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

"Chase, I’m a month pregnant. I won’t get an abortion; I want to have this baby. It’s just my child, it has nothing to do with you..."

"What are you talking about? How could our child have nothing to do with me? If you hadn’t fainted at the airport, were you planning on never telling me? You fool. Don’t you know how hard it is to be a single mom? How would you manage?"

Vivian Lynch started crying at his words.

"I had no other choice... I’m content just being able to keep this child. I wouldn’t dare ask for anything more. No matter how hard it gets, I will protect our baby."

"AHEM..."

Mia Kane gave a timely cough. Only then did Vivian Lynch notice her, and her face went pale.

She immediately got out of bed and knelt on the floor.

"Miss Kane, I’m begging you, please let me keep this child. I won’t return to the country, and I won’t use the baby to fight for any assets. I just want something to remember him by. Please, I’m begging you."

"Why are you begging her..."

Before Chase Lockwood could finish, Mia Kane hurried to help Vivian Lynch to her feet.

"Oh, you’ve truly misunderstood."

Mia Kane secretly pinched herself, forcing a couple of tears from the pain.

She rushed to help Vivian Lynch sit back down on the bed.

"Vivian, I’m only now realizing how hard it’s been for you two. Your love transcends everything, bringing you together against all odds—it’s a love that could move heaven and earth. The title of Mrs. Lockwood belongs to no one but you, and this child must be given their rightful place."

"Chase Lockwood, you have to treat Vivian well, okay? Don’t disappoint me."

"You’re really willing to help us?"

"Of course. I’m willing to do everything in my power to help you. I’ll call my grandmother right now!"

Mia Kane dialed her grandmother’s number and put the call on speaker in front of them.

"Grandma."

"Mia, dear, do you miss your grandma?"

"Grandma, there’s no hope for Chase and me anymore. Can you please just accept that?"

"Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?"

"Grandma, just tell me, will you accept it or not?"

"Alright, alright, I accept. What other choice do I have?" Her grandmother sighed. She could finally see that there was absolutely no future for Mia Kane and Chase Lockwood. Forcing them together would only end up hurting Mia.

"By the way, Grandma, why did you suddenly come back?"

"It’s a strange story. My neighbor suddenly asked when I was coming home for the wedding celebration. She said my grandson had made a grand proposal on one knee back in the country. If there was a banquet, she wanted to give a gift. At first, I thought he’d proposed to you, but I never expected it would be to that little slut."

"Then how did your neighbor know?"

"That I’m not sure about. Why do you ask?"

"It’s nothing, I was just curious. Grandma, I’ve got something to take care of, so I’ll hang up now."

Mia Kane hung up and looked at Chase Lockwood. "Now do you believe that I never asked my grandmother to come back? I’ve given you a lead, though. You can investigate it yourself."

"My grandmother won’t force you to marry me anymore. As for whether she’ll approve of Vivian Lynch, that has nothing to do with me. Chase Lockwood, I wish you two the best. You’d better be happy."

Vivian Lynch was dumbfounded by Mia Kane’s performance.

"Vivian, hurry and pull up the covers. You’re a pregnant woman now, you have to make sure you stay warm."

Mia Kane put on a show of tucking the blanket around her.

As she leaned in close, she whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"You deliberately let my grandmother find out, didn’t you?"

Vivian Lynch’s body instantly went rigid.

’Looks like I guessed right.’

’Vivian would have to face my grandmother sooner or later, so she deliberately misled Chase Lockwood, making him think I was the one who asked Grandma to come back just to sabotage them.’

’By doing so, she drove a wedge between us.’

’And that’s not all. By playing the victim, Vivian’s "obedient and understanding" act of stepping aside would only ignite a man’s protective instincts.’

’Once a man feels indebted to a woman, he’s completely wrapped around her finger.’

’Vivian obviously knows Chase Lockwood very well. He’s a man who’s ruled by his emotions.’

’Furthermore, if Chase Lockwood believed I had trapped him into marriage, his rebellious streak would just make him hate me more. There’s no telling what kind of crazy thing he’d do.’

’I have to defuse this conflict. I refuse to be Vivian Lynch’s sacrificial lamb.’

’She wants to use me as a stepping stone to get what she wants? Not a chance in hell.’

’I despise this whole green-tea-bitch act, but now I have to fight fire with fire.’

