

At the party the night before our wedding, I came across a couples' challenge post online: [If I weren't an option, who would you most want to marry?] I smiled as I asked my fiance, Julian Hayes. He didn't hesitate. "Vivian." Vivian Bennett was my younger sister. My best friend chimed in. "Honestly, Vivian does understand him best. Every time you two fight, she's the one who stays up talking to Julian until dawn." Vivian reached over and gave him a playful punch on the chest. "Better keep your fiance in line, sis. Can't have him pining after me all the time." The whole table erupted in laughter. My mother, Margaret Bennett, gave an amused tsk. "It's just a joke. Besides, Vivian never complains the way you do. It's only natural that Julian likes her." Julian glanced at me. "It was just a joke. What, you can't take one again?" I didn't respond. I looked down at the confirmation form the wedding planner had just sent over. The gown, the bouquet, the music, the menu. All chosen to Vivian's taste. So this wedding, from start to finish, had only one thing that was mine: my name in the bride's place. If it didn't matter who the bride was, then there was no point in having this wedding at all.

When my parents divorced, their lawyers drafted a custody agreement. My sister and I would live with separate parents, then switch homes at the start of every school year. The handoff happened every August at La Serata, the Moretti family's restaurant. Every year, my parents fought over who got more time with Sofia. "Come to St. Barts with me for Thanksgiving," Mom coaxed. Dad's face hardened. "Sofia is with me this year. She spends the holidays with me." Mom pulled up her calendar. "You dumped her on me for nineteen extra days last year. I get those days back. Every single one." "Two of those days were school overnights. They don't count." Sofia rested her chin on one hand and gave them the helpless smile of a princess burdened by too much devotion. "If only there were two of me." Half an hour later, my parents compromised by booking the trip together. Only then did Sofia glance my way. "What about Emilia?" Dad picked up his water and looked past me. "She's not my responsibility this year." Mom finally met my eyes. "The hotel group closes an acquisition next month. I don't have time for this. St. Gabriel still has rooms in the senior dorm. You'll board there." They had just counted every hour Sofia had spent away from them. When it came to me, they could hand off an entire year without blinking. Under the table, I smoothed the napkin I had crushed in my fist. My phone lit up. [Ms. Harper: Your record puts several top East Coast schools within reach. Westbridge Institute's research scholarship would also be a great fit. Which one is your first choice?] I looked at California on the other side of the map and typed my answer. [Westbridge.] Three thousand miles ought to be far enough to leave my family for good.

My daughter, Ruby Pratt, has leukemia. She needs a bone marrow transplant—and fast. Out of everyone in the family, my husband, Dan Pratt, was the only match. I begged him for an entire month before he finally agreed to go through with the donation. But on the morning of the surgery, he went completely off the grid. I stood outside the hospital all day, waiting. No calls. No texts. Not even a shadow. That night, his childhood friend, Valerie Kinder, posted on Instagram. In the photo, Dan was holding Valerie's hand with one arm and carrying her young son with the other—on a beach in Lulabo City. The caption read: [Soaking up the sun! Dan cleared his whole schedule to join us on a month-long trek and we finally made it to the coast! My little boy said Uncle Dan made his ocean dream come true. Pure joy!] My heart splintered. While I was drowning in worry over my daughter, he was off playing happy family with them. I wiped my tears and typed a comment beneath her post: [Not 'Uncle.' From now on, he's your son's father.] That night, I finally got a call from him. "Babe, don't be like this," Dan said. "You're not being fair. "Valerie's son has been bullied at school for not having a dad. I couldn't stand seeing him hurt, so I took them on this trip. It was supposed to help him heal. "I'll catch the first flight back tomorrow and head straight to the hospital to donate the marrow. I promise." I hung up with a bitter smile. The next morning, Dan rushed into the hospital room. But all he found on the bed was a death certificate.

Matthew Tipton is one breakthrough away from immortality, held back only by unresolved mortal ties. Sent down the mountain to cut them loose, he finds Cristal Bridges, a woman who wants nothing to do with her father's arranged marriage and makes that very clear. But trouble keeps finding Cristal, and Matthew keeps stepping in to pull her out of it. Somewhere between reluctant proximity and quiet acts of protection, feelings take root that neither of them planned for. The immortal who came to leave ends up staying forever.

Three days before my wedding, Adrian canceled it for the fifty-second time. He came to the Palermo workshop to approve my gown’s crest embroidery, but the moment I stepped out from the fitting curtain, he snatched up his holster and radio. “Torino bastards smashed Bianca’s vineyard, surrounded the estate. Lia’s terrified, so I have to go. The wedding is off.” Once, I would have stopped him and demanded to know who mattered more to him, me or Bianca. This time, I simply let him go. Thirty minutes later, Bianca posted an Instagram Story: [You’re the only shelter for me and my daughter.] The photo showed Adrian holding Bianca close, with Lia in his arms, calling him Dad. They looked like a real family. My parents sighed. “Seraphina, is the wedding in Hawaii off again? We’ve already sent the invitations to every renowned Italian family. What will this do to the Bellini family’s honor?” I shook my head, tapping the backup invite. "The wedding goes on. In three days, I’ll still be a bride. Just not Adrian’s."

Yulia is sent by her father to the bed of her family's creditor, Yvan. What appears to be an orchestrated honey trap is, in fact, a calculated move by Yvan, a young CEO. Playing along with the scheme, Yvan pressures Yulia's father behind the scenes while playing the innocent victim in front of the clueless girl. His endgame? To trick her straight into marriage.

Rick Carter has been a vegetable ever since an accident two years ago. In place of Mary Holt, Rose Abney marries him and takes good care of him, earning her the favor of his mother, Ann White.
![[ENG DUB] The Bride's Substitute](https://acfs3.goodshort.com/dist/src/assets/images/pc/common/f901131c-default-book-cover.png)
Rick Carter has been a vegetable ever since an accident two years ago. In place of Mary Holt, Rose Abney marries him and takes good care of him, earning her the favor of his mother, Ann White.

."Ashley, the elder twin sister, has always been the overlooked one in her family. Her parents, her brother Taylor, and her childhood sweetheart Brandon all shower all their affection on her sister Madison. Everyone takes it for granted that Ashley is a poor performer, awkward, and inferior to Madison in every way. Right before college application deadlines, Ashley scored a perfect 1560 on the SAT, yet no one even bothered to ask about her results. Without telling them, she turned down Alington, the school her family picked for her, and chose South Coast University, more than 700 miles away. Afterward, her parents gave Madison a $20,000 reward, but only $200 to her. Her brother bought Madison the latest laptop, while Ashley only got a cheap e-reader. Even Brandon forgot that she was deathly allergic to mangoes. Worst of all, her mother stole the $5,500 Ashley had saved up over 18 years to buy Madison a gold bracelet. That was when Ashley decided to leave for good. On the day of her graduation party, she boarded a southbound train alone. Right in front of hundreds of guests, her family found out that Ashley, the girl they’d always looked down on, was the top SAT scorer in the whole city. They rushed to South Coast University filled with regret to win her back, but Ashley no longer needed their approval. With scholarships, part-time jobs and research work, she built her own life step by step, and finally broke free from her biased family for good."

The orphan girl Renee was bullied to the point of disability in the family that adopted her, and was forced to marry in place of their biological daughter, Isabelle. The groom, Leander,pretended to be blind to investigate the cause of his parents' death, and he witnessed Renee being bullied. In reality, Renee had the identity of the AI master "Nutien," and Leander turned out to be her long-time mentor. The two progressed from testing each other to trusting one another,joining forces to bring the villains to justice. In the end, Leander proposed, and Renee began a happy life with him.