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

"Didn’t you say that if this were ancient times, you’d be willing to share me with her? Didn’t you say that now that she and Adrian Preston are divorced, it’s the perfect opportunity for me to make a move and have her as my mistress?"

"Vivian Lynch, it hasn’t even been that long since you said all that. Have you already forgotten?"

"If you genuinely cared, you could have just told me, and I would have respected your feelings. Instead, you’re being a hypocrite, acting one way in front of me and another behind my back!"

"I admit it, I have ulterior motives when it comes to Mia Kane. She’s frustrated me in a way no one ever has. For me, it’s more about a man’s competitive drive, and about secretly competing with Adrian Preston. Maybe I don’t have deep feelings for her; you’re the one I’ve always loved the most. But when you cause a scene like this, it only makes me more fixated on Mia Kane, and my love for you wears away, bit by bit."

"One day, my inability to have her will become an obsession, and my love for you will be completely worn away!"

Hearing this, Vivian Lynch’s face went deathly pale.

"No, that’s not true, Chase. We’ve been through so much to finally be together. You can’t stop loving me."

Vivian Lynch meekly reached out to grab his sleeve, but he mercilessly flung her hands away.

"You keep saying you love me, but look at what you’ve done! This was the first family dinner since my grandmother and uncle returned, and you made them a laughingstock in front of all our relatives. My grandmother is an old woman, and now she has to endure being ridiculed. Is that what you call love?"

"But Grandma was in the wrong, too! It was supposed to be a family dinner, so why did she invite Mia Kane? And why wasn’t I allowed to be there?"

"It was my idea that you not be there. What does that have to do with Grandma? Besides, she made it clear to me that she wouldn’t try to set me up with Mia Kane, because I’m not worthy!"

"Do you know why I’m not worthy? Because I’m with you. She thinks I’m filthy!"

"What kind of grandmother says that about her own grandson? Honestly, Grandma is just too much..."

Vivian muttered, sidestepping the real issue and constantly trying to pin the blame on others.

In the past, Chase Lockwood had eyes only for her. He knew she had these minor flaws but never took them seriously.

But this time, she was talking about his grandmother—his last remaining blood relative!

"Enough! You’re completely incorrigible!"

Furious, Chase Lockwood dragged her away.

He didn’t even take her back to Lockwood Manor, instead placing her in another one of his properties.

"Let’s give each other some space to cool down for a while. I’ll come find you when things have settled."

Chase Lockwood didn’t specify how long this "cooling down" period would be. A day? Ten days? A month? Three months? Was he going to leave her here to "cool down" for three or five years?

"Chase, you can’t do this to me! I just lost our baby. You can’t just abandon me here!"

"You’re the one who failed to protect our child. I haven’t even held you responsible for that, and you have the nerve to try and blame me! You can stay here and think about what you’ve done!"

Chase Lockwood left without a shred of pity, never once looking back. He ignored all of Vivian Lynch’s pleas for him to stay.

Chase Lockwood rushed back to the house. His grandmother had looked terribly unwell when he left, and he was worried something had happened to her.

When he arrived, he learned that after he had left with Vivian Lynch, his grandmother had been so enraged she couldn’t catch her breath and had fainted.

With the pleasant family dinner ruined, his uncle and aunt could only frantically send the remaining guests away and call for a doctor.

His aunt was in her room, crying, while his uncle wore a grim expression.

His grandmother had since regained consciousness, and Mia Kane was inside, talking with her.

Tears streamed down the old woman’s face as she looked at Mia, unwilling to let go of her hand.

"If only you had married Chase."

Chase Lockwood was just about to knock on the door when he heard those words. He froze, his hand hovering in mid-air.

"Grandma, that’s all in the past,"

Mia Kane said softly.

"It’s the Lockwood Family’s misfortune... It seems we’ll never be rid of Vivian Lynch. You may not know this, but back in the day, her family was on par with the Lockwood Family. But her parents were greedy and corrupt. They took a crooked path and were eventually shut down by the government. They couldn’t face prison, so they jumped from a building and killed themselves."

"Out of respect for our families’ long-standing relationship, we looked after her. The two of them had a marriage contract, and we felt the parents’ history shouldn’t affect the children. We were worried Vivian had been influenced by her parents’ corrupt nature, so we wanted to guide her properly to keep her from making the same mistakes."

"According to the plan, they were supposed to get engaged once they came of age. But Vivian, desperate to secure her ties to the Lockwood Family, slept with Chase beforehand. She thought she could trap him that way."

"His mother told me back then that if the girl behaved herself, we would have cherished her all the more. We fully intended for them to be together. But because of her family’s situation, Vivian was afraid something would change, so she hatched a crooked scheme—sacrificing a girl’s most precious asset to trap a man."

"How old was she then? For a teenage girl to be that calculating... it’s frightening. That’s why his parents were dead set against it and sent her abroad."

Mia Kane knew the two of them had a deep history, but she’d never known the specific details.

Still, it wasn’t hard to imagine. One look at Vivian was enough to see she was a schemer, yet Chase Lockwood, for some reason, couldn’t see it.

"Chase has always believed that we were dissatisfied with Vivian and forced her to marry someone abroad. We never did that. We paid for her education and provided her with a comfortable life. She was the one who took a liking to that foreign man."

"Doesn’t Chase know?"

"We’ve explained it to him, but he refuses to listen. He thinks we’re deliberately trying to smear Vivian’s name."

The grandmother was utterly exhausted.

Outside the door, Chase Lockwood’s fists tightened silently.

He had heard these things so many times he was sick of them. He’d never taken any of it to heart.

But for some reason, this time, his conviction was shaken.

He remembered them sleeping together for the first time as teenagers. He had been drunk. She hadn’t had the strength to resist, and he had forced himself on her.

When she woke up, she just cried, saying that with her family shattered, she was just an orphan who wasn’t good enough for him.

He swore he would take responsibility for her.

It was clearly his fault, but his parents claimed Vivian had seduced him on purpose. He couldn’t accept that version of events.

He was the one who had been drinking; he was the one who had slept with her. From start to finish, Vivian hadn’t seduced him at all.

They dated in secret for several years. When his parents found out, they sent her abroad and threatened him: if he ever tried to find Vivian again, they would cut off all her financial support and let her starve to death in a foreign country.

She was such a frail girl, all alone in a foreign land where she didn’t know a soul. Every time he thought of it, his heart would twist in pain.

Then came the news that she had married someone else.

She hadn’t contacted him in years. By then, he had given up all hope, mended his playboy ways, and met Mia Kane.

Because she was unattainable, Vivian became an idealized figure in his heart—the one that got away.

Every time he saw Mia Kane, his emotions were a complicated mess.

He never expected that his path and Vivian’s would cross again.

Vivian had contacted him!

Her husband was an alcoholic who abused her and gambled away their money. She told him she was living in hell, that her life was worse than death.

She didn’t want to live anymore. She said she had finally mustered the courage to call him before she ended it all, just to hear his voice one last time.

Chase Lockwood’s heart went out to her. He rushed over that very night and found her by the sea.

That night, an uncontrollable passion ignited between them.