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

Adrian Preston was on the phone and didn’t notice her.

"Okay, I’ll go shopping with you this weekend. I’m about to drive, so I can’t really talk...

"Alright, alright, whatever you say."

Adrian Preston had a very tough image. He was a man who spoke plainly and directly, exuding a sense of power.

But now, his voice was surprisingly gentle and soft. He even had a slight smile on his lips, which diluted his usual sharp and intimidating aura.

He must be chatting with a girl he likes. And since he’s retired from service, he has great respect for the law. That’s why he wasn’t talking on the phone while driving.

Seeing him as her savior, she began to pound desperately on the car door.

Adrian Preston furrowed his brow slightly and lowered the car window.

"Hm?"

A hint of confusion.

"I have to go. Something’s come up. Next time, you can punish me however you want."

It seemed he had to coax the person on the other end before he was allowed to hang up.

Adrian Preston just watched her from inside the car, not opening the door. "Can I help you?"

"Could you please give me a ride to a hotel? It’s hard to get a cab here, and it’s not very safe for me to be alone."

In her current state, she was even less safe than before. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were disheveled. She had buttoned her shirt wrong, leaving two buttons undone and giving a tantalizing glimpse of her chest.

She hadn’t yet realized her clothes were askew and kept looking back nervously.

"I’m begging you..."

Mia Kane looked like she was about to cry. Only then did Adrian Preston relent and let her in the car.

After he dropped her off at a hotel, Mia Kane realized all the money in her pocket belonged to Chase Lockwood. She couldn’t bring herself to use it, so she turned to Adrian Preston again. "Um... could you help me pay for the room? I’ll definitely pay you back later."

Adrian Preston walked to the front desk.

"Three days, just paying for three days is enough. Thank you!"

Mia Kane was incredibly grateful.

After Adrian Preston paid, Mia Kane asked for his contact information so she could transfer the money to him later.

"Can you come up for a bit?"

Adrian Preston was about to leave when she unexpectedly called out to him. He immediately knitted his brows and looked back at her, his gaze holding a trace of hostility.

Mia Kane understood at once. He had misunderstood, thinking her words had a different meaning. She quickly waved her hands. "It’s not what you think... I just want to ask about the relationship between Chase Lockwood and Vivian Lynch. When did they meet, why did they separate..."

"I don’t gossip about people behind their backs."

With that, Adrian Preston left.

His cold attitude was hard to like.

Mia Kane’s face flushed red, then went pale. His words made her feel deeply ashamed.

She returned to her hotel room dejectedly, but she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Maybe the Lockwood Family will call the police. Maybe the police will come and arrest me in the middle of the night.

Unable to sleep, she browsed her phone and stumbled upon an obscure trending news story.

[Thirteen Fugitives Captured at Abandoned Pier.]

Trembling, she clicked on it. She recognized the faces of the kidnappers—they were from the boat where she had been held captive.

This group was repeat offenders involved in smuggling, kidnapping, and human trafficking...

They had been operating in international waters, making them difficult to apprehend. This time, thanks to a multi-agency police operation, all thirteen were captured in one fell swoop.

She stared intently at one of them.

She didn’t know what the leader of the kidnappers looked like, but she knew his build. Among the men pictured, only one was over six feet tall with a solid build.

It’s him, no doubt about it!

The memory of that terrifying experience made her whole body tremble. She kept scrolling down and was surprised to see the police officers who were being commended.

Some special officers couldn’t be shown, so the ones featured in the report were a few policemen from Argent.

She also saw Adrian Preston’s face.

Could this have been his last mission?

The article didn’t detail Adrian Preston’s specific position or the cases he was responsible for, so she had no way of knowing.

Curious, she clicked on a related link and discovered that Adrian Preston came from a formidable background.

He was the heir to the Preston Group!

A family on par with the Lockwood family, perhaps even more influential.

His immediate family was small, with just a younger sister. And just today, Adrian Preston had taken over the Preston Group and started managing the family business.

There were also many detractors who believed that after so many years in the military, he couldn’t possibly know how to manage a corporation.

Reading all this, Mia Kane’s mind reeled. So much had happened in a single day.

Before, her world revolved entirely around Chase Lockwood, so she never noticed anything else.

On this day, Argent had been turned upside down.

And so had her life.

She waited through the night in a daze, expecting the police to show up the next day, but there was no sign of them. Only then did she finally get some sleep, though it was far from restful.

He had kissed every inch of her skin.

"AH—" She woke up with a scream, drenched in sweat.

It was a dream...

She let out a sigh of relief and picked up her phone to check the time, surprised to see it was already afternoon. She had several missed calls from the nursing home where she volunteered.

She quickly answered the phone.

"Nurse White, what’s wrong?"

"Grandpa Donovan is refusing to eat properly again today. He keeps asking for you, and we’re at our wits’ end."

"So how is he now?"

"He didn’t eat a single bite of lunch. He’s tired himself out from all the fuss and is asleep now."

"I’ll head over in a bit, then."

"Okay, I’ll prepare some lunch. When he wakes up and sees you, he’ll definitely eat a lot."

Mia Kane washed up, changed her clothes, and hurried to the nursing home.

It was a high-end nursing home where the residents were all elderly family members of the wealthy. Chase Lockwood’s maternal grandmother had once stayed there, and Mia used to visit frequently, performing filial duties on Chase’s behalf.

The old woman had been very fond of her, always saying that if Mia couldn’t become her granddaughter-in-law, she would adopt her as a granddaughter.

After a year, his grandmother was taken abroad by her youngest son, and from then on, they could only video chat.

But Mia Kane had gotten into the habit of visiting every week. She quite enjoyed spending time with the elderly.

When she arrived, Nurse White was trying to coax Grandpa Donovan.

"You lied to me! She didn’t come this morning, so she definitely won’t come this afternoon! I’m not eating! I’m going to starve myself..."

"I really didn’t lie to you... Look who’s here! See? I told you she would come."

Nurse White saw Mia Kane and looked as if she’d seen a savior.

"I’ll take it from here."

Nurse White quickly handed her the food container and scurried away, happy to escape the duty.

"Why aren’t you eating properly?"

"Why have you gotten so thin?" Grandpa Donovan looked at her, his expression full of concern.

Mia Kane hadn’t received a single word of comfort until now, and unexpectedly, the first came from an old man to whom she wasn’t related by blood. Her nose tingled, her eyes immediately reddened, and tears began to fall uncontrollably.

"Did someone bully my Mia? You tell me, and I’ll teach him a lesson for you."

Mia Kane fought back her tears. "It’s nothing. I just broke up with a scumbag, that’s all. I’ll be fine after a while."

"You broke up?" Grandpa Donovan’s eyes lit up. "That’s wonderful! Now my grandson has a chance!"

Grandpa Donovan immediately picked up his phone and made a call. Mia Kane couldn’t have stopped him even if she tried.

After the call, Grandpa Donovan grabbed her hand. "My grandson is a good kid in every way, but he’s too reserved and keeps everything bottled up. You’ll have to be very, very patient with his grumpy temper..."

As Grandpa Donovan was speaking, he suddenly couldn’t catch his breath.

He had a heart attack!