The Contracted Substitute
READING AGE 18+
Mia is barely keeping her head above water. With her mom stuck in a hospital bed and a younger brother still in high school, she’s grinding through double shifts at a rundown diner just to scrape by.
Then everything shatters. Her mom needs emergency surgery, and the cost is way beyond anything Mia can afford. Drowning in desperation, she crosses paths with Asher Holbrook, a billionaire with a strange proposition. He’ll cover the medical bills, but in return, Mia has to impersonate his late girlfriend. The deeper she falls into Asher’s world, the more she questions her own identity.
Now she’s trapped in a deal that feels more surreal by the day. Torn between helping this complicated, magnetic man and holding onto her own identity, Mia finds herself slipping, mirroring the woman she’s supposed to replace, catching feelings for someone who only sees her as a stand-in.
Can she hold on to who she is, or will she disappear into the shadow of the woman he lost?
Unfold
FIVE YEARS LATER
-ASHER-
"Did you see me, Daddy? I was the best flower princess in the world!"
Lily barreled into my legs, frosting smeared across one cheek like war paint. I crouched to wipe it off, her curls bouncing as she giggled.
"Yes, honey. I've told you, no flower girl in the history of weddings h……
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