My Substitute Reign, Leaving the Billionaire with $2 Billion

On the first day my wealthy biological parents brought me back to their estate, they arranged a marriage of convenience for me.

My parents shrugged helplessly. "This marriage was supposed to be for your sister, Chloe.

But she claims she wants to be an independent, modern woman and isn't ready to settle down so early." I glanced at the photo of my groomtobe. He was incredibly handsome.

So, I gladly agreed. But I never expected that ten years later, Chloe would suddenly show up at my doorstep.

She casually wrapped her arm around Ethan Vance's, pulled out a ring, and said, "Ethan, I designed this wedding ring myself.

I've traveled to every corner of the world, only to realize you're the one I love.

I've decided to marry you." She then glanced at me. "Thank you for taking care of my fiancé for me. But after all, you were just my placeholder.

You can leave now." I wasn't angry at all. In fact, I breathed a sigh of relief. I had stopped wanting this man a long time ago.

All I wanted was the two billion dollars that belonged to me. Ethan threw the wishing jar onto the passenger seat. I took the hint and sat in the back.

Ethan froze. "What's wrong?" I immediately understood his reaction.

This was the tacit understanding we had built over ten years of facing hardships together. "We agreed when we got married—I would never try to take Chloe's place." Ten years ago, Chloe had pinched her nose in disgust, dragged me back from the countryside, dumped me on Ethan, and immediately jetted off to Europe.

My parents could only hastily announce my existence to the public to salvage the alliance with the Vance family.

On our wedding night, Ethan got dead drunk, screaming Chloe's name all night. For ten years.

While Chloe was dancing on the beaches of Hawaii, I was playing the submissive daughterinlaw, sucking up to Ethan's stepmother, Victoria.

While Chloe was taking selfies with penguins in Antarctica, I was drinking myself to stomach bleeding just to help Ethan secure his first major corporate contract.

While Chloe was chasing auroras, watching sunsets, and exploring wild safaris. I was the one who lost my first and second pregnancies during Ethan's brutal family succession wars.

I was even held at knifepoint by kidnappers. She had been living her best life for ten years, and now she dared to return and demand that I leave?

She wanted to reap the harvest she didn't sow? Who did she think she was!

Ethan's lips twitched at my words. "Selene, actually, we..." Before he could finish, Chloe's call came through.

The phone was connected to the car's Bluetooth, and Ethan pressed the answer button. "Ethan, Mom and Dad told me that you two don't have kids yet." "Is it because... you've been waiting for me?" Chloe's voice carried an unmistakable mix of shyness and excitement. "Chloe, what nonsense are you talking about!" My mother's voice quickly cut in from the other end.

The topic of children had always been my trigger. At twentyfive, I got pregnant with my first child, only to be tricked by Ethan's stepmother into drinking an abortifacient.

At twentyeight, I got pregnant again. I hid the pregnancy carefully for six months, only to suffer from mysterious chronic poisoning. The baby died in my womb.

The day of the labor induction, I cried until my lungs hurt. Ethan held me tight, weeping as he swore he would never let me suffer again. And he did keep that promise.

Over the next three years, he drove out his stepmother and halfbrother, seizing sole control of the Vance Group.

At thirtytwo, as the head of a toptier national conglomerate, Ethan gave his first major business interview.

On camera, he politely spent a few sentences thanking me for my support over the years. A week after the interview aired, Chloe came back.

Right now, Ethan caught my pale face in the rearview mirror and immediately cut the call. "Selene, Chloe doesn't know what happened during these ten years.

Don't take it to heart." "She has always been too shielded.

She speaks her mind, sometimes without thinking..." "Save it," I interrupted him impatiently. "Since when does the cold, ruthless CEO Ethan Vance talk so much when it comes to Chloe?" "Since when do you... explain things for other people?" Ethan's brow furrowed.

He abruptly yanked the steering wheel and pulled the car over to the curb. "Selene, are you still holding a grudge against me for that night?"

During our first year of marriage, Ethan's halfbrother, Julian, suddenly broke out in severe hives. Victoria, Ethan's stepmother, insisted I had put peanut butter in his cookies.

Two old maids in the house held me down, forcing me to my knees on the floor. I looked at Ethan, begging for help.

He had been with me the entire time; he knew perfectly well I hadn't done it. But Ethan kept his head down, saying absolutely nothing.

That day, those two old maids slapped me twenty times. They didn't stop until my mouth bled and my cheeks swelled.

Back in our bedroom, Ethan handed me ice packs with a face full of guilt. "The timing isn't right yet.

I need you to understand." That "understand" forced me to swallow all my tears and humiliation. That night, I woke up from the throbbing pain and went to the kitchen for more ice.

