His Stand-in Bride

His Stand-in Bride

Liberation

5.0
Comment(s)
183
View
15
Chapters

On the eve of a high-profile wedding that could save her family's crumbling empire, Annie Mendes finds herself standing at the altar in place of her runaway sister. Forced into a cold, loveless marriage with powerful billionaire Nate Reynolds, Annie braces herself for a life of duty and sacrifice. But the moment their eyes meet, a shocking truth emerges-Nate is the same man she shared a reckless one-night stand with weeks earlier. Now bound as husband and wife, Annie carries a devastating secret: she is pregnant with his child. Nate, betrayed by Amelia's disappearance and deceived by the Mendes family, is determined to punish Annie. But beneath his icy exterior simmers a dangerous attraction that neither can deny. As secrets unravel and betrayals come to light, Annie must fight to protect not only her family but her unborn child from the chaos Amelia left behind. In a world where loyalty is fragile and love is a dangerous game, Annie and Nate must decide: will their marriage survive the lies, or will it collapse under the weight of betrayal?

His Stand-in Bride Chapter 1 Ashes of the Mendes Legacy

"Our name is a crown, Annie. But a crown can strangle just as easily as it can shine."

My mother's voice echoed in my head, as clear as if she were sitting beside me. Instead, I sat at a long glass table surrounded by men old enough to be my father, their suits dark as vultures' wings, their voices sharp with impatience. The Mendes name lay bleeding in the center of the table, and I could feel the crown tightening around my throat.

The boardroom lights hummed overhead, too bright, too unforgiving. The faint smell of burnt coffee and old paper clung to the air. My father sat stiffly at the head of the table, his once-powerful frame hunched, his tie askew, his eyes shadowed by sleepless nights. He tapped a trembling hand against his water glass, trying to maintain authority he no longer had.

One of the investors leaned forward, slamming a file down. "We can't keep stalling, Tate. The lawsuits are piling up. Creditors are circling. You promised us a turnaround."

My father's jaw tightened. "We're negotiating new terms. Mendes Corp isn't going under. I won't allow it."

A hollow laugh broke from another man. "Won't allow it? The numbers don't lie. Bankruptcy is staring you in the face. Unless you can pull a miracle out of your hat, you'll be lucky to avoid prison."

Prison. The word sliced through me like ice. My fingers clenched in my lap, nails biting into my palms. No one looked at me. Not once. I might as well have been a shadow at my father's side.

I studied him quietly. His once-black hair was streaked with gray, his eyes bloodshot, his hands restless. For years I'd watched him play king, commanding boardrooms with his booming voice, but now he looked like a man dragged down by chains.

The men argued over numbers, contracts, who would jump ship first. Their words blurred, replaced by the pounding in my head. I thought of my mother again, her jeweled hand stroking my hair when I was little, whispering that our name meant power. She never told me power could rot.

A voice jolted me back. "The press is already sniffing around," an investor snapped. "Once the headlines hit, it's over. The only thing keeping us quiet is the possibility of a buy-in from Reynolds. Has he even returned your calls?"

My father shifted in his chair. "He'll come through. Nate Reynolds doesn't walk away from an opportunity."

Reynolds. The name made my stomach twist. I'd heard of him, of course. Who in New York hadn't? Billionaire. Ruthless. A man who turned failing companies into gold or ground them into dust, depending on what suited him.

The meeting dragged on for another hour. I didn't speak. No one asked for my opinion, though I wanted to scream. By the end, my father's shoulders sagged as if the weight of the room had crushed him.

When we left, his face was ashen. In the hallway, I touched his arm. "Papa-"

"Not now, Annie." He shook me off and walked ahead, his shoes echoing against marble floors.

I followed in silence, guilt pressing into me like a blade. Because while my father drowned in debts and men shouted in his face, I'd escaped. I'd given myself one night weeks ago-one single night where I wasn't Annie Mendes, dutiful daughter, quiet shadow.

I could still feel it sometimes if I let myself. The stranger's hands on my skin, his breath hot against my throat, the way his eyes burned as if I were the only woman in the world. The hotel sheets tangled around us, the taste of whiskey on his mouth, the ache in my thighs when it was over.

It had been madness. Beautiful, reckless madness. And I hated myself for craving the memory now, when everything was falling apart.

