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

Mia Kane: "..."

"Anyway, anything Adrian Preston cares about, I’m going to take! I just don’t want to see him happy!"

"Aren’t you two the same person?"

"The same person? In the same house, he gets the three-bedroom apartment, and I’m stuck in the four-square-meter bathroom where I can barely even turn around. He gets to go out and make all the friends he wants, while I can’t even show my face. What kind of ’same person’ is that?"

Mia Kane could hear the immense resentment in his voice.

"So, what’s your name?"

"I don’t know."

"We need a way to tell you apart from Adrian Preston." Mia Kane spoke in a soft, small voice, afraid of easily angering him. "How about I call you Adrian?"

"Isn’t that still Adrian Preston?"

"If I called you something else, what would we do if outsiders found out about Adrian Preston’s secret?"

"Let them find out..."

"Then Adrian Preston will be labeled as mentally ill, and so will you. If you get caught and locked up in a mental hospital, you won’t be free anymore, right?"

Hearing this, Adrian felt it made some sense.

"So what are you planning to do next?"

"Having my way with you is off the table, so I’ll start by destroying the Preston Group."

Adrian raised an eyebrow as he spoke, his expression a perfect picture of arrogant malevolence.

Mia Kane had seen him look so righteous so many times, but to see this same face break into a wicked, mischievous smile was, to her surprise, just as captivating.

She had always said that Adrian Preston was a mix of good and evil. When he was good, it was enough to make your scalp tingle.

But when he was evil, it was even more impossible to resist.

"Wait a minute. I think your starting point is all wrong. Aren’t you trying to prove you’re no worse than Adrian Preston? Under his management, the Preston Group has been thriving and is widely praised. If it goes bankrupt and collapses in your hands, do you think people will curse you? Wouldn’t that just prove you’re not as good as Adrian Preston...?"

"What did you say? Who did you say I’m not as good as?"

Adrian flew into a rage, glaring at her viciously as if he wanted to skin her alive.

Mia Kane trembled in fear but still mustered her courage to speak.

"Bankrupting a company is too easy. Squandering money, deliberately messing up documents, creating problems with projects—anyone can do that. You could get a complete loser to do it; even I could do it! The hard part is doing it better than Adrian Preston!"

Adrian frowned, his face darkening, clearly deep in thought.

He, too, felt that what Mia Kane said made some sense.

"Are you helping Adrian Preston? Are you afraid I’ll ruin his business?"

He watched her warily.

Mia Kane didn’t dare admit it, of course. "I’m doing this for your own good! Let me tell you, I can’t stand Adrian Preston either. We’ve had a complete falling out."

"He really spoiled you rotten!"

Mia Kane was speechless for a moment. ’Whose side is he on, anyway?!’

"What you said makes some sense, but there’s a problem..."

"What problem?"

"I don’t know how to manage a conglomerate. I’m clueless about business matters."

Mia Kane: "..."

Isn’t he Adrian Preston’s alter ego? How could he not have inherited any of Adrian Preston’s business acumen?

"Then what can you do?"

She asked patiently.

"Murder, arson, robbery. I can assemble a handgun myself. Just buy me some scrap metal, and I can make one. I can also make landmines, bombs... I know how to interrogate people, and I know a lot of ways to torture them. I guarantee I can make them talk."

Listening from the side, Mia Kane felt her blood run cold.

Adrian was clearly a born villain.

His mind was incomplete, with no concept of morality, law, or order.

"Nothing... positive?"

"I can negotiate."

"That’s not bad. Like, negotiating with kidnappers?"

"I’m the kidnapper. People come to negotiate with me. If the talks go south, I kill the hostage."

Mia Kane was instantly speechless.

’Had Adrian Preston been repressing his nature for so long that he’d dumped all his negative emotions and impurities into this alter ego?’

No one is perfect. However upright Adrian Preston was as a public official, this Adrian was equally wicked!

’Adrian Preston’s trash heap?’

