The Substitute Game

I was the biological daughter, the one switched at birth.

On the day I finally met my real family, my exboyfriend was standing right there in the living room. "Sebastian?" The name slipped out before I could stop it.

My biological mother hadn't caught the scent of the impending disaster. She offered a warm, oblivious smile. "Maeve, you know Sebastian?" I didn't even hesitate. "Of course.

He's my ex." All the color drained from her face. That was when it clicked. My exboyfriend was my biological brother. So, here was the immediate fallout.

Priscilla, the fake daughter who had clearly been prepping her best theatrical tears, froze midsniffle.

Cooper, the youngest brother who looked a second away from shouting about how he only acknowledged his real sister, snapped his mouth shut.

My biological father started hacking and wheezing, a fullblown asthma attack triggered on the spot. My mother scrambled to shove an inhaler between his lips.

Then there was me, my sneakers practically nailed to the floorboards. And Sebastian. My ex. My brandnew oldest brother. Staring straight ahead, his face was a blank mask.

Chapter 1 "Mom, Dad… are they into some weird incest thing?" Priscilla, the fake daughter, was the first to find her voice.

She jabbed a finger between Sebastian and me, her jaw practically unhinged.

I let a few seconds of dead silence pass before I lifted my hand and pointed straight at Sebastian. "He hit on me first." Sebastian’s gaze darkened.

He stared right at me, unblinking. One second. Two seconds… A loud, forced laugh tore out of my throat. "Just a joke to break the ice!" I waved a hand. "Mom, Dad, seriously.

I didn't even know my oldest brother before I walked through that door. Ha." Sebastian smiled.

The corners of his mouth ticked up in a slow, deliberate curve as he looked at Priscilla and Cooper, who both looked like they’d just been slapped.

Then he glanced at our parents, who were barely catching their breath. "Not funny? Why isn't anyone laughing?" Two beats of silence.

Cooper, still in high school, cracked first. "Ha! Oh man, that was a good one.

You actually had me going for a second." He looked around the room. "Mom, Dad, Priscilla, why aren't you guys laughing?" He totally missed the way our parents and Priscilla were staring at him like he was an absolute idiot.

The temperature in the room plummeted again. I wanted to sew my mouth shut.

So much for my brilliant idea of blurting out the first thing that came to mind when I saw a familiar face. "Let's just eat," my biological father muttered, shattering the thick tension.

My biological mother snapped out of her daze.

She hooked her arm through mine, pulling me toward the dining room. "Maeve, we weren't sure what you liked, so I had the chef whip up a little bit of everything." She shoved me into the chair right between her and my father. "Here, try this." She picked up a piece of shrimp with her chopsticks and hovered it over my plate.

Sebastian looked up. A hard crease formed between his brows. "Mom, Maeve can't eat that.

She's severely allergic to seafood." The shrimp slipped from her chopsticks and hit the tablecloth.

She stared blankly at Sebastian, her voice trembling. "Sebastian… how do you know your sister has a seafood allergy?" My eyes snapped to Sebastian's.

Our gazes collided before I ripped mine away. The back of my neck prickled with cold sweat.

Panic clawed at my throat, but survival instincts kicked in, feeding me a fast lie. "Mom, Sebastian and I went to the same college.

We were in the same student club." I forced the words out, keeping my tone light. "I mentioned the allergy at a group dinner once. He just has a freaky good memory.

Right?" That was a lie. I only found out I was allergic because of Sebastian. Before I met him, I'd never even touched seafood.

The night he confessed to me, I swallowed my first bite of shrimp. My heart hammered against my ribs. My chest tightened up, and a burning heat rushed to my cheeks.

I thought it was just the adrenaline. The sheer, overwhelming rush of the guy I was headoverheels for telling me he wanted me. I thought that was what falling in love felt like.

But the second he finished his confession, the truth hit. Before I could even choke out an I like you too, my airway slammed shut.

Black spots danced across my vision, and I hit the floor.

Next thing I knew, I was waking up in an emergency room with an IV shoved in my arm, stuck in a hospital bed for three days. "Is that true, Sebastian?" my mother asked, her eyes darting between us.

Chapter 2 My mother looked torn, her knuckles turning white around her chopsticks. Sebastian’s face remained a blank, unreadable slate. "Yeah.

She's right." The rest of the dinner dragged on. Aside from Sebastian and me, the other four exchanged loaded glances over their plates.

Once we were done, my mother grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs. "Maeve, I set up a few rooms for you before you got here.

Take a look and see which one you like best." I didn't need much. Just a mattress big enough to sleep on.

