All Chapters of I Refused To Be His Stand-In After Rebirth, Alpha Went Crazy: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Vanessa was already home when I got back, curled up on the couch with an apple, watching TV. Perfectly relaxed.Nothing about her looked sick.She glanced over and smiled. "What kept you?""It's late. Get some rest. You've got the banquet with Adrian tomorrow." Her tone was sugar-sweet, the concern paper-thin. Then, casually: "You're so lucky, honestly. If I hadn't gotten sick, I'd be the one going."The message underneath was the same as always: everything I had was supposed to be hers. I was a thief who'd taken advantage of her bad luck.I pretended I hadn't caught it and turned toward my room.She caught my wrist and pulled me in, voice dropping to a coy whisper. "Did you see today? I kissed Adrian. Did he blush? What did his face look like?"It was deliberate. She kept bringing him up, dangling him in front of me to see if I'd flinch.Last life, I'd done what she wanted. Stood there with a frozen smile, swallowing every word, while she told me about her and Adrian."I didn't see."

It was my parents.I was upstairs, about to come down, when I heard my mother's voice break. "It's all that cursed Selene's fault. My poor Vanessa. Why is she the one suffering? Why couldn't it be Selene who got sick instead?"My foot stopped on the stair.One witch's prophecy, with nothing behind it, and I had been branded a curse for life.People avoided me. My parents shipped me off to my grandmother's in the countryside and never visited once.Not until I'd graduated college, found a decent job, built something for myself in the city. Only then did they remember they had a second daughter.They hadn't changed their minds. I'd just become useful.Vanessa had barely finished school, between her health and the way they'd coddled her. She couldn't hold down a job.My parents were getting old. They couldn't take care of her anymore. So they conveniently forgot about the curse business and dropped Vanessa on me.They said it was my chance to atone.That was when I understood. To them, I

"I didn't steal anything. Those were my own reports. It doesn't matter what I say.you won't believe me."I wasn't screaming. My voice was strangely calm.But Adrian could see it. My eyes were rimmed in red, my whole body trembling, and I was using everything I had to keep the tears from falling."I've been trying so hard to get away from you all. Why? Why won't any of you let me go."I wrenched my hand out of his and ran. Out of that suffocating building, as fast as I could.Adrian stood frozen, watching me disappear. The hurt on my face hadn't looked like an act. For the first time, doubt crept in. Had he gotten it wrong?He turned to his assistant. "There's still some uncertainty around Selene and the documents. Look into it."For a fraction of a second, the assistant's face shifted. An unnatural flicker. Then he bowed. "Yes, Alpha."I got home and saw red paint slashed across my front door. GET OUT. DIE. SPY.I just stood there. Before I could process it, a crowd of people burst out

"Of course. He'll ask me for the first dance. He always does. I'll tell him at the end of it." Vanessa was glowing.She was wearing that elaborate purple gown, surrounded by a flock of admiring girls.I was in thin clothes, shivering in the wind, completely out of place against the bright crowd.That kind of joy had never been mine.I tried to push the other way through the crowd. Then a voice at my elbow."Selene?"Adrian was in a tailored suit, hair smoothed back, every inch the Alpha in his element."Where have you been for three days? Vanessa's been losing her mind looking for you."I couldn't meet his eyes. I tried to slip away. He caught my wrist. "What have you done to yourself? Caught stealing pack secrets, you stop coming to work, stop going home, just—wandering the streets? Have you completely given up?"Something inside me went brittle. He knew exactly how to cut.I clenched my teeth and kept my voice from shaking."Adrian. I have said this so many times. Those reports were

Vanessa couldn't hide her delight when she saw him at the door. "Adrian! What brings you here?"He didn't have time for small talk. "Vanessa. About the envelope you took from Selene. Are you absolutely certain those were pack secrets?"She blinked. "I. I don't know."He worked to keep his voice level. "You didn't even know what was inside, and you accused her of leaking pack documents?"She didn't even look ashamed. "I never went to school. How was I supposed to know what was on those papers? And anyway. She admitted to it herself, didn't she?"His jaw tightened. Vanessa, on cue, clutched her chest like she was about to faint.She knew exactly how this worked. Look fragile, and Adrian would drop everything to comfort her. It had never failed.It failed today.He pulled her hand off her chest. His eyes were hard and disappointed. "I'll call you an ambulance. Rest. When Selene gets back, you're apologizing to her."She froze.He wanted her to apologize to Selene? To that hick from the co