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

After a round on the rides, they were both tired. They found a spot to eat ice cream and watch the other people scream.

"How about I take you to the zoo tomorrow?"

"Mhm."

"The day after tomorrow, we’ll go camping."

"Alright."

"We’ll go see a movie..."

"Whatever you say."

Adrian happily agreed to her plans, his eyes sparkling.

Seeing he wasn’t resistant to her, Mia Kane began plotting her next move.

She felt the psychiatrist from last time was very reliable. She’d done some research online, and it seemed deep hypnosis could awaken the primary personality.

She had to find a way to take Adrian and give it a try.

The next day, she took Adrian to the zoo.

Seeing the animals, Adrian didn’t look happy at all. Instead, he seemed a little angry.

"Why are they all locked up? Don’t they belong in the forest? I’m going to buy them all and release them back into nature."

Adrian was extremely impulsive, even starting to look for the zoo’s director.

Mia Kane quickly stopped him.

"Many of these are protected animals. They can’t be bought or sold; it’s illegal."

"But they shouldn’t be caged! Do you have any idea how awful it feels to be locked up?"

Adrian’s voice was hoarse, the corners of his eyes red.

Mia Kane knew he was empathizing with them. She could only explain patiently, "Some of these animals are on the verge of extinction. They need to be artificially bred and raised just to survive."

"It’s not like they never see the light of day, right? The zoo adjusts their environments based on their natural habits. Some animals wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild; they’d just get eaten. So this is a form of protection, too."

"Adrian, I know you’re upset. If you don’t like it, we don’t have to look."

Mia Kane quickly pulled him away, but Adrian remained silent, his expression grim as he sulked.

Mia Kane told him jokes and took him out for delicious food.

He was incapable of refusing a good meal.

’At this rate, he was going to make Adrian Preston fat.’

Adrian also liked to drink.

"When you drink this, your head gets all fuzzy. It feels great."

"Alright, alright. We can have a little, but not too much. It’s bad for you."

Mia Kane ordered him a beer, but he insisted on baijiu and whiskey, mixing them together.

’She wouldn’t even dare to mix her drinks.’

Soon enough, he was drunk.

"What’s your name?"

"A... Adrian."

"Can you tell me how to let Adrian Preston out?"

She asked cautiously.

"He can’t get out. He’ll never get out in this lifetime..." he mumbled, slumped over the table.

Mia Kane frowned. ’Is there really no way?’

"Adrian Preston, can you hear me..."

Before she could finish, Adrian suddenly looked up and grabbed her wrist, startling her.

"You want him to come out that badly?"

Mia Kane was too frightened to speak. ’Is he sober now?’

"Did anyone ever ask me if I was willing?"

He was like a child who was born but never properly raised, just locked away, unable to experience the outside world.

Adrian Preston had been undercover for years, and his obsessive thoughts and countless dark emotions were all dumped on him.

He had no choice but to take it all in.

He started as a blank slate and slowly learned the ways of murder and robbery, all things he picked up from the smugglers.

While undercover, Adrian Preston inevitably got blood on his hands. He’d killed colleagues and deceived others’ feelings. He, too, had struggled internally, tormented by it all.

But he had chosen his path and could only forge ahead without looking back.

Inside Adrian Preston’s body, this alter was nurtured by wickedness.

Even if he was a bad kid, it wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t choose the information he received; everything came passively from Adrian Preston.

He had been locked away for too long. So long that he was steeped in loneliness, pain, and despair...

He began to fight back, but every attempt ended in failure.

He just wanted to come out for a breath of fresh air. What was so wrong with that?

"You’ve had too much to drink..."

Mia Kane said cautiously.

"If I could, I’d want to live an open and honest life like him. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want to be the villain. But I... I have no choice..."

"Mia Kane, d-do you know... someone was born for you... I... I am..."

His voice was too quiet on the last sentence, and Mia Kane couldn’t hear it clearly.

This time, Adrian had passed out completely.

Mia Kane let out a sharp exhale, feeling a wave of relief.

She couldn’t bring herself to empathize with a pathological condition.

She much preferred the humane, clear-headed, and self-controlled Adrian Preston who could manage the bigger picture.

This Adrian was like a ticking time bomb. No one knew when he would explode, and Mia Kane wasn’t willing to take that gamble.

Mia Kane took him home. This time, he was well and truly dead drunk.

She needed help, so she called Theo Thorne.

"What did you say? Dissociative identity? Adrian never told me..."

"If even you didn’t know, then no one else could possibly know. Adrian Preston hid it too well. Now I’m at a loss for how to help him."

"We have to get Adrian back. The Preston Group needs him," Theo Thorne said urgently.

Mia Kane looked at Adrian on the bed, her heart showing no trace of softness.

"Theo, help me contact that psychiatrist. Have him make a house call; money is no object. But he must sign a confidentiality agreement. No one outside this room can know about this."

"If he needs any help from us, tell him to just ask."

"Okay, I’ll get right on it."

"You go calm everyone at the group and suppress any dissenting voices. I’ll get Adrian Preston back as soon as I can. We can’t let him be out of the loop for too long!"

The Preston Group needed him.

So, so many people needed him.

He had started a charitable foundation, supported the families of soldiers and police, and dedicated himself to medicine, education, and poverty alleviation...

Adrian Preston could not be allowed to fall!

"Sister-in-law, you still have feelings for Adrian deep down, don’t you?"

Hearing this, Mia Kane’s heart skipped a beat.

She pressed her lips together, saying nothing.

"I’ll be honest with you, Adrian has you in his heart, too. Since you both feel that way about each other, why aren’t you together?"

Mia Kane shook her head gently. "There’s more to this world than just our feelings. There’s right and wrong, grudges and debts, black and white. People who do wrong have to pay the price. I can understand that, but I can’t bring myself to forgive. Otherwise, I’d be betraying myself."

"But..."

"Theo, don’t say any more. Just go and get it done. If this doctor won’t sign the agreement, find another one. It has to be a top-tier psychiatrist, one who specializes in hypnosis."

Theo had no choice but to leave.

Mia Kane didn’t know what would happen next. Perhaps she would infuriate Adrian, and the consequences would be dire.

But no matter what, she had to try.

The next day, Theo had an update. The doctor could make a house call, but because it was a psychological condition, the therapeutic environment had to be extremely comfortable. The patient’s home was acceptable, but it had to be a place where he felt completely safe, allowing him to slowly let his guard down for the hypnosis to be more effective.

’A place where Adrian feels safe... is that this villa?’

’He should be very familiar with Adrian Preston’s home, right? It’s not like he’s been anywhere else.’

She deliberately pretended that, on a whim, she wanted to buy some new furniture. She redecorated his room, changing it to a comfortable, warm color scheme, and even added the same type of sofa she’d seen in the doctor’s office.

That single-person chaise lounge unexpectedly cost over two hundred thousand.

A larger one would have been even more expensive. But you get what you pay for; it was incredibly soft yet supportive. Lying on it, your whole body felt weightless, as if held up by clouds.

Mia Kane felt that this sofa would make her task twice as easy.

"Aren’t we going camping today?"

Adrian was sober now, but Mia Kane still hadn’t come downstairs.

Puzzled, Adrian went to her room to look for her and found she had a fever.

"I... I don’t feel well. I think I need to call a doctor."

"You’re sick?"

A hint of urgency in his eyes, Adrian quickly touched her forehead. It was indeed burning up.

"I’ll go get a doctor!"

"Okay..."

Mia Kane nodded, appearing weak and drowsy on the surface, but her mind was crystal clear.

The psychiatrist arrived quickly. ’It all comes down to this!’