The Substitute Bride

Yvonne Ortiz fled from her wedding! As described by the media, this was to be the wedding of the century. However, now it might just become a joke!

Autumn Myers looked at herself in the mirror. She heavily stamped on the wedding dress lying flat on the floor and thought to herself, 'Why? Why do I have to clear up the mess created by Yvonne?'

"Go on! If you are still furious, there are ten more dresses that you can stamp on!" Wendy Myers, Autumn' mother, gave her a stern look.

Autumn's heart sank. She stood still and took a deep breath before she began speaking, "I'm in desperate need of money to pay Grandmother's medical fee. I'll marry Charles Taylor instead of Yvonne as soon as I get the money."

With a wry smile on face, Wendy shoved out her cell phone from her pocket, called her secretary and said, "Dillon, call the Hospital Administrator."

After hanging up the phone, Wendy went to see Autumn. Wendy was irked to see her in a bland wedding dress. She walked up to Autumn with a pair of scissors in hand.

With a dejected look she raised the scissors and said, "Don't you dare look at me like that. Despite you being my daughter, every time I see you, you remind me of your useless father. Don't blame me for abandoning you. People should be selfish and look out only for themselves."

Wendy cut open Autumn's dress, and made a big hole in the sleeve.

Wendy turned to the salesperson waiting outside the room and yelled, "Don't just keep standing there. The wedding dress is ripped. Get her a new one! Our Yvonne is not any ordinary person. She deserves the best wedding dress."

Autumn twitched her nose. It was the first time that Wendy admitted that she was her daughter. But she was immediately dejected as Wendy told the world Yvonne was her beloved daughter and she was only a substitute.

Autumn bit her cracked lower lip and laughed scornfully, "My father was indeed a useless man as he married a woman like you who is okay being the woman for Uncle Ortiz. I'd be more than happy to see other woman seducing Uncle Ortiz just like you did."

"Shut up! Don't you dare! " Wendy was enraged with anger. She raised her hand and was about to slap her right on the face. But then she saw Autumn's flawless makeup. Her mesmerizing beauty was enough to calm her down. "I won't argue with you today. Anyway, just get married with Charles and don't create a scene! Don't disgrace the Ortiz Family and Yvonne!" Wendy sternly instructed.

Autumn smirked.

Charles? The man was rich and powerful. His name had been linked to innumerable ladies. He had different girlfriends for every day of a year. 'Why does Charles want to marry Yvonne?' Autumn wondered.

"Just get through this wedding! Although you don't know Charles, it is quite a decent wedding. I feel really bad about abandoning you, but you will be a rich person and enjoy nice things from now on. It's time we write off all our old scores and start afresh!"

Hearing her mother's words, all the feelings that Autumn had long bottled up inside her gushed out in the form of tears. Tears were running down her cheeks. 'Even a vicious tiger will never treat its cubs the way my mother treats me.' She thought to herself.

Autumn grabbed the wedding dress fiercely while still trembling.

"Fine! I'll marry him! I promise you I will marry Charles in the name of Yvonne. But... from now on, I'm not your daughter. You have no right to interfere in my life. Besides, if anything happens to grandma, I won't spare you!"

"As long as you marry Charles, I will do anything you say."

Wendy had never been so nice to Autumn. This time she would do anything for her in exchange of selling her to Charles. Years later, when Autumn remembered this moment, she sighed for the unpredictable fate. This wedding which put her into despair then happened to give her the strongest protection later in life. Those things that she never thought would happen just happened.

"The wedding is going to start. Hurry up, bride!"

The wedding was conducted as scheduled. White wedding dress, red carpet, flowers, and guests... The wedding was as grand as the one people saw on big screens. But Autumn's heart was as cold as ice. She was emotionless.

Though it was a grand wedding, Autumn didn't even take a look at her husband. The guests present smiled at the couple, but Autumn felt that everyone around was simply mocking her as she was in limbo at the very first day of her wedding.

Although Charles held her hand tightly, she didn't even speak to him at all. After the wedding, Charles shook her hand off aggressively and said, "You go home first. I have work to finish."

Autumn was sent back with Charles' driver. She curiously asked him where did Charles go. It seemed Charles' driver was well aware about his whereabouts. The driver indifferently said, "Lily Villa."

"Lily Villa?" It was rumored that Rachel Turner, a female celebrity, lived in the Lily Villa. Autumn gave an uninterested smile. It seemed that the rumor was true and Rachel was indeed her husband's girlfriend. Charles must be hugging Rachel and comforting her at this moment. Since he already had a girlfriend, it wouldn't be hard for him to accept Autumn's offer.

