Chapter 2The Billion-Dollar Breakup: Confessions of a Former Doormat

Three years ago, because of a single sentence I said to Carter, I became bound to a System.

The System demanded that I treat Carter with unconditional devotion. Once the mission was complete, I would be rewarded with $1 billion.

At first, I didn’t take it seriously.

That was until I missed a mission deadline. I was struck by a severe electric shock, my whole body convulsing, wishing I could just die on the spot.

That was when I realized this System wasn't playing around.

At the time, Carter actually seemed to have a thing for me.

When I joined the company as an intern, he was the one training me.

When he cornered me in the breakroom, his fingers gently brushing against my cheek, my heart definitely skipped a beat.

But when I caught him in the stairwell a week later, practically groping another intern, that crush died instantly.

Later, I analyzed the System's rules carefully.

Wasn't this just a sugar-momma simulator?

For every $1 I spent on Carter, the System returned $100 to my bank account.

But I had to spend my own hard-earned money first. Who knew if the System’s promised billion at the end was even real?

Plus, Carter was in a senior management position.

I was just a lowly intern. Even if I gave him every penny I had, would he even care?

He did care!

But I didn't have time to worry about that. My biggest headache was securing my full-time offer.

I put together a flawless project proposal and handed it in.

The next day, Carter shoved a different, mediocre proposal into my hands and told me to claim it as mine.

I watched helplessly as the other intern, Chloe Jenkins, dazzled everyone in the boardroom using my brilliant proposal.

Meanwhile, I stood there holding her garbage proposal and got chewed out by the executives.

Carter then stood up, apologizing sincerely to the room. He claimed he hadn't mentored me well enough, but insisted he saw "potential" in me, successfully lobbying to keep both Chloe and me on the team.

I understood immediately.

He needed someone to sleep with, and someone to do the actual work.

Chloe and I had clearly defined roles.

That day, I realized exactly what my future at this company looked like.

With Carter suppressing me, I’d never get the credit. I'd just be the workhorse taking the blame.

If that was the case...

Why shouldn't I be the one moving up?

Soon after, using a burner email, I sent a highly explicit video of Carter and our female department director going at it in the boardroom to the entire company's mailing list.

Carter was fired.

The female director was ruined.

Before she left, she hired someone to beat the living hell out of Carter.

And right at that moment, I swooped in.

I bought him meds, cooked for him, and took perfect care of him.

I originally thought that if he genuinely turned over a new leaf, I’d consider it my good deed for the decade.

But one day, when I unlocked his apartment door, I heard strange noises coming from the bedroom. I froze.

Hearing the front door, Carter poked his head out.

He looked panicked.

A woman walked out of the bedroom, clothes disheveled, her face flushed.

It was Chloe Jenkins.

Later, I found out exactly why Chloe had come looking for him.

Even though Carter was fired for a sex scandal, he still had industry connections.

She wanted him to help her get a promotion.

Carter looked at me, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Harper, you came to me. Are you telling me you don't have the same goal? You and Chloe, neither of you is better than the other. But she's willing to put herself out there. She's going to go a lot further in this industry than you."

Is that so?

The day I was promoted to Carter's old position as Department Manager, my first order of business was demoting Chloe.

Carter’s phone call came through almost immediately.

"Harper, what the hell is this?"

"Are you targeting me, or are you targeting Chloe?"

Both, obviously.

But I couldn't say that.

I kept my voice soft. "It was an executive decision. My hands are tied. I'm really sorry... how about I buy you that designer belt you wanted to make up for it?"

Carter cursed at me and hung up.

When I showed up at his place with a $1,500 Gucci belt, Carter was genuinely shocked.

He pinned me against the wall, his hot breath grazing my ear.

"Did you really take down Chloe just for me?"

"Harper, I didn't know you could be so ruthless just to have me."

His eyes suddenly filled with suspicion.

I knew he was wondering about that anonymous boardroom video.

I turned my head away, looking at the floor with teary eyes.

"So what if I did? Will you give her up for me?"

"Heh! Depends on what you're willing to pay."

He lowered his head to kiss me.

The way he moved, it felt like he wanted to devour me alive.

He was no gentleman. If I was offering myself up on a silver platter, he wasn't going to refuse.

But I felt sick. I wanted to vomit.

If it weren't for the System's electric shocks, I would be staying a million miles away from a scumbag like him.

I flipped the script, pressing a hand against his lips to stop him.

"Carter, I can give you everything I have. But you have to pay a price, too. If you ever betray me, I'll kill you."

He scoffed, not taking me seriously at all. With a cold expression, I dragged him into the kitchen.

I picked up a chef's knife, sliced my wrist slightly, and let the blood drip into a bowl.

I handed the knife to him.

"Your turn. Our blood needs to mix. We drink this, and whoever betrays the other dies a horrible death."

I was dead serious.

If Carter actually dared to make the blood oath, I would have accepted my fate.

But Carter dropped the knife in horror.

"You're a psycho! You're out of your damn mind!"

"Carter, I only love once. If you want to be with me, we have to do this."

I picked up the knife.

I took a step toward him.

Carter was terrified.

He frantically knocked the knife out of my hand, shoved me out of his apartment, and warned me never to come back.

I looked at the drying blood on my wrist and sneered.

What a coward.

I paid a little price, but I knew that from this day forward, Carter Brooks would never dare touch me or make out-of-line demands again.

For a long time after that, he didn't contact me, and I didn't contact him.

Whenever I suffered the agonizing, near-death electric shocks from missing a System deadline, I would tell myself: if I can survive this pain, nothing else in life can stop me.

Sure enough, my career skyrocketed.

Six months later, I took over the female director's old position, becoming the youngest Senior Director in the company.

Meanwhile, Chloe Jenkins had been completely marginalized. She'd be lucky to make supervisor in this lifetime.

After my promotion dinner, Carter called me. His tone was suggestive.

"Harper, should I come over?"

I hesitated for a second, then said yes.