Chapter 1

“Two days?”

Naomi Lane, the landlord, drawled as her nails clacked against the phone while she calculated another number.

“Okay. Then I’ll give you two days to think about it. But keep in mind, this is the peak rental season. If you delay me from renting the place out, you’ll have to cover that loss too.

“Since we’ve known each other for three years, I’ll give you a discount. I’ll charge you 2,500.

“After two days, when you’re done thinking about it, just transfer the money to me. Otherwise, don’t blame me for exposing you online.”

The smile on my face froze.

“Naomi, never mind all the other random fees you’re charging; the rent for your house is only 7,500 dollars a month, and you’re charging me an extra 2,500 dollars if I’m two days late?

“This isn’t how you should be charging me, right?”

Naomi snorted coldly as she smacked the table loudly.

“Random charges? My nice house has been so dirty after you lived in it for three years. How are these random charges?”

She was just yapping nonsense.

I found the photos left at the beginning of the rental.

“Naomi, it was obviously like this when you first rented the house to me. I have added a lot of things little by little in the past three years. It’s no exaggeration to say that I have renovated the place.

“I put thousands into upgrading this place, left everything to you, and even paid for professional cleaning. Don’t you slander me!”

Naomi sneered and smacked my phone away.

“I didn’t ask you to spend money to remodel it. Did I agree to it?

“Who knows if the next tenant even likes your style? If you’re so reluctant to part with the place, you can renew the lease!

“If you don’t want to renew the lease, get the house back to its original state!”

I got it. Her outrageous demands were not just to annoy me, but also to pressure me into renewing the lease.

After living there for three years, I had to get the house back to how it was. I had never seen such an unreasonable person.

Her house had been a simple shack in the beginning.

If not for the decent natural light, the spacious layout, and her playing the sympathy card as she claimed her family was desperate for cash and needed to rent it out urgently, I would not have chosen this place.

Plus, when I was renovating the rental, she kept calling me “Sasha dear” in an overly sweet tone, saying how lucky she was that I was putting in the effort to fix the place up.

I thought I had found a good landlord and treated her with courtesy.

For three years, I never once paid rent late. Even during the toughest times, I borrowed money to make the payments on time.

Not to mention, I had brought her gifts during the holidays. Sometimes, when brands sent me promotional items, I would share some with her.

I did not consider us close friends, but at least we were cordial.

But as the three-year lease neared its end, Naomi dropped all pretenses.

First, she raised the rent three months in a row, from 5,000 to 7,500 dollars a month.

Then, when we discussed renewing the lease for the final month, she made an outrageous demand, claiming the housing market was tight and pushing the rent up to 10,000 dollars per month.

I checked similar units nearby. Even the most lavishly decorated ones barely exceeded 5,000 dollars. Naomi clearly thought I was a sucker with deep pockets and assumed I would not walk away after investing so much into the house.

But I was not about to be taken for a ride. In response, she started finding ways to squeeze more money out of me.

Did she really think I was a pushover just because I was fresh out of college?

Well, guess what? I was a streamer, and my channel specialized in consumer rights advocacy and education!

She had bitten off more than she could chew.