The CEO's Substitute Bride

The CEO's Substitute Bride

Louisa · Completed · 331.5k Words

432
Hot
16.3k
Views
867
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Dear readers, I'd like to recommend another novel of the same genre: After His Mistress Conceived, I Left Him.
I was found by my biological parents only to become a mobile blood bank for their adopted daughter Leila, expected to sacrifice myself to donate blood—even my heart—whenever she fell seriously ill...
My parents despised me, and my own brother drugged me, threatening my life to force me to marry a dying man as Leila's substitute.
Having lost all hope in my family, I signed a severance agreement, cutting all ties with them, and took a large sum of money for marriage investment.
What they didn’t know was that I was the mysterious Nobel Prize-winning doctor in medicine, possessing the world’s most advanced medical research technology...

Chapter 1

"Please, Diana, don't blame Dad, Mom, and our brothers! It's all my fault..."

Before Diana York could even respond, a resounding slap landed across her face. The force was so powerful that half her face went instantly numb, her ears ringing.

The person who struck her? Her own biological father, Bodhi York.

"Ungrateful! How did I end up with such a venomous daughter like you?You know your sister has a weak heart! She's about to have surgery, and you dare upset her?"

Diana raised her eyes, looking past his enraged face to the girl behind him—being protected by her mother and oldest brother—crying as if her heart would break.

Six years ago, Diana had been brought back to the York family from Rosewood. Back then, she'd been overjoyed, believing she'd finally found a complete family, blood relatives who would love her.

But over those six long years, she came to realize that she couldn't compare to even a single strand of hair on their adopted daughter, Leila York.

She was nothing more than Leila's personal blood bank, a dark contrast to highlight Leila's pure goodness, a disposable substitute to be sacrificed when needed.

Just like now.

As if she were the most wicked person alive, the entire family glared at her with vigilance and disgust, terrified she might do something to harm Leila.

"Dad, please don't hit Diana..." Leila spoke weakly, "I'll marry into the Russell family... Even though Rupert Russell is in a vegetative state, I'm willing to do it for the York family."

Every word she uttered was a strategic retreat designed to make Diana look selfish and self-centered. Sure enough, Diana's birth mother, Bella Lavien, immediately pulled Leila into a protective embrace.

"Leila, my darling! What nonsense are you talking? You're about to have heart surgery—how could you possibly marry for good fortune? That Rupert Russell is practically a dead man. The doctors say he won't last the month! You'd be marrying into widowhood while he's still breathing!"

Diana's oldest brother, Idris York, shot her a look of extreme contempt. "Diana, have you no shame? Leila is willing to sacrifice her life for you! The Russell family specifically asked for a York daughter. If you don't marry him, are you expecting Leila to go to her death?"

That single word—"death"—revealed the true nature of this marriage arrangement.

Rupert Russell, the head of the global financial titan The Russell Group, had suffered a catastrophic accident a year ago, leaving him in a vegetative state.

The Russell family had consulted countless specialists without success, until they somehow latched onto the superstition that marriage could bring good fortune and extend his life.

They had chosen the York family, and Leila was the "fortune" they had selected.

But now, with the wedding date approaching, she'd suddenly suffered a heart attack and was crying that she couldn't go through with it. So Diana, the true daughter who had been forgotten in the corner, was pushed forward instead.

How laughable.

Diana watched her family's united front against her, their perfect harmony in treating her as the enemy.

In the six years since she'd been found and brought back, had they ever treated her as family?

Leila wore designer dresses worth thousands; Diana wore clothes from street vendors.

Leila played piano and studied ballet; Diana was expected to handle all the household chores.

If Leila so much as whispered she felt unwell, they would summon a doctor in the middle of the night. But when Diana had pneumonia with a raging fever, they accused her of faking illness to avoid donating blood to Leila.

Leila buried her face in her mother's embrace, yet secretly glanced up to shoot Diana a challenging, triumphant look.

That glance silently proclaimed her victory: 'See, Diana? What does it matter if they found you and brought you back? Mom, Dad, and our brothers will always love me. You're nothing but an unwanted bastard!'

