Who Is the Villainess

Chapter 1

I was stalked by a guy I tried to help out.

He’d track my every move, bombarding my phone with spam calls and texts.

He even dressed up as a delivery guy or a pizza dude to drop off creepy stuff at my door, then lie to the cops, saying I was his girlfriend.

Then, three months later, he jumped.

His family came after me, demanding I marry him in a “ghost marriage,” or they’d jump too, right in front of me.

They set up a livestream at the local farmer’s market, kneeling and crying about how their son was scammed. They were raking in cash from donations, while I was getting dragged all over social media.

The internet exploded, calling me a gold digger, heartless. People said he wouldn’t have killed himself if I’d just accepted his “love.”

Some were even crying, begging for him to be reborn as their child. Seriously?!

They doxxed me, I lost my job, and then some jerk ran me over with his car.

My parents had to sell their house to pay off the dead guy’s family, and ended up homeless.

Only after I died did I learn it was all a setup, a carefully planned emotional con.

1

This young guy with cancer pretended to be a girl online and I, being the nice idiot I am, donated a grand to her.

He started asking for girly stuff like pads and socks with teddy bears on them, obviously trying to mislead me.

To make her feel more comfortable, I used terms like “babe” and “sweetheart” in our texts, just normal stuff girls say to each other.

But, aimed at a dude? They sounded way too flirty.

After he died, his family twisted those texts, took them out of context, and plastered them all over the web.

Suddenly, I was the one who’d seduced and toyed with him.

My life was ruined. I lost everything, got killed, and died with a stain on my name.

Even my parents couldn’t handle the stares and whispers, and they had to leave the only town they’d ever known.

I thought it was just some messed-up gratitude at first, until I found out it wasn’t even just the one dude using the account.

At the start, it really WAS a young girl chatting and joking with me.

Then her brother got sick, and my thousand-dollar donation turned into the fuse that lit the whole thing up.

Their greed came pouring out, seeing me as a cash cow they could milk dry.

They actually thought up this whole emotional extortion scheme, even demanding my parents hand over my body for some creepy ghost marriage!

I was livid. I went straight to their souls to rip them apart! But then, everything went black.

Now, I’m standing here again, watching this guy, let’s call him Billy, grinning at the cops, reaching for me like he owns me: “Misunderstanding! She’s my girlfriend. We just had a fight.”

The female cop glared. “Yeah, right. You’re the one who pretended to be a pizza guy and delivered that creepy love letter written in blood, aren’t you?”

The male cop next to her winced.

But Billy just smiled, all slimy. “You wouldn’t understand. It’s just our little thing.”

2

Last time, I was bullied to death by public opinion because I didn’t have actual proof to defend myself.

This time, I grabbed the female cop’s hand, shoved my phone in their faces, showing them dozens of harassing calls and messages. I needed solid evidence, right here and now.

“Officer, I don’t know this man. He’s been stalking me.”

Billy’s face turned red. “You think you’re all that? What makes you think I’d stalk you?”

He paused, gritting his teeth. “Don’t listen to her, officers. Women, you know? Always moody, always dramatic.”

Billy wanted to paint us as a couple, which had been his sister’s plan all along, so he could trap me, and get money to treat his disease.

The cops weren’t buying it. They gave Billy a stern warning and, at my request, handed me a police report.

I smiled, tilting my head, watching Billy glare at me from the corner of my eye.

What? Can’t handle it?

I’m not a forgiving person. This time, they’re going to get a taste of what I went through.

3

Billy’s sister hasn’t revealed that the two of them are using the same account, yet.

Billy’s beady eyes flashed greed, as he tapped something into his phone.

My phone buzzed. A message popped up on the app I downloaded just for this.

A cute emoji bounced across the screen: Sweetheart, we’re still good for you to pay for my expenses this week, right? Luv ya.

I almost threw up.

I knew that the account with the cute profile pic, the one who confessed all sorts of girly troubles to me, was now this creep.

Scrolling back, it was all there. The guy pretending to be his sister, whining about how awful her family was, begging to move in with me before the SATs.

He’d even set me up, saying how much he liked me, and how he wanted me to be his wife.

