The Stand-In Bride's Secret Chapter 1

During the year I hit rock bottom, I agreed to my mother’s demand.

I would marry a man in place of my twin sister and take care of her newly blind husband.

What they didn't know was that in this game of playing the substitute, I had fallen far too deep into my role.

Later, when we met again, he was holding my sister's hand, announcing to the media that they were going to hold a grand wedding.

Everyone said they were a match made in heaven, their love stronger than gold.

He twisted the wedding band on his finger, his gaze dropping to the audience. "My wife is the best woman in the world."

My sister smiled radiantly beside him.

And I stood in the audience, fighting back tears, clapping for their beautiful love story.

* * *

"Here is one million dollars." The elegantly dressed woman sitting on the sofa handed me a check.

I stared at her for a few seconds before finally stepping forward to take it.

"After today, Harrison's vision will be fully restored. So, it's time for both of you to return to your rightful places."

That's right. The woman sitting on the sofa was my biological mother, Evelyn.

She looked dotingly at the girl standing next to her. "Lily, you two should communicate about the minor details of your daily life. You absolutely cannot let Harrison notice anything is off."

The girl nodded obediently. "I know, Mom."

After Evelyn left, Lily dropped her innocent act. She crossed her legs and looked at me with smug satisfaction.

"Mia, my dear sweet sister."

"You really should win an Oscar. If it wasn't for you, how could Harrison have fallen so deeply in love with me?"

"Regardless, for these past two years, I suppose I owe you a thank you."

I looked at the face that resembled mine by about sixty or seventy percent, and forced a slight twitch of my lips. "Yeah."

"But seriously, your acting is incredible. How about you become my permanent body double?"

"As for the pay, I'll take eighty percent, you take twenty. How's that? Being an actress is way better than whatever else you'd be doing."

I shook my head. "The entertainment industry isn't for me."

Yes, Lily was my twin sister.

When I was three years old, our dad died in an accident.

Evelyn already despised him. Less than twenty-four hours after his death, she packed her bags, took my sister, and left.

I grew up in a small, rural town, living a life without parents.

My grandma raised me all by herself.

But two years ago, Grandma fell severely ill, and I had absolutely no money to save her.

When I was at the end of my rope, my mother suddenly showed up.

That was when I learned that after leaving the country, she had married her current husband.

He was a very powerful man.

And also her first love.

She told me she could get me the best doctors and the best medical care for Grandma, plus an extra million dollars.

The condition was that I had to marry a man in my sister's place and take care of him until he recovered.

Faced with my grandma's failing life, I couldn't care less about morals, or what was right and wrong.

All I knew was that Grandma was my only family left in this world.

I couldn't lose her.

I had to save her.

Lily's fiancé was Harrison Vance.

In a terrible accident, he had lost his sight.

The doctors said his recovery timeline was completely unpredictable.

Lily never liked Harrison to begin with, and when she found out he was blind, she resisted the marriage even more.

She thought he was a cripple—a rich and powerful cripple, but a cripple nonetheless.

But she couldn't break off the engagement.

This was a hard-won opportunity for her stepfather's family.

With the Vance family's connections, they could reach entirely new heights.

However, right around that time, Lily was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She needed to go abroad for surgery.

Her return date was uncertain, so my mother suddenly remembered she had another daughter.

When we were little, Lily and I looked exactly alike.

Even our mother couldn't tell us apart.

But as we grew up, we only shared a passing resemblance.

Because she had gotten plastic surgery.

She altered the eyes and nose that looked too much like our father's.

Because she, too, was sick of that poor man and wanted to erase every trace of him from her face.

Fortunately, the power of modern makeup is incredible. Plus, before marrying Harrison, my mother put me through rigorous training to mimic Lily's every mannerism.

So, no one noticed the cracks.

Sometimes, even I caught myself wondering whether I was Mia or Lily.