Beyond A Substitute
Chris Muna · Completed · 226.0k Words
Introduction
Realizing too late that Katherine was his true love, Kingsley tries to win her back. But Beth, obsessed and unhinged, takes a dark turn, bending reality to keep him by her side.
As Katherine uncovers the chilling truth, she must decide whether to give him a second chance and fight for their love or walk away forever.
Chapter 1
"Let's divorce," Kingsley said calmly, placing a set of documents on the coffee table in front of her.
Katherine looked up from where she sat on the couch, her expression unreadable at first—until her brows slowly drew together. "What did you just say?"
"I want a divorce," he repeated, his voice low and steady. "I came with the papers. All I need is your signature."
Katherine's lips parted in disbelief. "You're serious?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "A divorce?"
Kingsley didn't answer.
Her confusion gave way to a sharp, bitter laugh. "After all this time... You're asking me for a divorce? Me, the woman who's been in the shadows for you. The one no one even knows you married. The woman you made invisible so you could pretend to the world you were single."
He looked down, jaw clenched.
"You kept me hidden, Kingsley," she went on, her voice gaining strength. "And I let you. I told myself it was temporary, that it was for us, for your career, for your image. But now you're here, handing me a divorce like it's some business transaction?"
"I didn't mean to hurt you," he said quietly. "But this... it's the only way."
Katherine shook her head, heart pounding. "Is this about Beth? Of course it is. The whole world saw you kissing her on the red carpet last night. The way you held her, smiled at her like she was your everything."
Kingsley hesitated, then nodded. "I love her."
A silence fell between them.
"I love Beth," he said again. "She's the one I want to spend my life with. The one I can be with openly, without secrets."
"And what was I?" Katherine's voice cracked. "What am I to you, Kingsley?"
He took a breath, his eyes softening for the first time. "You were comfort. Safety. Your eyes... they reminded me of her."
Katherine stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "You married me because I reminded you of Beth?"
He nodded slowly. "I was confused. I told myself I could move on, that I could learn to love you the way I needed to. And for a while, I thought I could."
"And now?" she asked, rising to her feet. "Now you want to marry her instead?"
"She's always been the one," Kingsley saId, you can't understand, we have been together before, our story; it's complicated."
Katherine stared at him, eyes glistening with unshed tears. "So I was a placeholder. A shadow."
"I'll make sure you're taken care of," he said quickly. "You'll never have to worry. I'll give you money, property—whatever you need to be comfortable. Just sign the papers, Katherine. Let's end this quietly."
Katherine walked toward him slowly, eyes locked on his. "You think this is about money?"
"I'm trying to make things easier."
"For you or for me?" she snapped.
He didn't answer.
She stood just inches away from him now. "You humiliated me. You buried our marriage like it was something to be ashamed of. And now you want to walk out and play prince charming to your precious Beth. But I'm not going to make this easy for you."
"I don't want to fight," he said, voice firm but calm.
"No," she said, stepping back. "Of course you don't. You want everything neat and clean. You want your secret wife to disappear so you can parade your new bride in front of the cameras like a saint."
Katherine turned toward the hallway. "Come find me when you're ready to tell the world the truth. Until then... I'll be in the bedroom."
She disappeared down the hall, the soft click of the door her final word.
Moments later, the silence was broken by the soft footsteps of another woman emerging from the corner of the hallway—Beth.
"She's not going to sign it," Beth said quietly, folding her arms.
"She will," Kingsley replied, without hesitation. "She has to."
Beth looked at him, uncertain. "Kingsley, I don't want to come between you and—"
"You're not," he cut in gently. "You're the one I've always loved. She was just... she was a mistake I kept making. But no more."
Beth gave him a small, unsure smile. "You promise?"
"I swear it," he said. "Go home. I'll call you when it's done."
Beth nodded and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "I love you."
"I love you too."
She turned and left.
Kingsley stood still for a long moment, staring down at the divorce papers.
Then, with a long breath, he walked toward the bedroom.
Last Chapters
#128 128
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#127 127
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#126 126
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#125 125
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#124 124
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#123 123
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#122 122
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#121 121
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#120 120
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#119 119
Last Updated: 1/29/2026
You Might Like 😍
The Family Books 1-3 (A Mafia romance)
The saint to my sinner. with her innocent eyes and devilish curves.
A Madonna that was meant to be admired but never touched.
Until someone took that innocence from her.
She left.
The darkness in my heart was finally complete.
I avenged her, I killed for her, but she never came back.
Until I saw her again. An angel dancing around a pole for money.
She didn’t know I owned that club. She didn’t know I was watching.
This time I won’t let her escape.
I will make her back into the girl I knew.
Whether she likes it or not.
2/ Judge and Jury- I can’t stop watching her.
I’m not even sure I want to.
Taylor Lawson, blonde, beautiful, and totally oblivious to how much dangers she’s in.
She’s also the one juror in my upcoming murder trial that hasn’t been bought.
The one who can put me behind bars for a very long time.
I know I should execute her.
After all that’s what I do.
I am the Judge.
I eliminate threats to The Family.
And Taylor is a threat.
