Chapter 2: The Villainess Fights Back

When I got home, Autumn Carter’s parents were nowhere to be found. The housekeeper just said, “Miss, Mr. and Mrs. Carter took your brother to Paris.”

I froze, stunned.

So the whole family jetted off to Paris and didn’t even bother inviting their daughter? Seriously? They left me behind?

In the novel, Autumn was just a side character—a nightmare in the male lead’s backstory. I hadn’t realized her family was this much of a dumpster fire.

I eavesdropped on the staff and pieced together the rest: Mrs. Carter wasn’t Autumn’s birth mom—her real mom died, now she’s got a stepmother. The stepmom had a son, and Dad only cared about the boy, leaving Autumn invisible.

So maybe that’s why Autumn went off the rails.

My own past was even messier—poverty, debt, allergies, parents who wished I’d been born a boy. But I still chose to study hard, make money, and get out.

There are plenty of girls from rough families who fight to be good people anyway.

Pain doesn’t give you a free pass to hurt others.

The system told me I could only live as a thuggish, uneducated bully, doomed to die after the plot finished.

Yeah, I wasn’t having that.

“System, I’m just a side character. Can’t I just keep my head down?”

System: “I wish you could, but fate’s locked in.”

I groaned. “Come on. What if I work my butt off, get into college, move out of the country—then the male lead can’t kill me, right?”

System: “You can try, I guess.”

I dove for the desk and started studying like my life depended on it.

In my last life, I flunked the SATs thanks to my family. If I could get into a good school this time—change my fate—I had to go for it.

After my homework, I pulled out Sebastian’s test and corrected it using the answer key.

Poor guy—he bombed half the questions.

I slapped a giant 80 at the top, just for fun.