But what else did he have?
Phei stood up, walked to his mirror one more time, and looked at his reflection—still pale, still tired, still forgettable.
But when he opened his mouth to speak, the voice that came out was different.
"You can do this," he said softly.
Fear still gripped his chest like a vice. Doubt whispered that this would all go horribly wrong. Logic screamed that he was about to ruin his life even more than it already was.
But he'd already decided to die. Already stepped off that building.
What was a little humiliation compared to death?
But that was it, wasn't it? One wrong word, one failed attempt at seduction, and he wouldn't just be humiliated.
He'd be erased.
His name would become synonymous with "predator" in every search engine. His face would be on sex offender registries in multiple states because their families would make sure of it.
He'd never work again—not at a gas station, not even picking up trash on the side of the highway because even the Department of Corrections would reject him.
He'd be homeless, but even the homeless community would shun him because predators weren't safe around anyone.
He'd be alone in every possible sense of the word. No friends, no family, no place to sleep, no food except what he could steal or scavenge from dumpsters that other homeless people hadn't already claimed.
And when winter came—because it always came—he'd freeze to death in some abandoned building, his body found weeks later by squatters who'd report it to exactly no one because who gives a shit about a dead predator?
That was his future if the Charm Speech failed him.
Total annihilation of everything he was or could ever be.
Phei knew he was overthinking most of this shit. But he'd always been someone who calculated the worst outcomes from anything he did.
He was a nobody in Paradise, someone no one cared about, someone even his own family wanted gone. If anything happened to him, they'd probably throw a party.
But thanks to holding back most times—never fighting back, never talking back, just enduring—he'd managed to survive.
And in the end, he had food. A roof over his head. A very big, very expensive roof that sheltered him. He received education at an elite academy that would one day help him escape this hellhole.
At least he could see the results of his restraint. At least there was some payoff.
But until when?
Was he supposed to keep holding back forever? Keep taking everyone's shit even after coming back a week in the past? Even after getting a fucking system?
In novels, guys like him with systems had to break the old shackles to get anywhere.
If he kept cowering at every decision just because of the worst possible outcome, how was he supposed to be a winner? A Dragon among Dragons.
That's what being a DxD was all about, right? Beat every shackle in your way. Rise to the top. And in his case, he just had to seduce one of these women.
One. Fucking. Woman.
Phei stood there in his room, his fists clenched at his sides.
Then he closed his eyes.
Took a breath.
When he opened them again, something had changed. Something had hardened in his expression, settled in his jaw, sharpened in his gaze.
Conviction.
The most driving force anyone could ever have to achieve anything. Even something as petty as revenge. Get a reason. Have enough conviction to do it. Then fucking do it.
He was determined to do this.
Today.
Tonight.
Which was reckless as fuck, by the way. Absolutely insane. But when had playing it safe ever gotten him anything?
Of all the women on his list, he only had access to three right now. Victoria was away at college, so she was out. That left Delilah, who was here. Sienna, who was here. And their mother, Melissa.
Actually, scratch that. He had access to four.
Mrs. Adriana. The rude neighbor.
Melissa used to send him to her house even at night for the most meaningless reasons imaginable—picking up a book Melissa had "lent" her, dropping off some dish, retrieving some stupid kitchen utensil. He could use that excuse to go over there right now if he wanted.
But he knew no tactic that would work on Mrs. Adriana. None. She hated him for no fucking reason, with an intensity that went beyond even Melissa's casual cruelty. The risk with her was 200%.
Maybe higher.
So he had to focus on the three in this house.
Usually by 10 PM, the whole family was asleep or locked in their own rooms doing whatever rich assholes did before bed. But Phei knew their patterns. He'd watched them for years, invisible as always, learning their schedules like they were his job.
Danton was either having girls over or masturbating. Usually he did the latter in Phei's room because boundaries were a concept that didn't apply to the golden boy.
But right now, Danton wasn't here, which meant he probably had a girl in his actual room.
That horny dog was off the list of people who could make his mission difficult tonight.
That left a window of opportunity.
But there was no way in hell he was sneaking into Delilah's or Sienna's rooms.
They'd scream instantly. Even if he just knocked and politely announced he was at the door, they'd freak the fuck out and call for help.
Let's not even imagine what would happen if he just suddenly appeared in their rooms unannounced. Security would be called. Harold would beat him unconscious. Game over.
Which left only one person.
One option.
Melissa.
"Oh my god," Phei said out loud, sitting back down on his bed with a thud.
Harold was going to kill him. Like, actually murder him. Maybe this was one of the ways he was supposed to die in that week the system had mentioned. Death by enraged step-uncle beating him to death with a golf club.
But Phei had already decided.
This was do or die.
And it was happening tonight.
There were things that separated winners from losers. One of them was the willingness to take insane risks when the stakes were already at rock bottom.
Then again, maybe going full suicidal wasn't actually a winner's strategy. Maybe it was just an idiot's way of courting death even faster.
But so be it.
Idiots were winners too, sometimes. Had to be. The odds demanded it.
And besides...
Phei's lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile.
Melissa was the only one who was horny right now.
Why?
Well.
Surprise.