’I’ll beat Vivian Lynch at her own game and leave her with nowhere to run.’

"You’d better think hard about how to keep Chase Lockwood from finding out it was you."

Mia Kane said with a smile, and Vivian Lynch’s face grew even paler.

She stood up, looking deeply at Chase Lockwood. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Chase, can you walk me out?"

"Okay."

The look in Chase Lockwood’s eyes as he watched Mia Kane was now incredibly complex.

’She must be absolutely crazy about me, to the point she’d even swallow her pride and personally ask her grandmother not to force us together.’

Chase Lockwood followed Mia Kane downstairs.

Mia Kane went to a nearby fruit stand, carefully selected a fruit basket, and then bought a bouquet of flowers.

"Take these up to her. Even though she’s okay, falling while pregnant must have terrified her. You need to comfort her."

"I never knew... you had such a magnanimous side."

"Well, people change. I want you to be happy, don’t I?"

Mia Kane felt so disgusted saying this that she nearly threw up.

She fought back the urge.

"Chase Lockwood, since you gave me up for her, you’d better see it through. Don’t give up halfway, or I’ll feel cheated."

’Cheated for having fallen for such a piece of trash!’

"I wish you and Vivian Lynch the best. If you two ever get into a fight, you can come to me. I’ll help you figure out how to patch things up with her."

"I never thought you could be so understanding."

Chase Lockwood looked at her gently. She was so endearing when she acted like this.

Mia Kane met his gaze and instantly knew his philandering nature was flaring up again.

’The one he truly loves is probably Vivian Lynch, but he still enjoys having other women lose their minds over him.’

She quickly cut the conversation short. "You should head back up. Take good care of her. I’m leaving now."

She left in a hurry.

Chase Lockwood returned to the hospital room, carrying the flowers and fruit basket.

"What did Mia say to you?"

"Nothing much. Just that you should rest up, that I should take good care of you, and that she sincerely wishes us the best."

"Really? How could she change so fast? Do you think she’s hiding some kind of ulterior motive...?"

Before Vivian Lynch could finish, Chase Lockwood cut her off, clearly displeased.

"How can you think that about her? She’s gone to such great lengths for us, and you still dare to suspect her?"

Vivian Lynch felt as if she’d been punched in the gut.

She was finally getting a taste of what Mia Kane usually had to endure.

’Vivian is so kind, why do you have to push her?’

’I think you’re the venomous one for thinking about Vivian that way.’

’So this was what it felt like to suffer in silence, unable to explain herself.’

"Chase, I misspoke. When we get the chance, we should definitely treat her to a nice dinner to thank her."

"Yeah, we should treat her to dinner."

Chase Lockwood nodded, his voice gentle. Vivian couldn’t tell if that gentleness was for her, or for Mia Kane.

A sense of crisis washed over Vivian Lynch. After all, Mia Kane had been with Chase Lockwood for three years; she had been by his side through a major life event like his parents’ deaths. It was impossible for Mia to mean nothing to him.

’He might not have realized it before, but as he watched Mia Kane drift further and further away, that significance would become especially clear.’

’I have to capture his heart for good before he realizes any of this!’

Her original plan was to use her pregnancy to make Chase Lockwood feel more pity for her and, by extension, more disgust for Mia Kane. She never expected it to all fall apart.

But it didn’t matter. The day was still young. She would make sure Mia Kane would never be able to recover from this.

...

Mia Kane spotted Adrian Preston’s car across the street and immediately went to knock on the window.

"Are you following me?"

"I’m gathering evidence of your infidelity."

"And have you found any?"

"Not yet, Mrs. Preston. But I hope you can keep some distance from your ex-boyfriend, because your husband is very displeased at the moment!"

"You’re displeased? Well, so am I."

Mia Kane said peevishly and turned to leave. But unexpectedly, the car door swung open, and Adrian Preston’s large hand shot out, wrapping around her slender waist and yanking her into the car.

She landed straddling his lap, a terribly intimate position.

And they were right at the hospital entrance, with people constantly coming and going. What would people think if they were seen like this?

Mia Kane struggled, her body squirming uncomfortably.

"Stop squirming, or you’ll be sorry!"

Adrian Preston clamped a hand on her waist, holding her still.

Mia Kane froze, too scared to even twitch.