Object Substitute

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming Kickass Heroine Comeback Revenge

Download the Book on the App

Every woman was looking forward to marrying her beloved man.

So was I.

I married a man who I had a crush on for twelve years, in the name of my sister, Caroline Archer...

Although Caroline and I looked identical on the surface, I had been sent to an orphanage because of the negligence on the hospital's side as soon as I was born.

It was not until three years ago that I came back to Archer Family.

I, a wild girl, didn't fit the grand Archer Family. However, without parents by my side since I was a child, I was extremely discreet, hoping that I could get along with others of this family as well as winning the favor of my parents.

Consequently, when both my parents and Caroline had begged me to marry Patrick Cowell on behalf of Caroline the day before yesterday, I had consented immediately without deliberation.

On the one hand, it was because I loved Patrick Cowell. On the other hand, it was the first time that I felt that my family needed me. And I didn't want them to be disappointed.

It was already 12 p.m. Patrick left in a hurry after the wedding ceremony without even giving me any explanation.

Looking at the diamond ring in my hand, I felt inexplicably bitter in secret.

There came the sound of the engine of a car being powered off from downstairs, indicating that Patrick was back. I walked to the front of a mirror, tidied up my hair in a hurry, and walked out of the bedroom nervously.

Then I went downstairs.

Taking out a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet, I waited for him at the door.

Seeing Patrick come in, I put on a happy smile the way a wife should do, put the slippers beside his feet, and called, "Honey, you're back..."

Before I could finish my words, I smelled alcohol in the air, which was mixed with a strong perfume...

I couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain in my nose.

As for where he had gone tonight...

The answer couldn't be more evident.

Even so, I knew what my task was, which was that I got married on behalf of my sister. And the relationship between me and Patrick had something to do with the cooperation between the Archer Family and the Cowell Family."

Thinking of this, I still tried to smile despite the disappointment in my heart.

Read Now