Substitute Bride: My Mysterious Loser Husband

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entirely. When are you fin

half-open bedroom door, accompanied by a s

about Avery right now," the

In our house, even the dogs have a higher status than she does. What's so good about her? She won't even let

ulled her closer, drawing a loud, triumphant laugh f

ery single word. The exhaustion in my eyes hardened in

h, the nanny who had raised me and the only real mother I had e

pital, taking on grueling shifts in the hospital's facility maintenance department just to help cover her basic meds, and my nights scrubbing gr

ee years was inside, in that

went comp

x slipped f

h

box burst open, and the carefully crafted blue and whi

ing in the bedro

was yan

hair a sweaty mess. Behind him, emerg

hockey world, this was the ultimate symbol of a player claiming his girl. Yet, in our three years together, he had never let me wear it once. He used to look at me with disguised disgust, claiming I

panic when he saw me. "Avery!

. She leaned against his bare chest, her eyes raking over my faded jeans and tired face with absolute

there, feeling a strange, icy detachment,

ntly reek of cheap hospital disinfectant and poverty. You walk around looking like a miserable old woman! You dump all your energy into that half-dead nanny of yours. Have you even acted like a girlfriend lately? I'm

ble monster. Pure, unadulterated rage twisted in my gut like a rusty knife, making my

et, violently interrupting

: West Side Com

s. Hayes? Regarding Hannah Miller's treatment plan. We must remind you that the $50,000 sur

ed the doorframe tight

eard the voice on the other end.

or's chest. "Avery, you can't even feed yourself, how are you supposed to save anyone else? Or better yet,

's enough," he muttered, trying to salvage a shred of h

he icy air filling my l

, peeling hand, and slapped Trevor across his hypocr

AC

t living room. His head snapped to the side, a br

d expression and Sie

as if they were rats in a gutter, my voice eerily calm. "You two dese