As You Wish, I'll Love You No More

After Successfully Redeeming the Villain.

Night after night, he'd lace his fingers through mine.

His voice was raw with pleading,

Alexis, please, never leave me.

My heart ached for him, for the cruel hand fate had dealt him.

So I chose to stay in this world, and I gave him my karmic luck.

With it, he weathered every storm, swiftly rising to become New York City's most sought-after financial tycoon.

Until the day I overheard him talking to his buddies,

"Alexis? She's old and cursed with the worst luck. Where could she possibly go without me? She couldn't live for a day."

The System's voice echoed in my mind, asking if I wanted to leave now.

"No," I whispered back. "I will take my luck back."

Late one night, Alexander Stone still wasn't home.

I called him.

Before I could speak, laughter crackled down the line,

"Those old fossils at Stone Holdings never saw it coming! Kicking Alex out back then? They dug their own graves! Now the whole damn city answers to him!"

"Damn right! Alex is riding a wave of pure luck. Every stock he bought hits the upper circuit limit. He made us all filthy rich!"

"We're counting on you to keep lifting us up, boss."

The call must have connected by accident.

Then, Alexander's low, rough voice cut through:

"I remember everyone who stands by me."

His tone was flat, devoid of its usual icy detachment, replaced by a hard-won confidence.

Hearing it, I felt a flicker of warmth. The brooding boy I'd known had become the golden boy everyone envied.

More flattery buzzed in the background.

Suddenly, someone joked, voice laced with curiosity:

"What about HER? She's been with you all these years. When's she getting that ring?"

The room plunged into silence.

My own heart clenched tight.

Everyone in Alexander's circle knew about me.

We'd been together for fifteen years. My place was firmly assumed.

In dead silence, Alexander spoke again,

"Ever hear that saying? 'Security, harmony, happiness if these things were put together it might look like or feel like love...But in the end? It's not love.'"

He paused for a beat, then sighed. "Youthful mistakes. How could I possibly take them seriously now?"

In that instant, my heart sank.

The pain took my breath away.

"Alex, man, aren't you worried she'll leave?"

Finally, someone broke the suffocating silence, speaking up for me.

But Alexander's snort cut through the tension.

"Leave? Where the hell would she go? She's six years older than me. She has achieved nothing all these years, grown old and less attractive, and has had nothing but the worst luck!

"Without me? She wouldn't last a day.

"All I feel now is obligation. Cleaning up her constant messes is exhausting feels like bad luck just rubbing off..."

I froze.

Goosebumps prickled my skin. A wave of nausea surged from my gut, and I felt sour and metallic in my throat.

We'd been together for fifteen years!

When I first found him, he'd just been thrown out by the Stones.

He was melancholic, intense, covered in scrapes and huddled on a rain-slicked sidewalk like a wounded, stubborn stray.

My heart broke for him. I fought my way into his life, inch by inch, pulling him out of the darkness.

It started as a mission.

But slowly, I fell for that sensitive, troubled boy.

He clumsily burned his hand making me ginger tea for cramps.

He fiercely told everyone I wasn't just his older sister', but the woman he loved.

When he held me, his eyes were red-rimmed, begging me never to leave him.

So, when the System declared my mission complete, I chose to stay.

I loved that fragile boy.

I gave the System my karmic luck for him to help him reclaim everything stolen from him, watching him shine in the business world.

I knew it was his dream to stride back into Stone Holdings, making his father and the stepmother who replaced his mom choke on their regret.

I still remember the day he carried his mother's ashes out of the Stone mansion.

He buried his face in my shoulder. His voice was thick with tears.

"Alexis, you're all I have. You promise you'll never leave me."

I held him silently.

Later, riding my stolen luck, his career skyrocketed.

The brooding boy vanished, replaced by a cool and commanding tycoon.

Maybe the change started earlier.

Maybe at the first time I found an unfamiliar lipstick stain on his shirt.