But after touring three different bedrooms drowning in peptobismol pink, I realized I did have some standards.

I stopped dead in the hallway in front of a sleek, minimalist room. "I'll take this one." "No!" Mom and Dad blurted out at the exact same time.

I crossed my arms. "Why?" They shot each other a panicked look. "It's too cramped," Dad offered. "It just doesn't suit you," Mom added.

Priscilla, clearly loving the drama, leaned in. "Maeve, that's right across the hall from Sebastian's bedroom." I cut my eyes to my mother. She flinched and looked away.

I forced a bright, entirely fake smile. "I'll keep looking then." I ended up picking a guest room shoved in the far back corner of the house.

Out of all the available rooms, it was geographically the furthest point from Sebastian's. We weren't even on the same floor anymore. I was on the second, he was on the fourth.

Unless he was an aggressive sleepwalker or purposely hunting me down, he had zero reason to ever pass my door. "I'm heading out." Sebastian’s voice sliced through the hall.

He had been completely silent up until now.

I watched him stalk toward me, only to veer off at the last second, brushing past my shoulder without a single change in expression. "Emergency with a project.

I'm taking care of it now. I won't be back tonight." I dried my hair and threw the covers back, ready to crash. Someone hammered on my bedroom door.

They didn't call out my name, which immediately ruled out Mom and Dad. I ignored it, but the pounding only got louder, vibrating the wood. I yanked the door open.

Cooper stood in the hallway, practically vibrating with teenage angst. "I've been knocking forever.

Why did it take you so long?" The kid had been glaring daggers at me since I walked through the front door. My patience was completely shot. "It's the middle of the night.

What do you want?" Cooper tilted his chin up, sneering down at me. "Let's get one thing straight. Priscilla is my only sister.

Don't get any crazy ideas thinking I'm ever going to accept you." Right to my face. The absolute nerve. My last thread of restraint snapped. I raised my hand. Smack.

My palm connected with his cheek. Not hard enough to leave a lasting mark, but loud enough to sting. I held his gaze, my voice deadpan. "You have two choices.

Either I'm your sister, or I'm your sisterinlaw. Pick one." Cooper clutched his cheek. He stared at me like I had just grown a second head.

It took him a solid five seconds to process the threat. When it finally hit him, his toughguy act shattered. "Wwhat does that mean?

Are you and my brother actually—" I raised my hand again. Cooper flinched, stumbling two steps back.

He caught himself, his mouth twitching as panic and humiliation warred in his eyes.

He ground his teeth together. "Sister." I dropped my hand. "Good boy." I pointed down the hall. "Now go to bed, little brother." Cooper spun around and marched away.

He made it about five steps before he whipped back around. Chapter 3 I arched an eyebrow.

He glared at me, his voice dropping into a low, harsh hiss. "You and Sebastian are biological siblings. Biological!

Don't try anything crazy." I waited until I heard the distinct click of Cooper's bedroom door shutting downstairs.

Only then did I lift my gaze to the dark corner of the hallway. "I thought you weren't coming back tonight, oldest brother." Sebastian stepped out of the shadows.

The sharp angle of his brow bone obscured his eyes, hiding his thoughts.

He kept his gaze lowered, his long fingers casually loosening the tie at his throat. "Handled it early." He paused. "It's been two years.

I came up to say hello." His tone was completely flat.

But as he closed the distance between us, a faint trace of expensive liquor drifted through the air. "Are you drunk?" I asked. "No," he shot back instantly.

Silence stretched between us. My brain picked the absolute worst moment to wander.

A ridiculous phrase popped into my head, fitting our current nightmare perfectly: Lovers to siblings. What a sick plot twist.

I realized a laugh was bubbling up in my throat and quickly swallowed it down, jumping on his previous comment to break the tension. "Yeah.

It's been two years." After the breakup, I was the one who went nocontact. If I was keeping track, it had been exactly two years, one month, and nineteen days.

As we stood there, my eyes naturally dragged over him. Sebastian caught me looking. His shoulders shifted, his spine snapping subtly straighter. I studied him closely.

He had matured a lot since we dated. The boyish charm was gone, replaced by the sharp, grounded presence of a grown man. He was, infuriatingly, even more stunning than before.

No wonder I fell for him at first sight two years ago. And now, he had even more of those lethal qualities that made my pulse jump.

Right as that thought crossed my mind, my gutter brain completely hijacked my common sense.

My mouth moved faster than my filter. "You've somehow gotten even hotter." "Hack—cough." The second the words hit the air, I practically choked on my own spit.

