The Year I Was Starving: Blackmailing the Billionaire Heir for 50 Bucks

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The year I was the absolute hungriest, I used intimate photos to blackmail the untouchable billionaire heir into giving me fifty bucks.

The next second, lines of floating comments appeared right before my eyes.

[...Talk about thinking small.]

[Is the villainess stupid? Doesn't she know to ask for more? Carter Sterling is the heir to a billionaire empire!]

[Baby is still so innocent right now. Stay away from Carter, or hell exile you to Antarctica to count penguins!!]

My name is Chloe Thorne.

I strongly suspected I was hallucinating from hunger.

I had two pieces of evidence.

First piece of evidence:

Three days ago, I had a wild one-night stand with Carter Sterling.

Shamelessly, I took a few intimate photos as evidence, just in case Carter tried to turn around and bite me.

Even more shamelessly, because I currently had zero money for food, I wanted to use those photos to ruthlessly extort him.

So, I found his TikTok account.

He had only posted a single video, and it was just a very basic night-running clip.

Clearly just a casual post.

But in it, Carter was wearing a white sleeveless muscle shirt and gray sweatpants.

He was tall and lean, his skin pale, and a thin layer of sweat acted like a natural highlighter on his body. His Adam's apple bobbed. Even though it only showed his sharp jawline for a split second, you could instantly tell he was ridiculously hot.

His username was just the letter [C].

This was an assignment from our social media marketing professoreveryone had to hit 10,000 followers.

Carter was clearly doing the bare minimum.

And he only followed one person: Lily Brooks. My roommate, and Carter's childhood sweetheart.

My stomach growled pathetically.

I dug out the most conservative photo from that night. It showed Carter's handsome side profile, his arm draped across me, revealing a tiny hint of cleavage and a visible bite mark on his collarbone. Thanks to the camera angle, my face was completely hidden.

It was highly suggestive, yet beautifully cinematic.

I hit send, only for the app to notify me that I could only send one message to someone who didn't follow me.

I waited quietly for his reply.

Ten minutes later.

Carter's pitch-black profile picture replied with a single question mark.

Arrogant and cold.

I wasn't happy, so I dropped a not-so-subtle warning.

[You wouldn't want this photo to get leaked, would you?]

Everyone on campus knew Carter and Lily were childhood sweethearts, a match made in heaven.

This time, he replied instantly. He was clearly panicking.

[What do you want?]

[Money.]

[How much?]

[Fifty.]

Hurry, hurry, hurry! Today was Taco Tuesday, and I was fully prepared to treat myself to a massive feast.

Carter was extremely annoyed.

[Fifty for a single photo. You're quite the businesswoman.]

It was my first time extorting someone, so I felt a little guilty.

[Is twenty-five okay, then?]

[Venmo.]

I let out a massive sigh of relief.

What an exhilarating psychological battle.

I immediately shot him my Venmo QR code.

The next second, the automated voice on my phone announced the transfer.

Venmo transfer received: Five hundred thousand dollars.

!!

How much?!

Was I so hungry I was hearing things?

Second piece of evidence:

While I was extorting Carter, lines of glowing text started floating in front of my eyes.

[...Talk about thinking small.]

[Is the villainess stupid? Doesn't she know to ask for more? Carter Sterling is the heir to a billionaire empire!]

[Baby is still so innocent right now. Stay away from Carter, or hell exile you to Antarctica to count penguins!!]

[You're telling me this girl, currently stuffing her face with tacos, is going to become the ultimate final boss? Yeah, right.]

[Hey, even femme fatales need time to grow up!]

The text was scrolling so fast it made me dizzy.

It wasn't until I dragged my exhausted body to the nearest taco truck, guarded my newfound fortune, and stuffed myself to the brim that it finally hit me.

I wasn't hallucinating from hunger.

This was all real.

The $500,000 Carter sent me was real.

These floating comments were real.

I spent the entire afternoon piecing the truth together from the chat overlay.

I was living inside a romance novel.

The male lead was Carter Sterling. The female lead was Lily Brooks. They were childhood sweethearts, pure and innocent, a match made by fate.

And me? I was the corrupted, vicious female antagonist.

Who?

Me?

You're telling me that someone like mewhose wallet currently held exactly two pennies, who loved drinking canned Yoo-hoo, who had perfect grades but a gambling-addict dad, a dead mom, a sick grandma, a broken home, and the title of "Campus Queen"would eventually turn evil out of jealousy over Lily's perfect love life and kidnap her?!

...Actually, yeah, that tracks.

I wiped the condensation off the bathroom mirror.

