NTR: The live-in-husband gets a perverted heart system

The following morning broke grey and quiet, and the silence in Tom’s head hadn’t broken with it.

He paced the length of his room, back and forth, back and forth, until his feet seemed to be dragging on the floor.

"Hey system?" he thought, over and over, some mix of plea and demand. "System. Are you there? Come on."

Nothing answered.

Through the wall he could hear Sienna’s voice, muffled but clearly heated, going on about fabric and timelines to whoever was unlucky enough to be on the other end of that call.

He was certain she would be through his door any minute now, ready to finally demand an explanation for what she had walked in on yesterday, and he had absolutely nothing prepared to tell her.

No system whispering him a line. No safety net. Just the shy Tom Harlow, alone in his own head for the first time in a day, and it terrified him more than he wanted to admit.

Then suddenly, when Tom was close to tears;

[Miss me, Host?] The familiar ding rang out in his head and Tom nearly dropped to his knees with relief.

"Where the hell have you been?" The question rolled out of Tom’s tongue sharply.

[Nowhere. Just giving you breathing room.] The system’s tone was light, unbothered, like it hadn’t just left him in silent panic for the better part of a day.

[Yesterday was a lot for a complete novice. You needed to rest before diving into this properly. You’re welcome, by the way.]

Tom exhaled, some tight coil in his chest finally loosening. "You could’ve said something."

[Noted for next time.] It didn’t sound sorry at all. [Now. sit down. let me explain what this actually is.]

Tom didn’t need to be told twice. He sank onto the edge of the bed and began to listen.

[The heart system’s endgame is simple, host.]

[You’re going to recruit two hundred women. influential, wealthy, every one of them belonging to a powerful man who thinks his woman is untouchable. You recruit them into your harem, one by one, and every quest you complete along the way makes you richer, bolder, and harder to ignore than you’ve ever been in your life.]

Two hundred women?

Tom’s stomach turned over at the number, half disbelief, half something that felt uncomfortably close to hunger.

He had never even gotten one woman for himself in his twenty-six years of existence.

[You’ve already cleared your tutorial missions. you’re ready for real quests now.] A pause, almost theatrical. [but first - your daily mission.]

[DAILY MISSION.]

[1. Complete A 5km Walk.]

[2. Eat Two Healthy Meals Today.]

[3. Hold Eye Contact During Every Conversation Today.]

[REWARD: RANDOM CHEST.]

[TIME REMAINING: 16:00:00]

The countdown ticked down steady behind his eyes, already ticking off the seconds from whatever was left of the day.

"What’s in the chest?" Tom asked, already half out of bed.

[You’ll find out when you earn it, host.] Something smug crept into its voice. [You’re in for a treat.]

Tom couldn’t help the small smile that pulled at his mouth. This was real. All of it - the money, the missions, Davina on her knees yesterday - none of it had been some head-injury fever dream, and the proof of that sat glowing behind his eyes like a promise.

He wanted more of it. He wanted it badly enough that he was up and digging through his old box of things before he’d even fully decided to move, pulling out a set of workout clothes he hadn’t worn since before the wedding.

It was close to ten by the time he’d dressed. He figured Sienna would already be gone for her morning meetings, off wherever designers went to argue about fabric samples, and made his way down toward the front door planning to knock out the walk before she ever noticed he’d left his room.

~~~~~~~~~

Tom nearly yelled that luck wasn’t on his side this morning when he came down the stairs and saw Sienna standing right there in the living room.

She had her phone in her one hand with a mug of tea in the other.

Tom froze for half a second - then remembered the third line of his mission, and made himself hold it. He didn’t look away.

He briefly registered that Sienna was still in her pyjamas, which was unusual given the time. The little silky thing was too sinful by the way, despite himself, despite her attitude towards her, he couldn’t resist noticing how perky her breasts were standing freely in the dress.

Sienna glanced up from her phone, caught the eye contact, and blinked, visibly thrown for just a beat before she recovered into her usual sharpness.

"What do you think you’re doing?"

"Going to work out," Tom replied, steadily, still holding her gaze.

"That’s not what I meant, Dumbo." Her voice hardened. "I want to know what the hell that was yesterday. What I walked in on?"

The system dinged in his head, bringing up the notification in his vision;

[SIDE MISSION: SASSY.]

[Give Sienna A Sassy Response Within 5 Seconds.]

[REWARD: $2,000. +1 AUTHORITY.]

Tom’s mouth moved before he’d fully thought it through, two thousand dollars far too good to pass up.

"Your eyes are working perfectly. It’s what you saw."

[MISSION COMPLETE.]

The alert chimed cool and satisfied behind his eyes, and his phone buzzed a second later in his pocket. He didn’t check it yet, but he felt the smile break across his face anyway, involuntary, and didn’t bother hiding it.

Sienna’s mouth fell open, genuinely stunned for the second time in as many minutes. Whatever she had expected - stammering, apologies, the usual Tom folding under pressure the second she raised her voice - it hadn’t been this.

She opened her mouth to say something else. Then the system dinged again.

[NEW SIDE MISSION: Walk Away Before She Can Respond.]

[REWARD: +1 AUTHORITY. $2,000.]

Tom turned and walked straight past her toward the door, unhurried, calm, leaving her standing there mid-breath with whatever she’d been about to say still caught in her throat.

He didn’t look back. He heard her behind him, silent for once, and let the front door click shut on that silence like a small, private victory.

Sienna stood alone in the living room for a long moment after he’d gone, staring at the space where he’d been.

"Wait, what?" Sienna’s jaw was almost touching the ground. She couldn’t say how but the mug in her hand hit the floor with a shattering sound and that jolted her back.

She flinched then blinked.

"There’s something different about him," she muttered, mostly to herself, one hand coming up to press against her own temple like she could physically smooth the confusion out of her head. "A lot different."

She swallowed hard, and didn’t have the first idea how she was supposed to handle whatever this was turning into.

Then before she could stop herself, she found herself doing what she would never have done on a normal day.

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