By the time evening came, the house felt heavy, suffocating. The Mendes mansion smelled of polished wood and fading roses, the kind Amelia loved to scatter in every room. I passed through the quiet halls, hearing muffled voices from my father's office. His tone was clipped, deferential-so unlike him.

I slowed outside the door. His voice carried through the crack.

"Yes, Mr. Reynolds. I understand." A pause. "Of course. Whatever terms you set."

My chest tightened.

Then my father's voice dropped lower, almost pleading. "She'll be yours, as promised. Amelia won't object. The marriage will secure everything."

My hand flew to my mouth. My sister? Amelia? My father was offering her like... like payment.

The silence on the other end stretched. Then his voice, sharp with determination: "We'll be ready by next week. Yes. Thank you, Nate."

The call clicked off. I stumbled backward, my pulse thundering in my ears. Marriage. A deal sealed with Amelia's hand. My father had promised her to Nate Reynolds like she was nothing more than a bargaining chip.

I rushed upstairs, nearly tripping over my gown. Amelia's room was glowing with lamplight, the faint scent of expensive perfume curling in the air. She stood by the mirror, brushing out her long waves, humming to herself.

"Amelia," I blurted.

She turned, her silk robe slipping slightly at the shoulder, revealing smooth skin. Her eyes glittered with annoyance. "What now? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I heard Papa. On the phone. He promised you to Nate Reynolds. Amelia, he's serious."

She blinked, then laughed. Laughed. The sound was sharp and reckless, bouncing off the walls.

"Of course he did. That's his style, isn't it? Sell off his daughter to the highest bidder." She tossed the brush onto the vanity and reached for a cigarette from the silver case. Lighting it, she drew in a slow drag, the smoke curling around her like a halo of defiance.

"You're not upset?" I whispered.

She blew smoke toward the ceiling. "Upset? Please. If he thinks I'll play obedient little bride for Nate Reynolds, he's insane." Her lips curved into a wicked smile. "I'd rather burn than marry a man like that."

The laughter in her voice chilled me, even as the smoke stung my eyes.

And at that moment, I wasn't sure if she meant it as a joke-or a promise.

Continue Reading

You'll also like

One Night With My Billionaire Boss

One Night With My Billionaire Boss

Nathaniel Stone
4.5

I woke up on silk sheets that smelled of expensive cedar and cold sandalwood, a world away from my cramped apartment in Brooklyn. Beside me lay Ezra Gardner—my boss, the billionaire CEO of Gardner Holdings, and the man who could end my career with a snap of his fingers. He didn’t offer an apology for the night before; instead, he looked at me with terrifying clarity and proposed a cold, calculated business arrangement. "Marriage. It stabilizes the board and solves the PR crisis before it begins." He dressed me in archival Chanel and sent me home in his Maybach, but my life was already falling apart. My boyfriend, Irving, claimed he had passed out early, yet his location data placed him at my best friend’s apartment until three in the morning. When I tried to run, I realized Ezra was already ten steps ahead, tracking my movements and uncovering the secret I’d spent twenty years hiding: my connection to the powerful Senator Grimes. I was trapped between a CEO who treated me like a line item on a quarterly report and a boyfriend who had been using me while sleeping with my closest friend. I felt like a pawn in a game I didn't understand, wondering why a man like Ezra would walk up forty flights of stairs on a broken leg just to make sure I was safe. "Showtime, Mrs. Gardner." Standing on the red carpet in a gown that cost more than my life, I watched my cheating ex-boyfriend’s face turn pale as Ezra claimed me in front of the world. I wasn't just an assistant anymore; I was a weapon, and it was time to burn their world down.