But I don’t want to kill her.
Possessing her, making her love me seems like a much better plan for this particular Juror.
3/ Rags and Ritches-
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
Mates: Regrets and Redemption
With my heart in pieces, I sought solace in the last place I expected—my Alpha's arms. One night turned into a dangerous entanglement, and now my Alpha refuses to let me go. As the Alpha’s obsession grows, I'm caught in a web of desire and fear.
Curtis, the boy I once loved, still holds a promise I made, but the Alpha’s powerful presence pulls me deeper into his world. Should I forgive Curtis and keep my word, or should I risk everything for a chance at something wild and unpredictable with the Alpha who won’t take no for an answer?
“There are no limits between us,” he chuckled, the mirth sparkling in his gorgeous eyes. “And all of this stems from the night you gave me both pain and pleasure. I’m simply returning the favor.”
He took two steps forward, and I stepped back. “But…” The memory of what I had done filled me with fear, and I knew I had to get out of there. “I…”
“No, Firecat.” He placed an index finger on my lips. “This will take your mind off that son of a bitch.” His strong hands pulled me by the waist until I felt his hard manhood.
The CEO's Unspoken Love
Before I could answer, he moved closer, suddenly looming over me, his face inches from mine. I felt my breath caught, my lips parting in surprise.
"Then this is the price for speaking ill of me to others," he murmured, nipping my lower lip before claiming my mouth in a real kiss. It began as punishment but quickly transformed into something else entirely as I responded, my initial rigidity melting into compliance, then active participation.
My breathing accelerated, small sounds escaping my throat as he explored my body. His touches were both punishment and pleasure, drawing shudders from me that I thought he felt reverberating through his own body.
My nightgown had ridden up, his hands discovering more of mine with each caress. We were both lost in sensation, rational thought receding with each passing second...
Three years ago, to fulfill the wish of his grandmother, I was forced to marry Derek Wells, the second son of the family that had adopted me for ten years. He didn't love me, but I had secretly loved him all along.
Now, the three-year contractual marriage is about to end, but I feel that some kind of sentiment has developed between Derek and me that neither of us is willing to admit. I'm not sure if my feelings are right, but I know that we can't resist each other physically...
From Sacrificed Slave to the Dragon King's Obsession
His fangs glinted as he gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. Dragon scales shimmered along his neck, breath scorching my skin.
"Your Majesty... I beg—" He shoved me onto the bed. Silk tore with a sharp rip, cold air rushing over my exposed body.
"Scared?" He smirked, palm sliding down my waist, fingers tracing slow, burning circles. "Yet you shiver... not from cold."
I lunged for the candlestick, but he caught my wrist, pinning it overhead. His knee forced my legs apart.
"When your father gave you to me," his lips brushed my ear, voice a dark rumble, "you were already mine."
On the eve of freedom after ten years of servitude, Lina Valeria stood one night away from reuniting with her betrothed. But Dragon King Augustus condemned her to the Abyss Mines on false charges—a trap forged from obsessive desire.
Augustus Ashenwing, Supreme Sovereign of Skyhold Citadel, is ruthless and feared by all races. His obsession stems from ancient grudges and dragonkind's most dangerous instinct: possessive desire. He demands her submission, binding her to his throne as his consort.
From prisoner to queen, Lina battles him through court intrigue and twisted passion—fighting for her mother, her freedom, her dignity.
Yet this cold-blooded tyrant reserves all tenderness for her alone. He indulges her temper, bends his pride, compromises without limit—anything to see her smile. Gradually, her heart wavers. But loving him means betraying Kain, who waited eleven years. Torn between duty and desire, she drowns in agonizing guilt.
Love and hatred intertwined—a forbidden dragon romance in a realm of oppression.
Game of Destiny
When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.
Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.
When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?
Where The Ice Gives Way
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)
Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
Goddess Of The Underworld
When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armour, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of an orphan pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to be better. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a reverse harem, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
A pack of their own
To protect what’s mine
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, my fingers curled into his shirt, clutching the fabric as though it was my only anchor. Something in him snapped—something he had been holding back for too long. His mouth found mine in a kiss that wasn't tender, but hungry, desperate.
I gasped into him, his hand sliding up to cup my jaw, holding me as if afraid I might vanish.
"You drive me insane," he breathed against my mouth, his lips trailing to my throat. "I can't lose you, Ella. Not you."
My head fell back, a soft sound escaping me as his fingers memorized my waist. My anger melted beneath his desperation.
"James..." I whispered, more plea than protest.
His hand caught mine, fingers threading together tightly. "I'll bring him back. I swear it. Just... don't turn away from me. Please."
The word please—low, ragged, almost broken—undid me more than anything else could have.
Ella never imagined she would marry the man she had secretly loved for years in such a way.
When her brother Theo faced twenty-five years in prison for massive embezzlement, the ruthless business tycoon James Lancaster offered her a deal: marry him in exchange for her brother's freedom.
This wasn't a fairy tale proposal, but a carefully orchestrated revenge. Because in James's heart, Ella was the culprit who had killed his sister Cecilia. He wanted her to pay the price—to atone with a lifetime of suffering.
