His Substitute Bride I'm Done Being Her Shadow

The video had captured the entire incident in crystal-clear detail.

Millie still wore a smile, but it was bone-chillingly cold, laced with undisguised mockery. "She keeps pinning one thing after another on me, and I'm not about to play along with her little act. I don't remember my sister ever being so eager to shift blame."

She paused, letting the words sink in.

"If you're going to find a replacement for Carrie, you could at least set the bar a little higher."

Greg and Judith's faces darkened, their expressions so stormy they could have wrung water from the air.

Clint lowered his gaze in silence, a storm of emotions churning behind his eyes. Anger, yes, but also a thread of irritation he couldn't quite name.

The old Millie had always bent over backward to please her parents, to please him. What had changed?

Before the thought could fully form, Lucille burst into tears again.

Millie watched it happen. The three people who had just worn such varied expressions instantly softened in unison at the sound of that single sob, crowding around Lucille, falling over themselves to comfort her in gentle voices.

The divide was stark. Millie stood on the other side of it, the only outsider.

Her heart clenched again, every breath dragging a dull ache through her chest.

She kept smiling, as if steeling herself for something.

"Since none of you seem to mind the substitution, why not just have Lucille change her last name to Sullivan and marry Clint herself? Wouldn't that make everyone happy?"

She turned on her heel and walked toward the door.

"You ungrateful brat! We say a few words to you and you dare threaten us?"

"If you've got the nerve, drop the Sullivan name! If you've got the nerve, walk out that door and never come back!"

The insults chased her like shadows. Millie pressed her hands over her ears and walked faster.

Eventually she broke into a run.

She didn't stop until her legs gave out, and she crumpled to the ground.

Maybe this is for the best. At least now she could leave with nothing holding her back.

With no home left to return to, Millie stayed at a hotel.

She planned to go back to the office and finish her resignation paperwork.

But Clint never showed up. Lucille had vanished too.

Word was they'd gone on a business trip together.

Officially, it was to meet with a client about a partnership. But Lucille's social media told a far more colorful story.

Strolling through streets. Candlelit dinners. Between every overwrought caption, she broadcast Clint's blatant favoritism for all the world to see.

Colleagues cast complicated glances Millie's way. She pretended not to notice and kept working through what was left on her desk.

Even though Clint hadn't signed off yet, she dutifully found someone to hand her responsibilities over to. A clean break, as amicable as she could make it.

Only three days remained. Millie packed up her personal belongings and had just stepped out of her office when—

Slam.

A file hit the floor at her feet.

Clint's face was thunderous, his voice barely containing his fury. "Millie Sullivan, did you leave your brain overseas? You got core data wrong. Are you trying to drag the entire company down with you?"

Millie blinked, then bent to pick up the file.

One glance was all it took. Her brow furrowed.

This wasn't the version she'd signed off on.

She looked up, her tone level. "This data has been tampered with."

"And now you want to dodge responsibility? You have the guts to do it but not to own it?" Clint stared at her with open disappointment.

Lucille spoke up as if summoning her courage. "Miss Sullivan, do you have any idea how much the company stands to lose because of one altered figure?"

A colleague nearby couldn't hold back. "Mr. Gilbert, the data Director Sullivan verified at the time was correct—"

"Shut up." Clint cut them off, his tone razor-sharp. "You're one of hers. Of course you'd cover for her."

Millie looked at him, and something close to a laugh stirred in her chest.

From Lucille's schemes to company matters, every single time a problem surfaced, Clint convicted her without a shred of evidence.

All those years by his side, and he wouldn't grant her even a sliver of trust?

She drew a slow breath, still holding her patience together. "Fine. Let's say people can lie. But the system logs don't. One look at the workflow records—"

Lucille jumped in immediately. "The cloud drive just crashed. The tech team is working on it, but all recent files are gone."

What impeccable timing for a crash.

The warmth drained from Millie's eyes degree by degree. She turned her gaze on Clint, and all that remained in it was contempt.

Something tightened in his chest under that look, but he pressed on. "Fine. Everyone makes mistakes. We'll let this go for now, but don't let it happen ag—"

"That won't be necessary."

Millie reached up and unclipped her badge in one swift, decisive motion.

"Since I've already lost all credibility in your eyes, Mr. Gilbert, there's no point in me staying at this company."

She held out the resignation letter—the one that needed only his final signature to be complete.

"I quit."