Reality crashed down on me, and I scrambled backward, putting a solid three feet of distance between us. I had lost my damn mind. I was his biological sister now.

Stranger danger, fire safety, no incest. "Stop!" I threw my hand up, blocking him from taking another step toward me. "You said hello.

You can go back to your room now." His pupils dilated, his gaze dropping heavy and dark. "You're the one who provoked me." I didn't flinch. "That was before I remembered my place.

Sebastian, I'm your sister now." I gestured down the hall. "If we're done here, let's call it a night." Earlier today, the sheer shock of finding out we used to date sent our biological dad into a fullblown asthma attack.

I had been too stunned to process it then, but the fear was setting in now. Older people couldn't handle this kind of stress.

If he found out Sebastian and I were sneaking around having whispered conversations in the dark, he might actually have a heart attack. "Give me a strand of your hair." I frowned, sure I had misheard him. "What did you just say?" "Give me—" "Sebastian?

Maeve? What are you two doing?" My mother’s voice ripped through the quiet, laced with pure panic. I whipped my head around.

She stood at the top of the stairs, her face drained of color as she stared at us. "Mom. What are you doing up here?" Sebastian asked, his voice dead calm. "I—I was thirsty.

I came out to get water." She gripped the banister. "But it's almost midnight. Whatever you need to say to your biological sister, can't it wait until morning?

Why are you two whispering in the middle of the night?" Maybe I was overthinking it, but she hit the words biological sister incredibly hard. Wait a second.

Didn't she have a minifridge and a water dispenser in her master suite? Chapter 4 My room had a massive doubledoor minifridge stocked with offensively expensive bottled water.

Plus, Mom's master suite was on the second floor. Why the hell would she climb all the way up to the fourth floor just for a drink? Sebastian lowered his eyes.

He didn't answer right away. A heavy second ticked by before he finally spoke, his voice completely smooth. "I had a few drinks at the business dinner.

I came back, felt thirsty, and somehow wandered up to the fourth floor. I saw Maeve standing in the doorway, so I came over to say goodnight." The next morning, I had early classes.

The family driver dropped me off near campus. I told him not to bother picking me up at noon.

Once I knocked out my two lectures, I headed straight to the offcampus apartment I'd rented a month ago for my internship. I pushed the front door open.

The person on the bed was sprawled out like a starfish, dead to the world. I grabbed the edge of the duvet and yanked it back. "Willow, it's one in the afternoon.

Wake up!" I shook her shoulder. "I went to see your family yesterday." Willow blinked, her brain struggling to load.

The second the words actually registered, she shot up like a rocket and dug her fingers into my arm. "Yesterday? Wasn't the meetup set for the 13th?

Why did you go early?!" I rolled my eyes. "I told you to stop pulling allnighters. Your brain is officially fried.

Yesterday was the 13th." Willow and I grew up in the same group home. The only difference was that she’d been there since she was a baby.

All the kids at the foster home treated the director like a mother. She named her Willow because of the weeping willow tree blooming outside the window the day she arrived.

I was brought in at six, right after my parents died in a car crash. Since we were the exact same age and bonded over our shared trauma, Willow and I stuck together like glue.

We became each other's only real family. Our personalities, though, were total opposites.

A week ago, the director called to tell Willow she had finally tracked down her biological parents.

When she heard the news, she grabbed me and jumped around the room for a solid ten minutes, her eyes shining. "Maeve, I actually have a mom and dad!" But the second she found out her parents were the CEOs of a massive corporate empire—and that there was a fake daughter who had stolen her identity and lived the high life for over twenty years—Willow instantly deflated.

She had been kidnapped by human traffickers when she was little, leaving her with some serious paranoia.

Willow was dead set on the idea that the fake daughter would try to ruin her life the second she stepped foot in that mansion.

That night, she burrowed under her blankets, scrolling frantically through online novels on her phone, groaning. "It's over, Maeve. I know exactly how this plot goes.

It's a textbook switchedatbirth trope.

I'm the real daughter, which means I'm going back just to get bullied." Ever since she escaped those traffickers, Willow could only fully relax around me and the director.

Put her in front of strangers, and she would stutter, freeze up, and practically hyperventilate.

With a personality like that, she practically had a target painted on her back. "Look at these books!

The fake daughter always plays the victim, and the family completely loses their minds and takes her side.

The real daughter either gets framed for some crime or kicked out onto the streets.

Either way, it ends in total tragedy." Willow practically shoved the phone in my face, her voice rising in a panic.

Underneath the dramatic rant, there was genuine, raw fear in her eyes.