A beautiful body appeared in the reflection. The only flaw was the faint bruises scattered across it.

My waist was tiny, and Carter's fingerprint bruises were still lingering on my skin.

But I had gotten my revenge, too.

I had bitten down hard on his shoulder. I bet there was still a perfect ring of teeth marks there right now.

I remember Carter's alcohol-fogged mind clearing up for a second at the pain.

"Are you part dog?"

And then he had been even rougher.

Truthfully, I was punishing him for not remembering me.

In my cramped, dingy apartment, I had carved out one cozy little corner.

Under the warm glow of a desk lamp sat a red can of Yoo-hoo chocolate drink.

I popped the tab with one hand and took a sip.

The sweet, chocolatey flavor flooded my mouth.

I loved it.

The reason probably traced back to when I was ten, scavenging the streets for recyclables.

Carter was the best-looking person I had ever seen in my life. But even better looking was the can of Yoo-hoo in his hand.

Aluminum cans were worth an extra five cents compared to cardboard.

I stared at him like a hawk.

He raised an eyebrow. "You want this?"

I nodded frantically.

Carter, who had never lacked for anything, casually tossed it to me.

But because of chronic malnutrition, I was tiny and weak. I couldn't catch it.

The can hit the concrete, cracking open. The sweet, milky chocolate spilled out, mixing with the muddy puddles on the ground.

Carter clicked his tongue, stood up looking annoyed, and said, "Wait here."

He walked into the convenience store.

I picked up the crushed can, wiped the mud off with my sleeve, and sucked up the remaining liquid.

It was sweet.

But not as sweet as the candies I got on New Year's.

Carter walked out of the store, paused when he saw me, and turned right back around.

That day, I ended up with an entire case of Yoo-hoo.

I drank it like it was water.

And I even filled the empty aluminum cans with a little water before selling them to the recycling center.

I made 0-09.31 that day.

So, when I saw Carter black-out drunk at a college party, I deliberately distracted Lily, then intentionally-yet-unintentionally fanned the flames of his desire.

Thinking about it now...

This entire plotline... felt suspiciously like a sponsored ad for Yoo-hoo.

[The villainess is starting to get tangled up with Carter!]

[The male lead has no self-control. He doesn't even realize he belongs with the female lead until way later.]

[Am I the only one who thinks Carter actually loved Chloe all along? I mean, if he was that drunk, he wouldn't have been able to... perform.]

[True. The plot point where Carter suddenly realizes he's in love with Lily later always felt super forced.]

[Honestly, sometimes I think Chloe's attraction to Carter is just purely biological at this point.]

Holy crap.

I opened my chat thread with Carter.

Half a million dollars was way too much.

I only wanted fifty bucks.

Who knew rich people used entirely different units of measurement?

So, I sent him another, slightly more conservative photo. I was terrified of getting banned for explicit content.

This time, he replied fast.

[Stop messing around.]

[How much do you want this time?]

I decided to show some backbone.

[I don't want money this time.]

[Buy one get one free?]

I could practically see Carter's sneer through the screen.

My villainy meter ticked up by 1%.

[Nope. I just wanted to ask if you wanted to come over and relive that night~]

I even added a little tilde at the end.

So manipulative. Total pick-me energy.

Who knew Carter was so good at playing the game?

[That's it? You can relive it with this.]

[Image attached.]

I opened the photo, and my face burned completely red, the heat rushing all the way down my neck.

It was a mirror selfie. Carter's long fingers were pulling up his black shirt. His abs were deeply defined, his forearms corded with veins, and his V-line disappeared dangerously low beneath the waistband of his sweatpants, leaving entirely too much to the imagination.

The sexual tension was off the charts.

I went dead silent for twenty minutes.

It wasn't until I was washing my face with cold water that I checked my DMs again.

Carter had sent another message: [Where'd you go? No feedback?]

I closed my eyes, my face still burning.

I typed back with total sincerity: [I'm sorry.]

Carter absolutely lost his mind laughing.

This time, he sent a voice memo.

"It's only human nature."

The live comments were losing their minds, too.

[Spam 'I'm sorry' in the chat, immediately!]

[Carter, you're too good at baiting!]

[Forget the villainess, I can't hold back either! I'M SORRY!!!]

[This is entirely Carter's fault (crying).]

[I'm sorry!]

[I'm sorry!]

For a solid minute, the entire chat overlay was just people apologizing.

I backed out of my chat with Carter.

If I kept talking to him, I was going to end up in trouble!

The next second, Lily sent me a text.

[Chloe, I think Carter might have a crush on someone else.]

Was this the legendary love triangle drama?

My feelings toward Lily were incredibly complicated.

