Using Me as a Substitute? Did You Know Your Best Friend Calls Me Wife?

Shannon Preston pouted, feigning grievance. "Brother, isn’t this all in the past? I’m not even pressing the issue, so why are you still asking? No matter what I did, it’s no reason for her to pull a knife on me, right? That’s attempted murder! The whole situation is completely different!"

"The servants told me everything."

Adrian Preston said indifferently, his gaze chilling as he watched her.

A jolt of fear went through Shannon.

Her eyes flickered evasively for a moment. Even though she quickly composed herself, Adrian already had a good idea of what had happened.

He hadn’t actually questioned the servants, but he knew a thorough investigation would surely uncover something useful.

But he wanted to hear Shannon admit it herself.

Because she was his sister.

"Brother, I admit I did bully her a little," she conceded. "I told her to buy you a birthday cake... It was just a joke! How was I supposed to know she’d get so angry? She just can’t take a joke..."

"Shannon Preston, when are you going to stop this nonsense!"

Adrian was thoroughly disappointed in her.

"Are you sure that’s all you did? You instigated the servants to mistreat her. And as for how you got injured... aren’t you going to come clean about that?"

Shannon was terrified. She trembled and stammered.

"Brother, I... I just don’t like her! I don’t think she’s good enough for you..."

Hearing this, Adrian raised his hand. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Shannon squeezed her eyes shut in fear.

But in the end, the slap never came.

He never hit women.

Much less his own sister.

He clenched his fist, then slowly lowered it.

"When Mia first told me you ran into the knife on purpose, I didn’t believe her. I always thought she’d accidentally slipped and hurt you, that she would never have tried to kill someone."

"I never asked the servants, either. It was your own guilty conscience that made you spill everything."

"I don’t need you to like Mia, because your approval is irrelevant to me. As long as I like her, that’s all that matters. So, either you move out, or you go abroad. You two can’t live under the same roof. You’ll just bully her."

"Brother... don’t kick me out! I know I was wrong, I’ll never do it again! Please, don’t make me leave..."

Shannon panicked. She could tell that this time, Adrian was serious.

But this time, there was no room for negotiation.

Adrian ruthlessly pulled his hand away from her grasp.

"Handle your own discharge paperwork and go home to pack your things. If I have to get involved, it will get ugly."

Adrian turned and left.

Shannon collapsed onto the floor, looking completely dazed.

When she returned to the villa, Mrs. Lowry hurried over to greet her.

"What’s wrong with all of you?"

Shannon frowned upon seeing their gloomy, miserable faces.

Mrs. Lowry had a long face. "Miss Shannon, you have to stand up for us! The Master has fired all of us, pending the Mistress’s final word. The new staff is coming to take over this afternoon. We’ve all worked here for years... where are we supposed to go after being suddenly let go? I’ve worked so hard for so many years to get to my position. It can’t just be gone in a flash!"

"Did you tell my brother about that last thing I asked you to do?"

"No, don’t worry, Miss Shannon. I never got the chance to do it. That woman ran off before I could. I’m the only one who knows about it; I haven’t told a soul."

Shannon had sent her a text message, telling her to deliberately start a fire and make it look like an electrical problem.

With Adrian away from the villa and Mia locked up, no one would have questioned it if she burned to death.

Unfortunately for their plan, Mia had managed to sneak out, narrowly escaping her fate.

"Miss Shannon, could you please go and beg the Master..."

"I have no say in this matter."

Hearing this, Mrs. Lowry’s eyes darted. "Well then, Miss Shannon, I did lose my job because of you. Until I find my next employer, you’ll have to take responsibility for me, won’t you?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Shannon sensed that something was off. She frowned deeply, clearly displeased.

"I have our chat history right here. If the Master were to find out..."

"You dare threaten me?"

Shannon never thought Mrs. Lowry would have the gall to threaten her.

In truth, Mrs. Lowry was scared too, but she had worked so hard to become the head housekeeper, earning a handsome annual salary.

Now that she was being kicked out by her employers, finding a new position would be difficult. Since she was in this mess because she was helping Shannon, it was only natural for Shannon to take responsibility.

"Miss Shannon, I only ended up like this because I was doing your dirty work. You have to help me, or I’ll have no choice but to go to the Master."

"Fine! I’ll take responsibility!"

Shannon said through gritted teeth.

’She had really misjudged Mrs. Lowry. She’d thought of her as a long-serving member of the Preston family’s staff, someone who treated her like her own daughter. But it turned out... she was just another greedy person who would do anything for money.’

"Just name your price. How much do you want?"

"Five million."

Mrs. Lowry didn’t hold back, demanding an exorbitant sum.

"Fine, you’ll get it!" Shannon led her back to her room. "Take your pick of this jewelry. I don’t have that much cash, and giving it to you would make my brother suspicious. You can sell these pieces for a lot of money."

Mrs. Lowry’s eyes lit up. With a greedy gaze, she began unceremoniously stuffing jewelry into her pockets.

She tried to grab more, but Shannon stopped her. "That’s enough. Don’t get carried away."

"Yes, yes, this is more than enough."

"Delete it."

Mrs. Lowry cheerfully deleted the messages in front of her, but Shannon didn’t trust her and told her to leave the phone behind.

Having already gotten what she wanted, Mrs. Lowry didn’t want to push things with Shannon, so she put the phone down.

Shannon watched Mrs. Lowry’s retreating back, her hand gripping the phone tightly.

...

Back in the hospital room, Adrian had prepared some light, nutritious broth, but Mia didn’t even glance at it.

Soon, a nurse came in with a food delivery for her.

She had ordered pork and century egg congee and began eating by herself.

After just a few days, she had lost a lot of weight. She hadn’t been heavy to begin with, and the ordeal had left her looking even more frail, as if a gust of wind could blow her over.

After finishing her meal, she opened her laptop and phone, replying one by one to the concerned messages she’d received.

Owen Sinclair, in particular, had been worried sick since she hadn’t been to the studio in days.

She also saw the text messages from Adrian.

"I’ve been busy these past few days and haven’t had time to come back. Take good care of yourself."

"Why aren’t you answering me? Still angry? I’ve already handled the situation. I’ll explain when I get back."

"Mia, please don’t be like this, okay?"

Seeing these messages, she felt a swirl of complicated emotions.

’Why wasn’t he willing to come back and see me, not even once?’

’If he had, he would have known how those servants were bullying me.’

The thought made a fresh wave of indignation wash over her.

"Adrian," she began, "I think we should limit our contact to only what’s necessary for our act. I don’t want to live at your place anymore; I’ll get my own. If you want to have dinner with me or have me occasionally stay overnight at the villa to keep up appearances for your grandfather, I’m willing to cooperate."

"Grandfather will notice."

"Adrian, you’re more capable than your grandfather, aren’t you? After all, you’re the current heir to the Preston Group, powerful and well-connected. If you really wanted to hide this from him, I don’t believe you couldn’t. Unless... you don’t want to hide it?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, her gaze resolute.

This incident had nearly cost her her life; she wasn’t going to back down.

Adrian pressed his lips together, his expression complicated as he looked at her.

"Alright, I agree. We won’t live together. We’ll just cooperate for the act occasionally."

"Good. I expect you to keep your word!"