Through the cracked door of his study, I heard Ethan on the phone. "Thank God it wasn't Chloe. She wouldn't have survived that..." In that moment, I froze in the hallway.

All that talk about building love over time, about facing hardships together to find true intimacy—it was a joke. To this day, Ethan had no idea I heard those words.

After my sarcastic comment, he lit a cigarette and stepped out of the car, looking frustrated. Right then, Chloe's phone call came in again.

He answered it but forgot to disconnect the Bluetooth.

Sitting in the car, I was forced to hear Chloe's sweet, cooing voice crystal clear. "Ethan, can you come over and stay with me tonight?" The Bluetooth was cut off instantly.

Outside the car window, I saw Ethan stub out his cigarette. While listening to the phone, he kicked a pebble on the side of the road.

That anxious, boyish look on his face made him look exactly like the twentysomethingyearold he used to be. Heh. Is this the power of a first love?

She literally lowered his IQ in a second.

Ten minutes later, Ethan got back in the car, looking exhausted. "Selene, I'll drop you off home first." "Tonight, I might have to..." "Don't care," I cut him off sharply.

I really didn't want to hear what kind of stupid, nonsensical excuse he would invent to lie to me for Chloe.

Realizing I had lost my composure, I tried my best to soften my tone. "You don't have to report your schedule to me, Mr. Vance." Ethan couldn't miss the cold distance in my voice.

He slammed his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. "Selene Miller, you've always kept your guard up against me.

Are you really that eager to draw a line between us?" How ridiculous. He was the one constantly crossing the boundaries of our marriage, yet he was blaming me.

I turned my face away, blinking back the tears that kept threatening to spill. My ten years of experience told me: never let them see you look defeated.

While we were in a deadlock, my mother called me. "Selene, your father and I are just terrible with words.

We had to ask Ethan to come over and talk Chloe down." "Can you just give your sister some time? She's still young, she'll figure things out eventually." I scoffed. How pathetic.

She's thirty years old, and she's still "young"? Then why, ten years ago when they forced me into this marriage, did they say: "You're an adult now, Selene.

You need to learn to share the family's burdens." I spoke, my voice icy. "Mom, I didn't expect you and Dad to still be the same—always doing whatever it takes to clean up Chloe's messes." "But at least your tone is a lot gentler now than it used to be." Actually, I was found by my biological parents when I was eighteen.

But Chloe couldn't tolerate my existence. She framed me again and again with methods that were laughably clumsy, yet my parents chose to believe her every single time.

The last straw was when she threw herself down the stairs and claimed I pushed her. Without even asking for my side of the story, my father slapped me across the face.

My mother screamed that I was evil and said they should have left me in the country. From beginning to end, they never asked for my opinion.

They simply decided to send me back to the countryside.

It wasn't until Chloe decided to run away from her wedding that they secretly brought me back to the Miller house behind my father's back.

Honestly, the actual time I spent living with them was barely a year. "Selene, do you really hate us that much?" My mother's voice sounded incredulous.

The question actually caught me off guard. I thought my complete lack of affection for them was painfully obvious.

Did they honestly think ten years of Chloe's absence had made us a happy family?

Ethan didn't come home that night, which was exactly what I expected. My head throbbed all night, and I used that time to draft a divorce agreement that satisfied me.

Being switched at birth, brought back, abandoned, and forced to marry... I never had a choice. At least with this divorce, I could be the one calling the shots.

At 9:00 AM, Ethan called. "About last night..." "Ethan, come eat breakfast!

I made sunnysideup eggs for you myself!" As Ethan spoke, Chloe's voice chimed in from close by, immediately grating on my nerves. "I'm not interested," I cut him off coldly.

I had imagined a hundred scenarios of what they did last night, and none of them were things I wanted to hear. "Selene Miller, do you have to be this cold?" I remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

On the other end, Chloe seemed to step closer to the phone. "Ethan, don't fight with Selene because of me." "If she really can't stand me, I can just leave the country for another ten years." "You don't have to do that," Ethan comforted Chloe softly, before turning back to the phone. "There's a family dinner at the Millers' tonight.

I want you to be there." "You must come, Selene!" Chloe chimed in with her sweet voice. The call ended, and I clenched my phone. Go? Of course I would go.

My parents, my husband—what did I have to fear? Two hours later, I showed up at the Miller mansion dressed in headtotoe designer couture.

Chloe, however, was sitting barefoot on the sofa, holding a thick stack of photos, excitedly showing my parents her travels. She was wearing pajamas, her hair casually messy.