"What’s with that look? Are you secretly cursing me in your head?"

Adrian was instantly displeased.

"No, not at all! If you don’t know how, we can learn. It’s no big deal. I’m not going to run away anymore. I’ll stay by your side, completely conquered by your personal charm. I also think you should be the one in control of the body, the one with the power. That Adrian Preston is a real piece of work, keeping you hidden away from the world!"

Those words struck a chord deep in Adrian’s heart.

It wasn’t that he was completely clueless; he knew Mia Kane was flattering him, trying to please him.

But damn, it sounded good.

He had a hard time suppressing the smile at the corner of his lips and nodded in satisfaction. "You’re quick on the uptake."

"Of course... From now on, I’ll be by your side, helping you manage the Preston Group. We’ll make it bigger and stronger, even better than Adrian Preston ever did, and make everyone see you in a new light. If Adrian Preston sees you doing better than him, he might be so ashamed he never dares to come out again."

"That’s one way to do it."

’That stubborn bastard, Adrian Preston, would be hard to suppress. The only way is to make him submit willingly.’

"Then you should fall in love with me, too."

"COUGH, COUGH... What..."

Mia Kane choked on her own saliva, coughing dryly.

"Adrian Preston likes you. If you fall in love with me, it would be the fatal blow to him."

Adrian moved closer, his divinely sculpted, handsome face drawing near. His hot breath washed over her face, and she instinctively backed away.

But she had nowhere left to retreat; the headboard was right behind her.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she unconsciously held her breath, staring at him blankly, too scared to speak.

"I want you to fall in love with me!"

Adrian said, enunciating each word.

"I’ll... I’ll try..."

Adrian was not satisfied with her answer and grabbed her by the neck.

"Did you think I was negotiating with you? I’m ordering you. You must fall in love with me!"

Adrian’s gaze was menacing, filled with a bone-chilling coldness.

"One month. If you’re still not in love with me by then, I’ll kill you!"

As Adrian spoke, his fingers trembled violently. He inconspicuously hid them behind his back.

"Get yourself together and come down for dinner."

He turned and left.

Once outside the door, he let out a breath, his eyes sinister.

"What can you do besides impotent rage? I am going to kill her. Anyone who gets in my way, I’ll kill them all."

He snarled, his voice hoarse.

He pressed down on his uncontrollably shaking hand. That was Adrian Preston’s doing.

’Adrian Preston left himself such a fatal weakness, but I won’t!’

Inside the room, Mia Kane was still shaken.

In such a short time, the amount of information had been overwhelming.

Adrian Preston was sick. He had a second personality, a born villain, living inside him.

’So on the boat, was Adrian Preston involved?’

Just surviving at Adrian Preston’s mercy had been hard enough. Now, a final boss had appeared, and Mia Kane’s head throbbed.

But no matter what lay ahead, she had to press forward. She had no other way out.

During the meal, Mia Kane told him to announce publicly that he was feeling unwell and would be taking a few days off.

Company matters would be handled by Theo Thorne. If any documents needed a signature, they could just be sent over.

Theo Thorne came by once. After the documents were signed, he was about to leave.

Mia Kane secretly called out to him.

Mia Kane hid behind a row of rose bushes, calling softly to Theo Thorne.

"Mrs. Preston? What are you doing here? Did you and Adrian make up?"

Hearing this, Mia Kane knew that Theo Thorne hadn’t noticed anything was wrong yet.

’Theo Thorne was Adrian Preston’s secretary. Would he know something?’

"Um... Theo Thorne, do you know any specialists in the psychiatric field? Or a psychologist would work too."

"That... I’m not too familiar with that area, but I can look into it."

Mia Kane’s heart sank. Theo Thorne didn’t know anything. Adrian Preston had hidden it so well!

"Okay, please look into it for me."

Theo Thorne left. She turned to go back inside, only to suddenly see a figure standing in the shadows by the back door, staring fixedly at her.

That gaze... was like a viper staring at a helpless rabbit.