Every message was carefully crafted, so different from Billy’s dumbass routine.

No wonder I fell for it the first time.

I replied with a smile: “No wife. You can move in, little sister.”

He deleted and retyped over and over.

Billy was clearly waiting for his sister’s cue.

A pitiful emoji popped up.

“Why not? We’re, like, practically together! I should call you ‘wife’.”

The message was so suggestive. Anyone could see that.

I grinned, crushing any idea of us being anything but friends: “Call me ‘wife’ again, and you’re out, little sister.”

He choked, deleting and retyping. I blocked him, giving him no chance to reply.

I knew they wouldn’t let me go. Finding a sucker like me wouldn’t be easy.

But the feeling was mutual. I wanted them in hell.

4

Just like last time, I only agreed to let Billy’s sister, let’s call her Sarah, live in the house, and she snuck the whole family in.

What she didn’t know was, I’d already installed hidden cameras, recording them plotting to scam me.

The footage showed them moving around my house, rummaging through my stuff.

Billy had his feet on the coffee table. His dad flicked ashes into my bowl.

A middle-aged woman gushed over the house, then wiped her eyes, talking to Billy;

“Good, son. Real good. You can find a rich wife. In a month, once that girl puts it online that you two are living together, the house and her money will be yours. Your cancer can be cured, and your mom and dad can finally live the good life!”

She was getting emotional, imagining it.

She had already put my house and my money in her pocket, and had put me in Billy’s “wife” role.

Sarah stood beside them in her school uniform, looking nervous.

I gnashed my teeth.

In the beginning, the account I joked around with really WAS her.

Then her brother got sick, and the thousand dollars I sent her was the start of it.

Their greed came rushing out, and I was the target for them to squeeze.

Sarah was smart, top of her class. I wouldn’t have helped her if it wasn’t for that, and I let her into my house, but she was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

5

I was in my office. Sarah must know my routine now. She came to flatter me with my favourite dessert.

Who would think the girl smiling beside me was planning how to kill me? She even had a hidden camera on her head.

I noticed the camera running and didn’t say anything.

Sarah had really tough nerves. Even though she was being turned away, she had a perfect smile.

“You must be tired. My brother sent this to thank you for looking after me lately.”

Ah, so that’s why she came.

She did this last time too.

Who would be nice to a girl like that?

One, we were in contact somehow. Now Billy had control of that.

Two, I was the “girlfriend” character Sarah had created. She was thanking the future sister-in-law.

Looking at her, even the sweet treat I loved was making me sick.

Sarah was the kind of people-pleaser that had been beaten down by her family. She was buying stuff she could never afford, like the dessert.

But she was a student from a poor family. Where did she get the money?

After my death, I found out Sarah was a thief.

Sarah’s sticky fingers kept getting her in trouble.

Her stealing was more like theft.

She would grab money from my purse, then say: “We have to pay for our school books, so I’ll just take it.”

Back then, I couldn’t say anything.

But I had died because of her, so why would I keep caring about her feelings?

I grinned, snatching my wallet back.

Sarah stared, then smiled. “What’s wrong?”

I poked her forehead. “Who said you could take my stuff? Taking something without asking is stealing. Don’t you know that?”

She acted clueless. “You’re so busy. Wouldn’t it be better if I just grabbed it myself?”

I noticed her hair clip and smiled. “That looks like a new style. Where did you get the money?”

Sarah reached for her hair, and lied so easily: “I got a fake version.”

Seeing that I wasn’t giving her money, she was annoyed. “Are you going to keep this up? Give me the money so I can go to school.”

I smiled. “Ask your mom.”

I saw the hatred in her eyes. After she left, I saved the video of our conversation.

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Of course, Sarah didn’t ask her family. She had an idea, and went to her teacher and cried.

She told her classmates I was her rich sister.

The teacher called me and asked: “I don’t know why you’re doing this to Sarah. Her parents don’t care about her school work and she needs money for supplies. You’re an adult, so why are you?”

I looked at my nails. “There must be some misunderstanding. I’m her landlord. Not her sister. She said it was five hundred, not two hundred. She also stole my money to buy a hair clip.”