When she saw me, she froze for a second, then burst out laughing, covering her mouth. "Selene, it's just a family dinner.

Why are you dressed like you're going to the Met Gala?" "Don't tell me you're trying to compete with me even at dinner?" My steps faltered, my hands clenching into fists.

But I forced a smirk, looking down at her with disdain. "Well, I can tell that 'nomakeup' look of yours took quite some effort." "I'm different from you.

If a reporter snaps a photo of me looking sloppy, it damages the Vance family image." "You!" Chloe bolted upright, her eyes instantly red, tears perfectly pooling in her eyes. "You're just a thief who stole my life while I was gone.

How do you have the face to show off?" Hearing those words from Chloe, the fake daughter, was pure comedy. I looked at my helpless parents and burst into hysterical laughter. "Haha!

Between the two of us, who is the real thief?" "When you're happy, you're the heiress of the Millers, and the family fortune belongs only to you." "When you're unhappy, you say you're Chloe Miller and you need to find yourself." "You packed your bags and ran, so why the hell was I forced to take over your mess and marry into this bullshit alliance?" "Selene Miller!" Ethan, who had been silent, suddenly roared. "Do you have to make your regrets so damn loud?" His eyes were bloodshot.

He marched up to me and raised his right hand high. I tilted my chin up, glaring back at him defiantly. I thought, Go ahead, slap me.

Maybe a slap would finally wake me up from this tenyear dream of being Mrs.

Vance. "Ethan, don't!" Chloe grabbed Ethan from behind, her voice cracking with tears. "We cleared things up last night. I'm satisfied.

If you fight with Selene because of me again, I'll never forgive myself." Cleared things up? Why didn't he push her away?

My mind was a chaotic mess, and the words slipped out of my mouth. "Ethan Vance, you only have the guts to show off your power in front of me." "In front of Chloe, you're nothing but a welltrained dog!" Slap!

The sharp sound echoed. The slap landed squarely on my face.

Chloe hid behind Ethan's back, poking her head out with a triumphant smirk. "Selene!" My mother rushed over, her trembling hand reaching out to touch my face. "Stay back!" I screamed, taking a fierce step back to put distance between us.

Then, staring straight at Ethan, I said word by word: "Mr. Vance, I want a divorce.

Ten years of my life—I don't think asking for two billion dollars is asking too much." Ethan's pupils contracted. He froze on the spot, his eyes burning into me.

"Two billion dollars! Are you insane?" Chloe was the first to react. "Ethan made that money! My dad helped him! What does any of it have to do with you?" "You got to be Mrs.

Vance for ten years. You already hit the jackpot. How dare you ask for money?" I ignored Chloe, keeping my eyes locked on Ethan. "Two billion dollars, Mr. Vance.

You get to fix your regrets, keep your empire, and marry your first love. It's a perfect deal.

You aren't losing anything." "Selene..." Ethan took a step toward me, his movements urgent yet hesitant.

I took a deep breath and held up my hand to stop him. "Let's make this quick." "We both got what we wanted in the beginning.

Now it's time to go our separate ways." Before turning to leave, I looked at the four of them. "The absolute worst thing that ever happened to me was being found by the Miller family." If I weren't a Miller, I would still be in that small town, running the bakery with my adoptive mother.

She wouldn't have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. And there would still be at least one person in this world who genuinely loved me.

When I woke up at the hotel, I had 99+ missed calls and 99+ unread messages. "Selene, Mom knows you were just talking out of anger." "Selene, I do not agree to this divorce.

This isn't a decision you can make on your own." "Selene, about the past... your father and I are sorry." I sneered. The slap had already landed. There was no taking it back.

I kept scrolling and saw a message from Chloe. "Selene Miller, you're just putting things back to how they were. Why are you acting like a victim now?

What's your play?" "Did you honestly think ten years of being Mrs. Vance would make Ethan love you?" "He told me everything that night.

He only married you as a shield to protect me from his stepmother!" "Selene, you will never win against me." I froze. He actually said that?

Chloe's words were like a dagger, ripping away my last shred of dignity. To think that Ethan, to comfort his first love, would completely disregard my feelings.

Everything I did to save face yesterday must have made me look like a absolute clown in Chloe's eyes! I forced myself to stay rational.

I forwarded the divorce agreement and authorization letter to my lawyer. Then, I booked the earliest flight out of the country.

Once that was done, I took a screenshot of Chloe's text and sent it to Ethan. "Your tactics and your taste in women have really gone downhill, Mr.

Vance." Then, I blocked his number and shut off my phone. On my way to the airport, my best friend, Rachel, called. "Selene! Check your Snapchat right now!"