Autumn had waited for Charles in their wedding room for a long time. The room was full of wedding vibes, but Autumn was not in the mood of romance or affection.

She thought Charles would not come back tonight. So, she got up and went to the bathroom to change her clothes and freshen up.

She spent a long time in the bathroom as she was really tired both physically and mentally. A lot of things happened today and she needed to ponder hard on them.

The heat was high in the bathroom and covered the mirror with steam. Autumn's mind was in a complete mess.

Wendy, Yvonne, Charles, and Rachel stuck in Autumn's mind.

She was losing her cool.

She took a warm bath. Thereafter, she wrapped herself in a towel. She used another towel to dry her hair. When she came out of the bathroom, she saw Charles sitting in the room with a straight face.

The room was dark. Only a wall lamp was turned on. But the darkness in the room was nothing in comparison to the darkness on Charles' face.

In her more than 20 years of life, it was the first time that she wore such little clothes in front of a man.

On seeing Charles, she immediately turned around and got hold of her clothes. But Charles stopped her and caught hold of her. He threw her on the bed. "Seems like, you are so desperate to spend the wedding night with me?" Charles remarked in a taunting tone.

She only had a towel covering her. The water was dripping drop by drop from her wet hair. Though she had already wiped off the thick bridal makeup, Charles' eyes couldn't get enough of her bare face.

Charles could smell the fragrance of his own body wash. He felt as if she was overwhelmed by his strong sweet smell. The very thought of it ignited his lusty desire.

But he immediately regained his composure when the thought of Rachel's teary eyes came to his mind.

He and Rachel had been together for two years. He couldn't let her down like that.

"I..." Autumn answered with her eyes wide open. She looked innocent at the moment.

Before she could finish, Charles interrupted and commanded, "Yvonne, I took you as my wife only to please my grandpa. If you think you'll get to sleep with me to be able to consolidate your status, you better drop that thought because that's only going to happen in your dreams."

'I chose Yvonne from thousands of candidates simply for two prime reasons. Firstly, it is the talk of the town that Yvonne is a spoilt girl from a rich family. The innocent and stupid girl has been goofing off. Secondly, only one helluva bait will satiate the cunning Simon Ortiz. Moreover, Ortiz Group won't ever pose a threat to me.

But see what happened? Yvonne tried to lure me with her beauty by broadcasting her seminude body as soon as I reached home. Can't believe they say she's stupid!

It's clear that she knows how to seduce me by using her body as a bait.'

Autumn was dying to speak to Charles about an agreement, so she calmed her down. When Charles insulted her with his poor judgement of her intention, she was enraged.

She got up from the bed and sat straight on the heels to look at Charles bravely in the eye. His dark eyes made it clear to her that he didn't think high of her.

Autumn's anger reached its zenith.

"Charles, you have the beautiful Rachel as your girlfriend. I am sure my ordinary looks are not good enough for you," Autumn smirked.

"I know my capabilities well so I will never hope to ever receive your love. However, I just wish you do me a small favor and sign this, Charles." Autumn with one hand tightly gripping the towel, used the other hand to take out a file from her bag. Then she showed the file to Charles.

"Charles, I am nothing. You wanted me to marry you and I did. I know I am a mere distraction for you. But can you please let me go when you don't need me? I will appreciate your kindness," Autumn spoke sincerely. There was no mockery, no pretence, in her tone.

Charles was astonished to see her courage.

There were only two sentences written on the agreement.

First Term: Party A (Charles Taylor) will help Ortiz Group to sail through this crisis.

Second term: On no account should Party A and Party B share an intimate relationship.

Autumn had signed under the head of Party B. Charles found her signature to be naturally written in one stroke. The ink was well-distributed just like clouds or fumes of smoke.

She must be tender and firm.

"Charles, hurry up, sign it please," Autumn said as she handed him the pen.

He was still in shock. He believed she was only playing tricks.

He had felt guilty about using Yvonne, so he wanted to tell her the truth. He would make up to her for not loving her. The agreement just left him too confused.

"What are you planning?"

"Charles!" Autumn shouted at him, for an answer. She thought, 'Why are you so arrogant with me? I am not planning any conspiracies. In fact I want nothing to do with you. Hence this agreement. Do you understand?'

"You must have met innumerable people in your life. It must be easy for you to assess whether I am bluffing or not. Besides, it does no harm for you to sign this agreement, does it?"

