I Am the Stand-In Chapter 2

I had, in fact, had plastic surgery. I’d also changed my name.

I used to be Leo Hanover.

After leaving the Hanover family, I found my birth parents. Now, I was Sam Cole.

No wonder she didn't react when she heard my name. She sat there like an unfeeling statue, letting her assistant swat away the flies buzzing around her, not even gracing me with a glance.

Her assistant, however, scrutinized my face as if inspecting a cheap forgery.

"You've had work done on your face, haven't you, Mr. Cole?"

"I studied medicine. I can spot a surgeon's work a mile away."

"Unfortunately for you, you've all miscalculated. The boy in Miss Hanover's heart can't be replaced by some cheap imitation."

"What kind of 'one that got away' can be so easily substituted?"

"Not only does Miss Hanover not entertain look-alikes, she finds the very idea repulsive. You've walked right into a minefield. Now, are you going to leave, or do I have to have you thrown out?"

I felt like I was sitting on a bed of nails. Why did everyone keep calling me Seraphina's long-lost love? If only that were true.

In her eyes, I was, and would always be, just her little brother.

The truth is, Seraphina and I share no blood. We were both kidnapped as children and spent three years together in the hands of our captors, relying on each other to survive.

When I was beaten, she would shield me with her own body, taking the searing lash of the whip for me. When she was burning with fever, I'd stay up all night, changing the cool cloth on her forehead. When we were starving, we’d find a single packet of instant noodles; she’d give me the noodles and drink the broth herself.

We lived in a place that was no better than a pigsty. One night, a snake bit me. Without a moment's hesitation, Seraphina knelt, pressed her lips to the wound on my foot, and sucked out the venom.

"Am I going to die, Sera?" I’d sobbed.

She held me tight. "I won't let you die."

Then, her wealthy family found her. I cowered in a corner, convinced our time together was over. But Seraphina grabbed my hand, her grip unyielding, and stared down her parents.

"I want him as my brother," she said, her voice shaking with stubborn resolve. "I'll protect him for the rest of my life."

Her parents were hesitant. So she doubled down.

"Then I'm not going either. Where he goes, I go. No one is separating us."

Overjoyed and stunned, I became the adopted son of the prestigious Hanover family. Seraphina's beloved little brother.

And she truly spoiled me. Still a girl herself, she patiently taught me to read and write. Every tutor her family hired for her, she insisted I join the lesson. She bought me the sharpest clothes, the coolest toys. She was always fixing my collar or styling my hair, transforming me from a grimy, scared little boy into a handsome, polished young man of eighteen.

Everyone in our circle knew I was the boy Seraphina Hanover kept in the palm of her hand.

"He's less an adopted son," they'd whisper behind our backs, "and more her future husband, groomed to perfection."

At the time, those rumors sent a thrill through me. I didn't mind them at all.

Because I was so in love with her.

I wanted to grow up and marry her, so we could be together forever.

But when I finally mustered the courage to confess, her answer shattered my world.

"That's not a line we can cross, Leo. You'll always be my brother."

Her words were like a bucket of ice water, drenching me to the soul. But I couldn't suppress the love that grew more intense with each passing day. You can't command your heart to stop feeling.

I couldn't bear the thought of watching her marry someone else, of another man spending his life by her side. This unrequited love would eventually twist me into something ugly. My only choice was to leave. I thought that with distance, I could finally rein in the almost pathological possessiveness I felt for her.

I never imagined that five years later, our reunion would be like this. Mistaken for some shameless stand-in by her own assistant.