After Falling Off a Cliff, the Stand-in Becomes Chief Researcher

In Alpha Lucas’s eyes, the best thing I ever had going for me…was that I looked like her.

Freya.

The woman he adored. The woman he was waiting for. The woman I was paid to imitate.

For Lucas, giving an Omega like me the chance to exchange a Moonlight Flower for a three-year stand-in contract was an act of mercy. A favor. Charity.

But now, Freya was back. And the role I’d played for the last three years was no longer needed.

To welcome her return, Alpha Lucas held a formal dinner at the family castle—a grand celebration, fit for royalty.

Before leaving, he didn’t even look at me.

“I won’t be coming back to the villa tonight.”

Just like that, cold, dismissive. I was no longer necessary.

I kept my head down and focused on packing the files I needed to send to Thorn Academy. I was almost done when my phone rang.

Lucas’s name lit up the screen.

“Elaine,” his voice snapped through the line. “There’s a velvet box on the desk in the study. Bring it to the castle. Now.”

“Yes, Alpha Lucas.”

I took a breath, steadying the sting in my chest.

Rule number one of being a stand-in: Obedience, despite the humiliation.

I had never been allowed inside Alpha Lucas’s family castle before. An Omega like me—especially one hired to play someone else—had no place at that table.

The castle’s grand hall gleamed under gold chandeliers. At one end of the long dining table sat Alpha Lucas, regal and detached. And at his right, where no one else had ever been allowed to sit—was Freya.

She didn’t need to speak. Her presence alone screamed power.

Guests were gathered, toasting to her return.

“She’s even more beautiful than before.”

“Alpha Lucas must be over the moon. He opened his treasured red wine just for this.”

I swallowed down my nerves and approached, carefully not to make eye contact.

“Alpha Lucas, this is what you requested.”

I bowed and placed the velvet box gently on the table.

Their stares cut through me like blades—sharp, judging, unapologetic. I kept my expression neutral and quietly stepped back, fading into the background.

“Look up,” Freya said suddenly. “Let me see your face.”

I hesitated, then slowly lifted my gaze.

She twirled the wine in her glass; her lips curving into a cold smile. “Hmm. She does look like me… a little.”

I looked to Alpha Lucas, hoping for something—acknowledgment, defense, anything.

But he was looking at Freya, smiling like she hung the damn moon.

“She wanted to see you,” he said lightly. “So here she is. Satisfied now?”

Freya’s expression shifted.

“Does a stand-in even deserve to touch my things?”

Before I could react, she hurled a bottle opener at me.

I turned my head, but it still caught my temple. Pain seared across my skin as blood rose in an angry welt—the opener had silver embedded in it.

The room fell quiet.

Roy, Lucas’s longtime friend, chuckled and stepped in as if to smooth things over.

“Don’t be mad, Freya. The only thing she shares with you is that face. Everything else? Not even close.”

“She’s just a lowborn Omega,” another chimed in. “Of course, she’s clinging to Alpha Lucas. She’s the one chasing him. He never wanted her.”

“This dinner,” Roy added, lifting his glass, “is for you, Freya. Elaine’s just the help.”

Freya turned back to me, eyes narrowed. “What did you do before you signed the contract?”

“I lived with my mother. I studied herbs,” I answered quietly.

“Did your mother never teach you self-respect?” Her voice rose.

She threw her wine in my face.

The cold, sticky liquid dripped down my chin and soaked into my blouse. I stood frozen, drenched in shame, but she wasn’t finished.

“You’d really degrade yourself that much? Just to get close to Alpha Lucas? Just for power?”

No one stopped her.

Not even him.

Lucas opened the velvet box, unfazed by the scene.

“Don’t be upset, Freya,” he said softly. “She’s just a stand-in.”

He lifted the heirloom earrings from the box—delicate sapphire drops nestled in velvet.

“These are for you. A gift. Next month, during the full moon ceremony, I’ll announce you as my Luna.”

My stomach twisted.

Roy shoved a glass of wine into my hands. “Drink this. Think of it as your apology to the future Luna.”

My fingers curled around the glass. My throat was already raw, but I lifted it and drank. One gulp. Straight down.

The burn was instant. It ripped through me like wildfire.

My knees buckled as I bent forward, retching against the table, trying not to collapse.

Laughter erupted around me.

“She can’t even handle a little wolfsbane,” someone mocked.

“She’s worse than a runt. Defective.”

Freya sipped her wine with a satisfied smirk. “Completely useless.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

I had traded my dignity for Alpha Lucas’s indifference. And now, they were making sure I knew exactly how worthless they thought I was.

To them, I was nothing more than a joke, a shadow.

A cheap imitation of the woman he loved.

But one day, I’ll make them regret ever thinking I was disposable.