Finally, she made her decision. "Just in case, I'm absolutely not claiming them." Chapter 5 [According to the typical switchedatbirth plotlines, if I go back to that house, I’ll definitely end up completely ruined, and I'll drag you down with me.] But I couldn't get the image of her face out of my head—the sheer, blinding joy when she found out she wasn't alone in the world.

So, I took her place. I stole Willow’s identity and marched right into the viper’s nest to scope things out. I needed to see it for myself.

Would the fake daughter feel an ounce of guilt and actually treat Willow right? Would the family blindly side with the fake daughter, just like in those trashy web novels?

Were they all just a bunch of coldblooded, powerhungry sharks? So far, minus Priscilla and Cooper, the other three hadn't totally failed my test.

But that wasn't the issue right now.

Before Willow could grill me for the juicy details of yesterday's disaster, I dragged in a sharp breath. "We need to tell your parents the truth.

Now." Willow’s eyes went wide. "Why?" "Because if we don't swap back right now, your oldest brother is getting shipped out of the country." My first night in that massive house, I barely slept.

My eyes snapped open at 5:00 AM. Sleep was a lost cause, so I threw off the covers and started prowling the halls.

When I crept past the study, I noticed the heavy door cracked open an inch. Mom's voice drifted through the gap. "I haven't slept a wink.

What are we going to do?" I knew I shouldn't be eavesdropping. I shifted my weight, ready to slip away.

But then she spoke again. "They are biological siblings." My sneakers practically glued themselves to the floorboards. I pressed my back flat against the wall.

The study plunged into dead silence.

Just as my pulse spiked, thinking I'd been caught, Dad let out a heavy sigh. "We should send Maeve abroad." "She's almost done with college anyway. Her grades are perfect.

We can let her pick an Ivy League school overseas for grad school." Mom's voice wavered. "Bbut we just got her back." That hit a nerve. Dad went completely quiet.

A long, agonizing minute dragged by. Then, Mom's voice cut through, hard and absolute. "I'll go with her. I'll move abroad with Maeve.

We can't let her think we're abandoning her all over again." Dad choked on his breath for a few seconds.

When he finally spoke, there was zero room for argument. "Then we're sending Sebastian to the France branch." "He's young.

He needs the experience anyway." "So yeah, just my absolute rotten luck. Your oldest brother is my ex." I flopped backward onto the mattress, staring at the ceiling like a corpse.

Regret didn't even begin to cover it. That family kept a painfully low profile. Their PR team had the internet completely scrubbed.

I spent hours digging online and couldn't even find a list of their kids' names.

If I had known a guy named Sebastian was waiting in that house, I never would have set foot on the property. I fully expected Willow to start panicking with me.

Instead, I rolled my head over to look at her and found her eyes practically glowing.

She scooted closer, bumping her shoulder against mine with a sickeningly sweet grin. "Maeve, it's fate." I shot her a glare. "Wipe that smirk off your face." "Who's smirking?" She crossed her legs, going into fullon detective mode. "It just proves you and Sebastian are meant to be.

You're going to be my sisterinlaw. It's a classic trope! The best friend gets with the older brother. It's the ultimate power couple, and you guys can look out for each other.

When I finally move back into that mansion, if anyone tries to frame me or push me around, you and my oldest brother will have my back." I rolled my eyes so hard my skull hurt. "You're delusional.

Sebastian and I broke up two years ago." Chapter 6 Willow stared at me, dropping the ridiculous advice with total sincerity. "So what if you broke up?

Now is the perfect time for a second chance romance." She grabbed a paperback off her nightstand and shook it in my face. "Look at this one.

The leads break up for three years, and they still get their happilyeverafter." She leaned in. "Besides, I saw how much you liked him back then. You have the perfect opening now.

Why not go for it?" "Drop the terrible ideas." Seeing that I wasn't buying it, Willow instantly deflated. "Then what do we do?

I'm still terrified of going back to that house…" She hugged her knees to her chest. "My brain is just looping all those garbage plotlines.

The real daughter gets framed by the fake one, her biological family refuses to believe her, and she ends up locked in a psych ward or freezing on the streets as a beggar." I stared at her, completely speechless. "Can't you just read the powerfantasy ones where the real daughter wins?" "I tried." Willow slumped even further. "I can't relate to them.

Those real daughters are always total badasses with Einsteinlevel IQs." "I don't have the brains for that.

Unless I get reincarnated and unlock some crazy cheat code, there is zero chance I can outsmart the fake daughter." I ground my teeth. "Those are novels." "Reality is always crazier than fiction." Willow looked away. "Maeve, you know me.