Did Diana regret coming back? No. She felt disgusted.

"Fine. I'll marry him."

Then, without giving them time to react, she turned, went upstairs, and returned to the tiny attic room that bore almost no trace of her personal touch. It was less a bedroom than a storage closet.

Diana owned very little—just one small suitcase. Inside were a few changes of clothes, a photograph left to her by her adoptive mother, and a small medical robot still in development.

After getting lost at age five, she'd been adopted by an elderly professor specializing in biomedical engineering who had passed on to her everything he knew.

If not for that ridiculous notion of family bonds, why would Diana have returned here to be mistreated for six years?

The door opened, and Idris York entered, tossing a black credit card onto Diana's bed. "There's five hundred thousand in this account. Consider it compensation. Diana, don't blame our parents for being heartless—blame your bad luck. After you're married, behave yourself. Don't embarrass the York family."

His tone suggested he was dismissing a beggar.

Diana didn't even glance at the card. "I want my entire bride price. After this, I'll have nothing more to do with any of you."

"What kind of attitude is that? Diana, I'm warning you—even if you marry into the Russell family, don't fantasize about rising above your station. You owe all of this to Leila!" Idris spat these words with disgust before slamming the door behind him.

Diana ignored him and the bank card, unzipping her suitcase to organize her meager belongings.

The attic door opened again. This time, her second brother, Dash York, entered. Unlike the volatile Idris, he was always refined and elegant, wearing gold-rimmed glasses like a gentleman from another century.

"Diana." He approached with a glass of warm water, his voice gentle. "I just returned from court and heard what happened. Idris has a terrible temper—don't take it to heart."

"Our parents are just confused right now, but they do love you. If you truly don't want to marry him, I'll speak up for you. The daughters of the York family shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves for financial gain."

Of her three brothers, the second had always been the most gentle. He was the only one who seemed concerned about Diana's health, worried that her blood donations to Leila might be weakening her.

For a moment, looking at his concerned face, Diana almost believed she had once had a kind brother who cared for her—until she took a sip of water and immediately detected something wrong with the taste.

Years of medical training had sharpened her senses, instantly putting her on alert.

Diana looked up at Dash York, "What did you put in the water?"

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

From Sacrificed Slave to the Dragon King's Obsession

From Sacrificed Slave to the Dragon King's Obsession

2.5k Views · Completed · Ellis Carter
"Ten years of atonement, and you flee?"

His fangs glinted as he gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. Dragon scales shimmered along his neck, breath scorching my skin.

"Your Majesty... I beg—" He shoved me onto the bed. Silk tore with a sharp rip, cold air rushing over my exposed body.

"Scared?" He smirked, palm sliding down my waist, fingers tracing slow, burning circles. "Yet you shiver... not from cold."

I lunged for the candlestick, but he caught my wrist, pinning it overhead. His knee forced my legs apart.

"When your father gave you to me," his lips brushed my ear, voice a dark rumble, "you were already mine."

On the eve of freedom after ten years of servitude, Lina Valeria stood one night away from reuniting with her betrothed. But Dragon King Augustus condemned her to the Abyss Mines on false charges—a trap forged from obsessive desire.

Augustus Ashenwing, Supreme Sovereign of Skyhold Citadel, is ruthless and feared by all races. His obsession stems from ancient grudges and dragonkind's most dangerous instinct: possessive desire. He demands her submission, binding her to his throne as his consort.

From prisoner to queen, Lina battles him through court intrigue and twisted passion—fighting for her mother, her freedom, her dignity.

Yet this cold-blooded tyrant reserves all tenderness for her alone. He indulges her temper, bends his pride, compromises without limit—anything to see her smile. Gradually, her heart wavers. But loving him means betraying Kain, who waited eleven years. Torn between duty and desire, she drowns in agonizing guilt.

