His Obsession: My Family Can Read My Mind

"Host, please prepare. Once the countdown ends, you will finally enter your luxurious, blissful retirement!" System 08’s mechanical voice echoed in Mia Vance's mind. She closed her eyes, practically smelling the sea breeze of the private island she planned to buy with her ten-billion-dollar retirement package. Ninety-nine worlds of playing the villainess, ninety-nine worlds of suffering, and now, finally— BAM. A sharp, throbbing pain shot through her left arm, followed by a dizzying wave of nausea. Mia’s eyes snapped open. The scent of ocean air was replaced by the cloying smell of expensive perfume and chlorine. "Consider this a gentle warning, Mia," a sneering, high-pitched voice hissed. "Stay away from Silas Sinclair. He belongs to Vivian. A trashy, low-class reject like you doesn’t even deserve to breathe the same air as him." Mia blinked, her vision clearing to reveal a girl in a designer dress glaring down at her with pure disdain. The girl gave Mia’s plastered left arm a vicious shove, laughing as Mia winced, before turning on her heel and strutting back toward the crowded luxury poolside party. Mia sat frozen on the stone bench. The plaster cast on her left arm was cracked, throbbing with fresh agony. She looked down at her hands, then at the sprawling, opulent garden of a five-star New York hotel. No. No, no, no. "System 08," Mia whispered, her voice dripping with enough icy venom to freeze a volcano. "You have exactly three seconds to explain why I am not on my private beach." The AI chip in her brain let out a pathetic, trembling beep. [H-Host! There was a massive system glitch! You’ve been redirected to a bonus world. The system database encountered an error, and the transfer failed!] Mia’s lips curled into a terrifying, beautiful smile. "A glitch? After ninety-nine worlds of torture, you give me a glitch?" [Wait! Wait!] the system shrieked, desperate to save its own synthetic skin. [Because of the glitch, the Board of Directors has authorized a triple payout! If you complete this final world, your ten-billion-dollar retirement fund will become thirty billion!] Mia’s murderous expression instantly vanished. Her eyes lit up with the brilliant, dazzling sparkle of a woman who worshiped money above all else. "Thirty billion? Cash? Tax-free?" [Yes! Thirty billion! In any currency or asset portfolio you want!] "Well," Mia sighed, gently patting her cracked cast. "Since we're already here... it would be rude to refuse. Open the world data." Within seconds, the plot of The Blackened CEO’s Obsession flooded her mind. In this world, she was Mia Vance, the long-lost biological daughter of the wealthy Vance family. Having been lost for fifteen years and raised in the slums, she had recently been brought back to New York high society. But instead of being welcomed, she was despised. Her parents and her four older brothers found her crude, bratty, and desperately embarrassing compared to their perfect, adopted lifestyle. To make matters worse, she was engaged to Silas Sinclair—the cold, ruthless billionaire CEO who secretly ruled the dark underworld of the city. The engagement had been arranged by Silas's grandmother, but Silas despised Mia. He was in love with Vivian Harper, the delicate, fake-innocent "White Lotus" of the story. The girl who had just broken Mia's cast was Chloe, Vivian’s loyal attack dog. Chloe had dragged Mia to this secluded corridor of the hotel charity gala to teach her a lesson for "clinging" to Silas. Mia analyzed the host's current "Villainess Missions." Rule 1: Maximize the hatred/disgust of the main characters. Rule 2: Alternatively, maximize their affection. Please, Mia thought with a smirk. I’ve been a villainess for ninety-nine lifetimes. Making people hate me is as natural as breathing. Let's go get those thirty billion dollars. She stood up, ignoring the throbbing in her arm. Through the manicured hedges, she could see Chloe standing near the edge of the deep luxury pool, laughing into her phone. "Yes, Vivian, I handled her," Chloe giggled. "I made sure she knows her place. Silas won't have to look at her ugly, cast-bound face tonight—" Chloe didn't get to finish her sentence. A sudden, violent force slammed into her lower back. Before she could comprehend what was happening, Chloe was airborne. With a spectacular splash, she crashed into the eight-foot-deep end of the swimming pool. "Ah! Help! I can't swim! Help!" Chloe screamed, thrashing wildly in the chlorinated water. Mia stood at the edge of the pool, her face instantly morphing from cold amusement to a mask of absolute, tearful terror. "Oh my god! Help!" Mia screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice carrying across the entire garden. "Someone help! She fell in! Chloe fell in!" Within seconds, the nearby socialites, security guards, and waiters rushed over. A lifeguard jumped in and dragged a shivering, choking Chloe out of the water. As a crowd gathered, a wealthy, middle-aged woman—Chloe's mother—shoved her way through the onlookers. Seeing her drenched, sobbing daughter, she whipped her head around and glared at Mia. "You!" the woman roared. "You pushed my daughter! Chloe can't swim! You tried to murder her!" Mia shrank back, her delicate shoulders trembling. Her wide, almond eyes filled with unshed tears, making her look incredibly small, fragile, and utterly defenseless. "I-I didn't!" Mia sobbed, clutching her broken arm to her chest. "I was just walking back, and I saw her trip! I screamed for help immediately! If I pushed her, why would I call for the guards to save her? Why are you blaming me?" She looked around the crowd, her voice cracking with perfect, heartbreaking vulnerability. "I know... I know everyone here thinks I’m just a trashy girl from the slums. You all hate me because the Vance family doesn't want me. But how can you accuse me of murder? Just because I have no one to protect me? Just because I'm alone?" Just as Mia was delivering her award-winning performance, a tall, imposing figure stepped through the crowd. It was Carter Vance, the eldest brother of the Vance family. Cold, aristocratic, and the formidable CEO of Vance Enterprises, Carter looked at the scene with deep annoyance. He was thoroughly sick of Mia's constant drama ruining the family's reputation. He opened his mouth to publicly reprimand Mia and demand she apologize to end the scene. But before a single word could leave his lips, a clear, sweet, and incredibly sarcastic female voice echoed directly in his brain. 【Tsk. Here comes my arrogant, soon-to-be-bankrupt eldest brother. Seriously, look at him. High-and-mighty, but he's going to end up dead in a ditch in two years with his throat slit. What a waste of a handsome face.】 Carter froze. He stared at Mia. Her lips were completely closed. She was still sobbing softly, tears streaming down her pale, porcelain cheeks as she clutched her cast. Yet, the voice in his head was clear as day. And it was undeniably hers. 【Come on, you handsome i***t, do the honors. Go ahead and yell at me. Show everyone how much the Vance family despises their biological daughter. Push me closer to my thirty billion. Do it! I dare you!】 Carter’s heart skipped a beat. His hands, clad in a bespoke Italian suit, clenched into tight fists. What the hell is going to happen to Vance Enterprises? he thought, his logical mind reeling. And did she just say... I'm going to end up dead in a ditch?