A Dance of Substitutes with Mr. Vanderbilt

After marrying Ash Vanderbilt and enduring three years of his apathy and avoidance, Justine Thorpe encountered him at the OB-GYN's clinic, carefully helping a pregnant Jenny—the woman who had taken her place in the Thorpe family for years while Justine was missing as a child. That night, she demanded a divorce. Ash had always hated her, particularly because her disability reminded him of a traumatic event in his life. He had been prepared for this divorce since the day they married. Justine became the laughingstock of elite society. Everyone knew how obsessed she was with Ash. Now, without him, the elites awaited her downfall as a form of entertainment—until three months later, when news broke of Justine's marriage to an heir of a powerful elite family. Enraged, Ash stormed the wedding, determined to take her back. "You love me! You've always loved me, and me only! So don't you dare love someone else!" "No, Mr. Vanderbilt. The only reason I ever loved you was that you were 'his' substitute." All of her passion and obsessive love had been because she saw Ash as someone else. A dance of substitutes had long been in motion, but only now did he realize he had always been a contestant. When the final curtain falls, what will become of him?