Love and hatred intertwined—a forbidden dragon romance in a realm of oppression.
Aphrodite and the Cursed Mate Bond

Aphrodite and the Cursed Mate Bond

2.7k Views · Ongoing · June Calva
In a werewolf pack that despised weakness, Aphrodite learned to survive by staying quiet, keeping her head down, and enduring cruelty in silence. The Alpha heirs hated her. The future Beta and Gamma made her life unbearable. When she finally breaks and seeks freedom at the Moon Goddess temple, she does not find release.

She finds truth.

Aphrodite is not human at all. She is a rare white wolf, descended from an ancient Direwolf bloodline long believed extinct. The ritual meant to sever her ties awakens her wolf instead and with it comes the scent of five mates bound to her by fate.

The Alpha twins who once scorned her now cannot stay away. A human hunter walks beside her and proves that strength is not born of fangs or dominance. A cursed Wolf King holds the key to her past and her father’s imprisonment. And watching from the shadows is one who was never meant to interfere at all.

As gods fall, packs fracture, and war reshapes the world, Aphrodite must decide what destiny truly means. Is it submission to fate or the courage to choose her own path.

Love does not come in one form. Neither does power.

In a world ruled by gods and wolves, Aphrodite will become something neither ever expected.

Not a queen.

But the axis upon which the world turns.
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

524.7k Views · Completed · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
The Deadly Mafia Princess

The Deadly Mafia Princess

6.3k Views · Ongoing · Tonje Unosen
Ro was taken from her real family when she was 1 year old. Those she believed is her parents have been abusive towards her do years. Despite she being a very feared gang leader of a well known gang, she can’t find it in her to stand up against what she think is her parents. The little girl in her wants their love which she never will get.
Her gang take the matter in their own hands, to try to save their leader from the horror of her home. What none of them know, they wasn’t her real parents, and now Ro will be sent away to live with her real family. That makes her closest members in her gang pack up and move as well. They don’t want to be far away from their leader.
From Substitute To Queen

From Substitute To Queen

1.6m Views · Completed · Hannah Moore
For three years, Sable loved Alpha Darrell with everything she had, spending her salary to support their household while being called an orphan and gold-digger. But just as Darrell was about to mark her as his Luna, his ex-girlfriend returned, texting: "I'm not wearing underwear. My plane lands soon—pick me up and fuck me immediately."

Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.

Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.

In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?

From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
The Dragon's Last Fae Queen

The Dragon's Last Fae Queen

5.8k Views · Ongoing · Sylvia Sylvester
Hidden all her life in the slums of Emberveil, Aerith has one rule: never let the dragons see her eyes. Fae are extinct, hunted, burned, and erased from the kingdom. Or so everyone believes. But on the night of her eighteenth birthday, when her forbidden magic stirs awake and her grandmother falls deathly ill, Aerith breaks the one rule meant to keep her safe. She enters the royal dragon pharmacy… and collides with a werewolf princess who drags her straight to the dungeon. There, in the deepest shadows of the palace, the youngest dragon prince sees her glowing eyes and instantly knows what she is. A fae. A secret the entire kingdom would kill for. What would be her fate? Another dead Fae? Or the Last Dragon's Fae Queen?

“Prince? Dickhead? Asshole? Or stalker?” A slow, dangerous smile curved his lips. “Maybe I should show you the one title I want you to use.” Before I could react, his hand closed around my chin, tilting my face up. His lips crashed into mine, hard, claiming, breath-stealing. When he finally pulled back, his voice was a rough whisper against my lips. “You could call me yours… because you are mine.”
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

2.8m Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Game of Destiny

Game of Destiny

1.2m Views · Completed · Dripping Creativity
Amie's wolf hasn't shown herself. But who cares? She has a good pack, best friends and a family who loves her. Everyone, including the Alpha, is telling her she is perfect just the way she is. That is until she finds her mate and he rejects her. Heartbroken Amie flees from everything and start over. No more werewolves, no more packs.

When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.

Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.

When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

897.9k Views · Completed · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
A Queen Among Tides (Book 5 in the Gods' Saga)

A Queen Among Tides (Book 5 in the Gods' Saga)

4k Views · Ongoing · ADB_Stories
One mistake centuries ago left Lemuel cursed by the Goddess Merlos and forced to wander the earth granting the wishes of those who touch him. Lemuel was looking at an eternity of loneliness until his unexpected soulmate plucked him right out of the sea.

