “Vivian, I have nothing left now. If you make me leave Addy, I…”
Adrian stood nearby, his face darkening as he listened to us talk.
The moment I mentioned him, he tugged at his tie and flashed a wicked smile.
“Vivian, say the word, and I’ll make this woman disappear.”
So the law really didn’t exist in domineering-CEO novels.
Pretending to be terrified, I grabbed Vivian’s hand and leaned against her shoulder.
So soft.
I gave her hand a couple of extra squeezes. Heh.
“Vivian, I’m scared. Please, I’m begging you. I don’t need a title or any public acknowledgment. I only want to stay quietly by Addy’s side.”
Adrian lifted his chin in contempt. “You think someone like you deserves to stay beside me?”
From my angle, I could see straight up his nose.
…
Dear God. Villainess lives mattered too.
What exactly had the original Nadia ever seen in this man?
Adrian continued droning on with his overbearing declarations while Vivian’s gaze traveled slowly from my neck downward.
My face instantly caught fire.