Page 42 of The Substitute Fiancée

She smiles—a sad, almost tender smile.

“Despite how rarely we’ve seen each other, you’ve given me more recognition than my parents have in twenty-three years. Did you know you gave me my first canvas?”

I blink. I wasn’t expecting that.

“It was for my sixteenth birthday,” she continues. “I left it blank for months. I was afraid of ruining it.”

She lets out a small, fragile laugh that hits me straight in the chest.

“No one had ever encouraged me like that. Not even Andrew.”

Something shifts inside me. A lock clicks open without a sound. A crack forms in a wall I didn’t even know existed.

Then she looks back at me, and this time, she doesn’t look away.

“So if I have to choose between my family and you…”

She lets the silence settle.

A charged, vibrating silence, resonating between us like an invisible thread.

“…the choice is already made.”

I can’t breathe.

She’s choosing me.

My heart has just imploded.

And in that exact moment, a certainty crashes down on me—brutal, destabilizing, undeniable:

I don’t deserve her.

14. Art Gallery

Samantha

Alexander is left speechless by my words.

The silence that follows is heavy, laden with unspoken truths. He looks at me as if he’s truly seeing me for the first time.

Yes. I choose him.

Even though, in reality, I’m playing this engagement charade as much for myself as for him.

I think I needed a solid reason to openly stand up to them—to finally free myself from their narrow judgment and unhealthy ambition. Even if I had grown more and more resistant to their remarks, their constant belittling since childhood, I needed a clear breaking point.

Taking a stand to help Alexander… is one.

“Sam…”

His voice is rough, shaken.

“Don’t say anything,” I interrupt gently. “I’m with you in this—until the very end.”

He nods, his throat visibly tight, then looks away toward the window. A few seconds pass. He regains his composure.

“I spoke with the communications team this morning,” he finally says. “The announcement will be made tonight at six. I want you to come stay at the penthouse for the rest of the week, until things calm down.”