I Was His Substitute, Until I Disappeared With His Child
I was born into the noble Valerie family, gifted by blood with the rare ability to bond with vampires and bear them powerful hybrid children.
Since I was a child, I had been secretly in love with James, the vampire noble I was betrothed to.
Everyone knew his heart belonged to one person only — his childhood companion, Vicky.
But she was engaged to James's older brother.
The night of their engagement banquet, James accepted my confession.
He said we could try.
I nodded and told him I didn't mind. I was willing to wait until he let her go.
Then he gave the wedding I had designed with my own hands to Vicky.
He stood in the groom's place, holding her hand through the rehearsal.
And I stood below the stage, the laughingstock of the entire room.
That night, he got drunk.
He held me and said he loved me.
I thought he had finally laid down his obsession, so once again I forgave him and let go of my pride.
Until he called out Vicky’s name.
In that moment, I finally understood.
The one James loved would never be me.
I had stored up enough disappointment. The next day, I disappeared from his world for good.
Five years later, I ran into him by chance, a hybrid boy in my arms.
He came rushing toward me like a man gone mad, eyes red, begging me to come back.