Charles kept staring at Autumn without batting an eyelid. Her innocent eyes hinted she was not bluffing. So he agreed to sign it after adding a new term to it. He said, "I will sign this on a condition that you do this."

Autumn scanned the agreement and saw the term Charles had written. 'Party B Yvonne Ortiz should behave like a good wife as Party A seeks.'

Charles didn't sign it until Autumn nodded with careful consideration.

Autumn felt relieved to see him signing under his name. She quickly fetched the agreement before Charles might decide otherwise. She decided she would frame it when she was free from here.

She was too focused on the agreement that didn't notice that the towel covering her was lying flat on the ground.

Charles looked gloomy and let out a blank expression.

Her eyes looked crystal clear, simply as bright as stars. Her long eyelashes were fluttering; her flawless skin was white with a careful hint of red; her lips were delicate like rose petals.

Charles was kind of obsessed with her body.

Her figure to him... was super charming!

Her face was pretty elegant. She had perfect curves completed with big tits and buttocks, just the way Charles admired. Her skin was soft and looked very well moisturised.

Charles couldn't help but stare at her.

It was only after a long time that Autumn realized she was stark naked in front of Charles. An embarrassing silence covered the room. She raised her head and looked for Charles. When she realized he was staring at her, she blushed but immediately picked the bath towel from the ground to cover herself. She was embarrassed.

She thought, 'Will he think I dropped the bath towel on purpose to lure him?'

She shyly looked at Charles who was standing right next to her. He seemed calm and rational. From his face, it looked as if nothing had happened.

She was obviously a little disappointed.

She always thought she didn't have a perfect figure or even a perfect bottom. She was always unsatisfied with her body. But Charles' reaction only brought more disappointment.

Sadly, she would never know how bad Charles tried to restrain his expressions. He didn't want to lose control in front of this young girl.

But he couldn't ignore the flash of disappointment in her eyes.

Charles didn't have a physical relationship with Rachel in the two years of their togetherness. Even when they slept on the same bed, he acted like a complete gentleman. Of course, the nights they spent together were few.

Rachel was the one who knew him best. According to Charles, she was the most considerate girl. He didn't want to take her virginity before marriage.

He respected her and respected their love for each other.

Charles kept staring at Autumn, his thoughts kept running back to Rachel though.

Since Autumn could no longer bear his stare, she said, "Charles, it's late. I think you should go to bed."

She long stressed on the word "go".

Autumn flashed this attitude to Charles as she didn't want to sleep in the same room with Charles. Thus, she reminded him to leave.

The reality dawned upon Charles. He immediately rushed back to his study after responding with an okay to Autumn. He barely could resist the impulse to kiss her and hold her. To overcome this thought, he went on to take a half-an-hour's cold shower. There was no other way to relieve his ignited urge. For years he hadn't ever experienced an uncontrollable urge for intimacy despite sleeping with Rachel in his arms.

The next morning Autumn was waked up by an alarm. The realization of being married and being Mrs. Taylor dawned upon her. But deep down, she knew her position would be replaced by Charles' girlfriend Rachel sooner or later.

She was on a three-day leave for Yvonne's wedding ceremony but now had to go to work.

After freshening up, she went out of the room and saw Charles sitting in the dining room.

It was a busy wedding ceremony yesterday. Moreover, she couldn't see his face clearly in the dim room last night. It was until then she watched him on the sly.

She had to admit that she was indeed married to a man who was breathtakingly handsome.

The black suit gave away the outline of his masculine body. And his intense fair and chiseled face, made it hard for her to move her eyes from him.

"Can you stop staring at me? Sit down for the breakfast." Charles said without even casting a glance at her.

Autumn was embarrassed to have him see through her mind. She quietly took the seat on his left.

The breakfast was sumptuous but Autumn was full after having a bowl of porridge. She put down the bowl and spoon and found that Charles was looking at her. He spoke, "Why don't you get more sleep? You don't need to get up so early."

"No, it's enough." Autumn shook her head. She realized that Charles' behaviour was quite different from yesterday. Though he still acted distant, he was more polite now. So she too decided to have a sensible talk with him. "I asked for a leave for three days. Now, It's time to get back to work."

"Work?" Charles was confused. He had no idea that this ignorant lady had some real job, because his men didn't tell him anything about this.

"Yes, Work!" Autumn looked at the time and said, "I'm running late. I should get going now."

"Wait." Charles stood up and buttoned up his suit. He said, "I am going to work too. We are going in the same direction. I can stop by your office to drop you."

