All Chapters of The Billionaire's Substitute Bride.: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

If you don’t walk down that aisle in five minutes, your mother’s surgery will be canceled!"Ava Hart stared at her father through the mirror.For a second, she thought she had heard him wrong.Then he stepped closer and lowered his voice.“You heard me now put on the veil."Ava gripped the edge of the dressing table. Her fingers were cold, but the rest of her body felt like it was burning inside the wedding dress.The dress was too tight around her ribs because it belonged to Clara. The white roses, the silver jewelry, the expensive perfume, even the framed photograph of her smiling beside Liam Blackwood.Ava had never been meant to stand here.She had come to the Blackwood Hotel to stop her sister from making the biggest mistake of her life. She had expected to find Clara crying or arguing with their father.She had not expected Clara to be gone.She had not expected to be shoved into her wedding dress.And she had definitely not expected her father to threaten their mother’s life.

Sign it, or I’ll tell the hospital to cancel your mother’s surgery.”Ava stared at the document in Liam’s hand.The reception hall had emptied, but the music still played faintly behind the closed doors. Guests were laughing outside. Waiters were clearing glasses. Somewhere, reporters were waiting for photographs of a happy couple.Inside the private room, Ava stood across from Liam with her wedding ring burning against her finger.“You really enjoy threatening sick women,” she said.Liam’s face stayed calm.“I enjoy making sure people understand the consequences of their choices.”“You knew I wasn’t Clara before the ceremony. You let me marry you anyway. Now you’re acting like I trapped you.”“You did trap me.”“I was forced into that dress.”“And I was forced to marry a woman who disappeared with confidential files.”“Then annul the marriage.”“Not until I find Clara.”Ava laughed without humor.“You want me to help you find her, but you refuse to let me leave?”“I want you close en

"Dead?" Ava's voice cracked on the word. "What do you mean, dead?"Her father did not look at her. His eyes stayed locked on Liam, and the black folder shook in his bloody hand."Ask your husband."Liam did not move. "Grant."Grant stepped between them, one broad hand raised. "Mr. Hart, put the folder down.""Not until he tells her what he did.""I haven't touched Clara," Liam said coldly."Liar!" Her father's voice broke across the room. "She called me an hour before the wedding. She said you had locked her in a car outside the hotel. She said you wanted her files and you would not let her leave."Ava turned to Liam. His face did not change, and somehow that frightened her more than anger would have."Is that true?""No.""She was alive when she called," her father went on, and his voice dropped, shaking now. "I went to the service entrance to find her. A black car was waiting there. A man pulled her inside, and I ran after it. I got this."He held up his injured hand. The handkerchi