I'm Done Playing the SubstituteChapter 1

Brookside had always known one thing: Jonah, the CEO of Robert Group, adored me to the moon and back. My name is Rosa Gray. Since we got married, every asset under our roof bore my name. Even Robert Group's most ambitious project had been christened after me, a grand gesture that left many envious.

On our first wedding anniversary, Jonah surprised me with a rose tattoo inked right over his heart. Later, when I gave birth to twin daughters, he named them Rosalie and Rosabelle, their names reflecting mine like an eternal echo of his supposed devotion.

But even the most beautiful facades can hide the ugliest truths. Jonah lived to eighty and in his final moments, he publicly declared that his burial site should be chosen next to his first love, Rosa Dawson—a woman who had passed away long before we ever met.

It was then I realized, with gut-wrenching clarity, that in this marriage I had always treasured, I was nothing but a substitute. And what was substituted wasn't even me—but my name.