Or the time he showed up at a gala with a stunning, unknown woman on his arm, and they even appeared intimately together on camera without hesitation...

When I asked, he replied impatiently,

"Alexis, you know how it is. I have to do that. Young, beautiful women they grease the wheels."

Young. Beautiful.

The words stole my voice. The six-year gap between us suddenly felt like a canyon.

That Alexander wasn't the boy who'd fluster at my glance anymore.

He took my hand and explained," Babe, just relax at home. Let me be your rock."

My rock?

Now I understood.

His pretty promises were chains, to keep this old, useless woman tethered like a dog, living on his scraps

I hung up silently, sitting alone in the apartment.

This place was barely 800 square feet. But it was our first real home together after years of rentals.

Alexander bought it outright the day he made his first million, paying triple to the landlord.

I'd tried to stop him. But he insisted.

"Babe, this place is us. Staying here you'll never want to leave."

His childhood scars left him deep insecurities.

Especially when he sensed my thoughts of leaving this world. It terrified him.

Once, he caught me packing old things

He spent the whole night camped outside my door, terrified I'd vanish.

Now, looking around our home of fifteen years

The display case held his trophies, awards, certificates...

The photo wall was plastered with our memories.

Under the glass tabletop, layers of faded bus tickets from his university days, commuting hours just to see me

Every corner screamed nostalgia.

I wiped my face, surprised to find it wet with tears.

My phone rang.

Alexander called back.

I answered, but I didn't say anything.

"Alexis you heard everything, didn't you?"

After a long silence, his voice came through.

The summer breeze blew in, chilling me to the bone.

I dug my nails into my palm.

It had been 15 years, so I knew him well.

He'd done it on purpose, faking the pocket dial just to make me back off.

Then, I heard a sigh.

"Alexis, stop with the needy girl act. It's pointless."

My knuckles turned white, but I felt nothing.

Was he talking about my late-night worry call?

Or is it referring to this past year, when I was oblivious to his coldness, and continued to care for him even as he deliberately distanced himself?

So

My care was just pointless.

Suddenly, exhaustion washed over me.

"Yeah. Pretty pointless."

Just like these fifteen years. Utterly pointless.

I kept my voice steady:

"Alexander, we're done."

I felt the relief radiating down the line.

After an endless pause, he said, "Alexis, don't play games You've been with me fifteen years. I won't abandon you."

Nausea rolled through me again.

The boy who once cherished me now looked down from his pedestal, his offer dripping with condescension

I took a deep breath, rejecting it.

My voice grew clearer and sharper:

"Alexander, I might be past my prime and in a mess, but that doesn't mean I can't survive without you."

I hung up.

He didn't call back.

He was sure I was throwing a tantrum.

He was convinced that I couldn't possibly live without him.

Closing my eyes, I called out to the System.

The System appeared instantly.

It asked if I wanted to leave this world.

I refused.

With a lowered gaze, I stated my demand.

"I want my luck back."

Six years ago, I chose to stay.

At the time, Alexander was just starting out, and Stone Holdings moved to crush him, throwing their full weight against him.

There were numerous life-threatening situations, and at one point, he nearly lost his life.

So, I gave him my karmic luck.

With it, he bulldozed every obstacle and crushed Stone Holdings underfoot.

In just six years, he became New York's financial tycoon!

But from then on, nothing went right for me. Bad luck clung like a shadow.

I'd joked once, "With all this bad luck, will you still want me?"

He'd taken my hand then, lacing our fingers tight, saying I was his greatest fortune.

His empire was built because of me.

Now, since he'd taken back his love, I was taking back what was mine.

I wanted to see if Alexander Stone, stripped bare of my luck, could still stand tall on that golden pedestal

The System approved my request.

A powerful warmth surged through my chest, flooding my limbs C the sweet, fierce rush of reclaiming what was stolen

System said, "Host, karmic luck was restored. And you have unclaimed rewards. One hundred billion dollars has been deposited to your account."