The Mute Heiress: Her Cold Silent Revenge

The Mute Heiress: Her Cold Silent Revenge

Tu Tu
5.0

The Pierre Hotel smelled of old money and stale ambition, but all I could taste was the copper of my own rage. I stood in the back of the ballroom, a "mute" shadow in a silk dress, watching my sister Brande play the grieving saint on stage. She wiped away a fake tear, telling the crowd I was too "unstable" to attend my own engagement party. In reality, I was watching her share a secret, intimate squeeze with my fiancé, Chase Sterling, right under the blinding spotlight. When I finally hit "execute" and projected the video of them together in a hotel suite for the entire elite crowd to see, the room went cold. But the nightmare was just beginning. Instead of apologizing, my father crushed his scotch glass and told me to fix the mess. He demanded I issue a public statement claiming I had a mental breakdown and "hallucinated" the whole thing. "If you don't corroborate the Deepfake story, I'll have you committed to a facility with barred windows," he hissed. Brande just smirked from the corner, mocking me for being a "mute waste of space" who didn't even realize my own trust fund had paid for the diamonds around her neck. I realized then that in this family, silence wasn't a disability—it was a target. They thought because I didn't speak, I didn't have a voice. They thought they could use my silence to bury the truth and save their precious stock prices. They were wrong. I didn't just leak a video; I had the keys to every secret they ever tried to hide. I walked out of that hotel and straight into the black sedan of Julian Curtis, my father’s most ruthless rival and the only man who knew what really happened the night of the blizzard in Aspen. I handed him the encrypted files that would trigger a hostile takeover of my family’s empire. As the city blurred past, I looked at the man who held my future in his hands and typed one final message on my phone. "I'm not here to be saved. I'm here to be the knife."

He Thought I Was A Doormat, Until I Ruined Him

He Thought I Was A Doormat, Until I Ruined Him

SHANA GRAY
4.5

The sterile white of the operating room blurred, then sharpened, as Skye Sterling felt the cold clawing its way up her body. The heart monitor flatlined, a steady, high-pitched whine announcing her end. Her uterus had been removed, a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, but the blood wouldn't clot. It just kept flowing, warm and sticky, pooling beneath her. Through heavy eyes, she saw a trembling nurse holding a phone on speaker. "Mr. Kensington," the nurse's voice cracked, "your wife... she's critical." A pause, then a sweet, poisonous giggle. Seraphina Miller. "Liam is in the shower," Seraphina's voice purred. "Stop calling, Skye. It's pathetic. Faking a medical emergency on our anniversary? Even for you, that's low." Then, Liam's bored voice: "If she dies, call the funeral home. I have a meeting in the morning." Click. The line went dead. A second later, so did Skye. The darkness that followed was absolute, suffocating, a black ocean crushing her lungs. She screamed into the void, a silent, agonizing wail of regret for loving a man who saw her as a nuisance, for dying without ever truly living. Until she died, she didn't understand. Why was her life so tragically wasted? Why did her husband, the man she loved, abandon her so cruelly? The injustice of it all burned hotter than the fever in her body. Then, the air rushed back in. Skye gasped, her body convulsing violently on the mattress. Her eyes flew open, wide and terrified, staring blindly into the darkness. Her trembling hand reached for her phone. May 12th. Five years ago. She was back.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
His Stand-in Bride His Stand-in Bride Liberation Romance
“On the eve of a high-profile wedding that could save her family's crumbling empire, Annie Mendes finds herself standing at the altar in place of her runaway sister. Forced into a cold, loveless marriage with powerful billionaire Nate Reynolds, Annie braces herself for a life of duty and sacrifice. But the moment their eyes meet, a shocking truth emerges-Nate is the same man she shared a reckless one-night stand with weeks earlier. Now bound as husband and wife, Annie carries a devastating secret: she is pregnant with his child. Nate, betrayed by Amelia's disappearance and deceived by the Mendes family, is determined to punish Annie. But beneath his icy exterior simmers a dangerous attraction that neither can deny. As secrets unravel and betrayals come to light, Annie must fight to protect not only her family but her unborn child from the chaos Amelia left behind. In a world where loyalty is fragile and love is a dangerous game, Annie and Nate must decide: will their marriage survive the lies, or will it collapse under the weight of betrayal?”
1

Chapter 1 Ashes of the Mendes Legacy

20/10/2025

2

Chapter 2 Amelia's Last Laugh

20/10/2025

3

Chapter 3 The Replacement Bride

20/10/2025

4

Chapter 4 The Man At The Altar

20/10/2025

5

Chapter 5 The Wedding Night Bargain

20/10/2025

6

Chapter 6 Nate's Terms

20/10/2025

7

Chapter 7 The Perfect Wife Act

20/10/2025

8

Chapter 8 Breakfast Wars

20/10/2025

9

Chapter 9 Amelia's Shadow

20/10/2025

10

Chapter 10 The Dinner Guest

20/10/2025

11

Chapter 11 Unwanted Heat

20/10/2025

12

Chapter 12 The Past Returns

20/10/2025

13

Chapter 13 The Secret Meeting

26/10/2025

14

Chapter 14 The Punishment

26/10/2025

15

Chapter 15 Cracks in the Ice

27/10/2025