I'm awkward, and I freeze up when I try to talk." "Compared to me, my biological parents will definitely prefer the fake daughter." She paused, dragging in a deep, shaky breath. "I'll go back with you later.

We'll tell them the truth." I narrowed my eyes. "So you aren't scared anymore?" "I am terrified." She sucked in another breath. "We'll apologize and leave immediately.

After that, I'll just go back to being an orphan." "It might mean being broke, but at least I'll be safe and free.

No walking on eggshells." Watching her eyes dart away, I let out a soft sigh. "Just give them a chance first.

They actually care about you." I patted her shoulder. "But we aren't clearing this up today.

I still have a few things left to handle." I killed the rest of the afternoon at Willow's place. By the time I walked back into the mansion, it was past seven.

Priscilla was the only one in the living room.

She was wearing a sleek little black dress, her makeup perfectly baked like she was heading to a gala. "Maeve, I was just looking for you." Her eyes lit up with practiced surprise when she saw me. "Tonight is the birthday party for the eldest daughter of the Sterling family—one of our major corporate partners.

Mom and Dad are stuck at a business dinner, and Sebastian and Cooper aren't home.

You should come with me." She stepped closer, dripping with warmth. "It's the perfect chance for me to introduce you to our social circle." Staring into Priscilla’s eyes, watching her fake that sickeningly genuine concern, I flashed a smile. "Sure.

Thanks for the invite." Priscilla’s smile deepened. "We're about the same size.

Since you don't have a gown yet, you can borrow one of mine." I looked at her, fully dressed and perfectly styled, and gave a dismissive laugh. "No need. What I have is fine.

Just give me thirty minutes." I headed up to my room, sat in front of the vanity, and went to work.

I tweaked the contouring and softened my features until my reflection looked about seventy percent like Willow.

The makeup shifted my entire vibe, making me look meeker, more fragile—a perfect carbon copy of her. Half an hour later, I followed Priscilla into a sprawling hotel ballroom.

The second we stepped inside, Priscilla started working the room, greeting everyone in sight.

Naturally, people started getting curious. "Priscilla, who is this?" a woman asked, eyeing my plain clothes.

Priscilla tilted her head, giving me a bright, beaming smile. "This is my older sister. She just came home to us yesterday." Chapter 7 The woman's eyes flashed with naked disdain.

Her smile dropped a fraction. "Oh." It was like a secret, nasty little code.

Right on cue, Priscilla turned to me, her face the picture of fauxapology. "Maeve, someone's calling me over there. I'll just be a second." "Sure.

Go ahead." I dropped onto a velvet sofa, scanning the room. Ten minutes ticked by. No sign of Priscilla.

The whispers around me started bleeding together, growing louder by the second. "Who is she?" "Priscilla said it's her older sister." "Sister? Please.

More like an illegitimate brat." "And here I thought Mr. Gu was a devoted husband." I scanned the ballroom again. Still no Priscilla. A cold laugh clawed at my throat.

Someone who stole Willow's life and lived in luxury for over two decades actually had the nerve to act this vicious. I didn't even hate Priscilla that much at the start.

Sure, she hijacked Willow's identity, but the swap wasn't some grand, malicious scheme. Before the reunion, the family's lawyer cleared everything up with the orphanage director.

Twenty years ago, an exhausted, overworked nurse just put the babies in the wrong bassinets. I even did my own digging later.

Priscilla’s biological mother was just some single woman with zero ties to the family. Right after getting discharged, she dumped her baby on the steps of the orphanage.

Obviously, Priscilla had zero intention of ever acknowledging her. But at the end of the day, she owed Willow. She owed her everything. My eyes swept the crowd one more time.

They locked onto a very familiar face. I pushed off the sofa and cut straight through the room toward him. Cooper saw me coming. He flinched.

He tried to bolt, but the wall of trustfund kids surrounding him boxed him in. "Cooper." I didn't scream, but I projected my voice enough to slice through the chatter. "People keep whispering that I'm Dad's illegitimate bastard.

As my biological little brother, why don't you clear that up for everyone?" Every eye in the circle snapped to him.

His jaw worked, his voice coming out weak. "Yyou're Mom and Dad's real daughter.

Obviously." I smiled, closing the distance between us with a sharp halfstep. "Little brother, you're mumbling." I tilted my head. "Say it louder.

And tell them—who exactly am I to you?" Heat crawled up his neck, staining his face dull red. He caught the blatant threat in my tone, but he still refused to raise his voice