Shocked to find he's been bound in more ways than one to Sebastian, the future King to the Kingdom of Atlesper, Lemuel resists Sebastian's advances at every turn, believing this may be one pairing Goddess Zarseti got wrong.

Lemuel will have to face his past in hopes of starting a new future, but an overly flirtatious King is the least of his worries when he learns Sebastian's parents are convinced that a conniving usurper disguised as a curvy blonde, is the future king's true soulmate.

A Queen Among Tides is the 5th book in the Queen Among Series/The Gods' Saga. This is an interconnected series. To see how it ends, I recommend reading the full series.

Books in the series order:
A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1
Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2
A Queen Among Blood - Book 3
A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4
Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Tides - Book 5
Valor, Virtue, and Verve - Tides Prequel Spin-off (will be available under book 5)
A Queen Among Gods - Book 6
Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (will be available under book 2)
A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7
Dark Vocation - Darkness spin-off (will be available under book 4)
A Court of Arcane Souls Anthology (side character short stories exclusive to Ream)
Royal Shadow Series (Next Gen Coming Soon)
The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice

The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice

76.9k Views · Completed · Cherie Frost
"Tell me to stop, and I will," he murmured against my ear. "But if you don't..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, my fingers curled into his shirt, clutching the fabric as though it was my only anchor. Something in him snapped—something he had been holding back for too long. His mouth found mine in a kiss that wasn't tender, but hungry, desperate.
I gasped into him, his hand sliding up to cup my jaw, holding me as if afraid I might vanish.
"You drive me insane," he breathed against my mouth, his lips trailing to my throat. "I can't lose you, Ella. Not you."
My head fell back, a soft sound escaping me as his fingers memorized my waist. My anger melted beneath his desperation.
"James..." I whispered, more plea than protest.
His hand caught mine, fingers threading together tightly. "I'll bring him back. I swear it. Just... don't turn away from me. Please."
The word please—low, ragged, almost broken—undid me more than anything else could have.


Ella never imagined she would marry the man she had secretly loved for years in such a way.
When her brother Theo faced twenty-five years in prison for massive embezzlement, the ruthless business tycoon James Lancaster offered her a deal: marry him in exchange for her brother's freedom.
This wasn't a fairy tale proposal, but a carefully orchestrated revenge. Because in James's heart, Ella was the culprit who had killed his sister Cecilia. He wanted her to pay the price—to atone with a lifetime of suffering.
Bound by the Dragon Mafia

Bound by the Dragon Mafia

7.1k Views · Ongoing · McKenzie Shinabery
“No, no, no,” she said, pointing at a platter. “If it’s called ‘Goth Girl French Toast,’ then it has to be black. I don’t care how you do it. Activated charcoal. Blackberries. Food coloring. Demon blood. Whatever.”

The head chef looked like he was silently praying for death.

I rushed forward. “Amara. Stop traumatizing these poor people.”

She spun around, delighted. “Sera! Good, you’re here. Taste this. It’s missing despair.”

The chef’s face morphed into existential crisis.

I grabbed her arm. “Put the spatula down.”

“But—”

“Down.”

With exaggerated offense, she dropped the spatula and muttered, “Fine. But if no one here has artistic vision, that’s not my fault.”

She went undercover to expose a mafia empire.
He offered her thirty nights to save her life.

When investigative journalist Seraphine Vale steps into the glittering underworld ruled by billionaire crime lord Dante Vescari, she thinks she’s chasing a story about missing women and corruption.
Instead, she uncovers a secret older than blood—an empire built on fire, sin, and dragons.

Bound to Dante by a forbidden pact, Seraphine finds herself caught between fear and desire, truth and temptation.
Each night pulls her deeper into his world of power, passion, and danger…
and closer to the monster hiding beneath his perfect skin.

Thirty nights. One bond.
And a love that might just burn the world to ash.