Chapter 1

Tags: Bought Stand-In, Stand-In Awakens, Rebirth and Revenge, Father-Son Estrangement

I always knew what I was. A bought substitute, brought in to replace my husband’s true love.

I never expected to die so young. Pushed down the stairs by his precious first love, I bled out from losing our second child.

The day I ran out, Scott stood in my way with a dark face. "Apologize to Chloe, and I’ll let you come home."

I had done nothing wrong. Why should I apologize? I silently shook my head and pulled my hand away from his grip.

Later, I was kidnapped. The captors called Scott for ransom.

His icy voice came through the speaker. "Maybe giving her a lesson isn't such a bad idea."

In the end, my blood pooled into a river. I died in an abandoned stairwell corner of Scott’s private hospital.

My four-year-old son, Leo, dropped to his knees, begging his father's true love to save me.

Instead, Scott ordered every doctor not to treat me and forbade anyone from transferring me to another hospital.

"Your mother is getting clever. Now she's using a child to play the victim."

"If you dare disturb Chloe's rest again, I’ll kick your mother out for good. She will never see you again!"

I laughed. If you didn't love me, you could have just let me go. Why put me through this torment?

You got your wish. Two lives were gone in one stroke. My son’s body turned cold too. We will never see you again, not in this life, not ever...

They found me in a dumpster. The kidnappers thought I was already dead. In my haze, I caught fragments of their conversation.

"She’s bleeding too much. She won't last long."

"Let's go report back."

My mind spun. I fought to open my eyes, but I could only feel flies and mosquitoes crawling over my skin.

In the blistering June heat, the stench inside the dumpster made it impossible to breathe.

When a sliver of daylight pierced through and voices drifted near, I summoned my last ounce of strength to kick the side of the bin. The moment I saw an elderly sanitation worker, the world went black.

When I woke up, I was already in a hospital room.

"You're awake?"

Unfamiliar faces in white coats surrounded me. Finally, I felt a wave of relief.

My seven-month-old baby was gone. Both of my wrists were broken, seven ribs were fractured, and my legs were shredded with open gashes. Those would heal, but the severe burns across my back were another story.

The doctor asked, "Do you remember any family contact numbers? Someone needs to sign off on your upcoming surgeries."

Family?

I had none. My parents died when I was in middle school.

The Sterling home? Scott had kicked me out. That place had stopped being my home a long time ago.

I shook my head. "I'm an orphan."

The doctor sighed and reached out—

"Ahhh!"

My body reacted before my brain could process it. As his hand drew near, I instinctively curled into a ball.

Weeks of beatings had taught me that this was the only position that dulled the pain.

"Don't be afraid. It’s okay. I'm just checking to see if your fever broke."

Agony tore through me, making me tremble violently. I knew he didn't mean any harm. He wasn't one of the kidnappers. But the terror was instinctual.

"Don't be scared. You're safe now. I'll protect you. No one is going to hurt you here."

I looked into his gentle eyes, completely numb to the promise.

Once upon a time, Scott had said the exact same words. He swore he would protect me forever. He swore he would never leave me alone.

Yet, he threw me away.

Under the kidnappers' blades, I had placed my very last shred of hope on him.

And what did he say?

"What kind of game are you playing now? Go die, then!"

He told me to die. He told us to die—me and our unborn baby!

He got what he wanted. The child died. On the twentieth day of my captivity, after he hung up on them yet again, the kidnappers lost all restraint. They used every sick method imaginable to torture me.

The baby had only been inside me for a few months. So tiny, so fragile. And then, gone.

My body was covered in trauma, and the late-term miscarriage tore my insides apart, leaving me bleeding uncontrollably.

I just lay in that hospital bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of the years I wasted on Scott, and thinking of my little boy, Leo...

Dr. Miller came by often to keep me company, reading stories to me. He was probably afraid I might take my own life.

At noon one day, the door swung open again.

"Dr. Miller, look, I..."

The words froze in my throat. Standing right behind Dr. Miller was the last person on earth I ever wanted to see.

Scott. My fiancé, the father of my children, the man who threw me out and told me to drop dead.