Same direction? He didn't even know where she worked. How could he stop by?

She was full of distrust, but he insisted on giving her a ride. After getting in the car, she gave him the address. She leaned on the seat to take some rest.

Charles didn't say anything, but a lot was going on inside him.

The address Autumn told him was of a very famous advertising company in Ylanbu. Though it was a small-sized company, it was quite promising.

As far as he knew, this company had nothing to do with the Ortiz Family. He wondered, why would a Lady of the Ortiz Family work there?

His company happened to cooperate with that company now. He wanted to see what she wanted to do exactly.

Autumn "woke" up just in time when they were about to reach her office. She asked him to pull over at the corner of the street.

She knew what could happen if her colleagues saw her getting down from a limo.

Charles didn't ask much then and stopped the car as she instructed. She got down from the car in a cheerful mood and waved goodbye to him before she hopped into her office building.

It was the first time for Charles to see someone feel so happy about going to work.

The three-day leave made her a little lazy. She cheered herself on at the door of the Cloud Advertising Corp.

Though she was now Mrs. Taylor, she was determined to work as hard as she could. No matter what changes happened in her life, she swore she would not give up her job. This was her only source of financial security and stability. After all, she had to pay the medical fee for her ill grandmother.

"Myers, you finally came back!" Manager Ryan Adams greeted her the moment she stepped in. Three years ago, she was just an unknown assistant, but now she was the best advertisement planner of the company.

She was not the most educated, neither the most obedient. But she was definitely the most capable assistant of Ryan.

Autumn was shocked to see the man in front of her. His face was covered with the stubble from days. She had been gone only for three days but looking at him it seemed, she had been gone forever. He looked painfully exhausted.

Ryan held her and begged sincerely, "Myers, you must help me out this time."

From his incoherent narrative, Autumn understood that he had taken a huge project. Although the entire company had worked as one and revised the plan five times, but the client just couldn't be satisfied with the plan. Everyone in the company felt frustrated and Ryan felt the most frustrated.

His company was established a long time ago. But this was the first time he experienced failure.

"Who is this client?" Autumn frowned.

"Who else could it be? It's the Shining Enterprise..." Ryan sighed and continued. "Its anniversary celebration is going to take place on the 8th of the next month and we are planning a wine party for this company."

"Shining Enterprise?" Isn't that Charles' company?

"Did they ask for a wine party?" Autumn was amused.

Most enterprises chose to celebrate their anniversaries in this manner. For one, it conformed to the usual convention. And two, a good dinner was a treat to the staff who had worked really hard for the company. But she just felt strange simply imagining Charles in a suit proposing a toast to one group of staff after another.

That's why she asked this question.

"Oh, no. They didn't." Ryan carefully recalled. They had just asked for a plan for the celebration, but they weren't limiting it to a wine party.

"All right, give me the documents of the company. I'll give it a try." Ryan said thanks to her a thousand times. If his most talented planner couldn't find a solution, then he was definitely screwed.

So on the first day itself, Autumn was all occupied with this banquet. She was so busy that she even forgot to have her lunch. Wendy called to remind her of the same.

But her reminder was more like a dun.

"Autumn, have you had your lunch?" Wendy pretended to play the role of a concerned mother.

If she hadn't urged her to marry Charles yesterday, Autumn would have been really touched by her concern. But now...

She had lost all her love and respect for Wendy.

"Save it. What do you want? I'm busy with this plan right now."

"What?" Wendy shouted, "You go to work the next day after your wedding?"

"Shouldn't I?" Autumn sneered. "Do you think Charles will give his money to me?

"It's obvious for him to do that since you are his wife now..." Wendy murmured. But Autumn had no time to hear her nonsense. So she interrupted. "What on earth do you want from me? I'm hanging up the phone."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Wendy stopped her. In reality, Wendy had no concern for Autumn. What she wanted to know was how was Charles' promise going. "Autumn, now that you are married to him, ask my son-in-law about his promise. When will he fulfill his promise? Your grandmother... is waiting for another medical bill to be paid..."

Autumn clenched her fingers, whose tips had turned white. She managed to control her feelings without lashing at Wendy. "Trust me, I will keep my promise. But if anything happens to my grandmother, I swear I will destroy everything you cherish. You have my word on that."

Wendy responded in a flattering sound. "Don't worry about her. After all, she was my mother-in-law..."

Autumn decided to cut short their talk.

She had once dreamed about the family bond to improve, but now she wanted nothing.