On one hand, the only reason I became her best friend was to get closer to Carter and casually steal her man.

On the other hand... I didn't really like her.

Watching her wake up every morning, stretch happily, and yell, "You can do this, Lily!" before starting her perfect, sunshine-filled day... it just made my dark, rat-like crawling through life feel incredibly pathetic.

When I dragged myself back to this cramped apartment, my back aching from standing all day at my part-time jobs, I felt like a zombie.

I couldn't stand being around a human sunbeam.

I hated her.

But right now, she was clearly very upset.

[Yesterday, when Carter was playing basketball, I saw marks on his neck.]

[Huh?] I replied dismissively.

Marks.

That night had been so chaotic. And Carter's technique at the beginning had been... aggressively terrible.

When it hurt, my nails had definitely left some collateral damage on his neck.

Lily replied instantly.

[Yeah! I asked him what happened, and he totally brushed it off and said a cat scratched him.]

...

I pressed my lips together and quietly changed my profile picture to a fat, orange tabby cat.

That was a subtle enough hint, right?

[Chloe, do you think he has a secret crush? When he leaned over, I swear I saw a hickey on his collarbone...]

Then, she rapid-fired several 60-second voice memos.

I was way too lazy to listen to them.

So I hit her with the ultimate lazy responses:

[Wow, crazy.]

[Omg.]

[It is what it is.]

Eventually, Lily's emotional spiral stabilized.

Then she sent me a digital invitation.

[It's my birthday pool party on Saturday! You have to come!]

The birthday party.

Lily hosted it at her family's massive estate.

There was a huge pool, and plenty of guys and girls were walking around in revealing swimsuits. Girls were sunbathing on giant inflatable swans, while a few guys were swimming laps like dolphins.

It felt like I had walked onto the set of a reality dating show.

Lily was wearing a pink bikini. Her skin was flawless, her long hair reaching her waist, the wet strands clinging to her skin in a way that was innocent but seductive.

I, on the other hand, was just wearing denim cut-offs and a plain white ribbed tank top.

The comments started rolling:

[Huh? Did the villainess change her strategy? I thought she was going to wear a bright red bikini to steal the spotlight.]

[Ngl, Chloe's body is so insane, even I want to bury my face in her chest.]

[Carter really won the lottery.]

[The villainess is stupid but genuinely gorgeous. We love a beautiful queen.]

I had been feeling pretty depressed lately.

I always thought that despite starving as a kid, having my recycling money stolen by my gambling-addict dad, and suffering from chronic malnutrition... the fact that I still managed to grow up with a tiny waist, long legs, and a stacked chest meant I possessed protagonist-level genetics.

Turns out, I was just the villainess.

It practically shattered my worldview.

Because of that, I had lost all interest in showing off in a bikini.

Meanwhile, Lily was sitting on an inflatable flamingo, splashing and laughing brightly with Mason Hayes.

But her big, round eyes kept darting up toward the second-floor balcony.

I followed her gaze.

Carter was standing up there, dressed entirely in black. His sleeveless shirt showed off his incredibly toned arms. His long fingers held a glass of champagne as he stared down at the party with cool indifference.

Perhaps he felt my intense staring.

He tilted his head slightly, and our eyes locked.

I immediately looked down and started picking at my nails.

When people feel awkward, they suddenly become very busy.

Wow, this chair is made of such... chair material.

Suddenly, Lily let out a blood-curdling scream.

She had fallen into the water.

Mason, who was right next to her, immediately dove under and dragged her to the edge.

"Lily! Are you okay?!" Mason sounded frantic.

Lily coughed violently, her eyes red. She had definitely swallowed some pool water.

Carter hurried down the stairs. The moment he crouched by the edge of the pool, Lily tried to throw her arms around his neck.

But Carter smoothly leaned back, and Lily grabbed nothing but air.

"Carter, I was so scared. I thought I was never going to see you again," she sobbed, her voice soft and fragile.

Mason, standing awkwardly to the side, let out a bitter laugh, trying to play it cool. "Took you long enough to get down here, Carter."

But Mason's fists were clenched tight at his sides.

Tsk.

As expected of the tragic second male lead.

In the hierarchy of unrequited love, he was definitely the valedictorian of Simp University.

The chat overlay was moving at lightspeed.

[Stop, my heart is breaking for the second male lead.]

[Mason looks like a sad, wet puppy.]

[The second male lead belongs to the readers! But Lily wants both the male lead AND the second male lead. Greedy!]

[Just saying... Lily was in the shallow end. If she just stood up, she wouldn't have drowned.]

[You can drown in the shallow end too! Let it be known!]