Mr. CEO's Substitute Bride

"Stop arguing, I’ll go back, I’ll go back right away." Violet Zimmerman stood at the door holding her child, her eyes red.

She finally understood what it meant to be "a daughter married off is like water spilled."

She had just returned to her maternal home, not even a day, and her sister-in-law could not tolerate her.

Aria Williams also put down her chopsticks and stood up, walking over, "Violet, don’t blame your sister-in-law, they’re doing it for your own good. A quarrel between husband and wife at the bedhead is reconciled at the bedside. Sit down and have a calm discussion with Joseph, there’s no issue between a couple that can’t be resolved. Acting like this will only create a rift between you two."

Violet Zimmerman lowered her head, suppressing the desolation in her heart, "I know, I shouldn’t be so willful, causing trouble for you. I’ll call Joseph right now and have him pick me up."

"Silly child, we’re all family, there’s no trouble at all. If there’s blame, it should be on me. If I hadn’t given in and brought Lucy over, none of this would have happened."

Hearing her mother’s comforting words, Violet suddenly felt it quite ironic.

Her mother kept saying it was for her own good, but right now she felt like a princess sent for a political marriage in ancient times, sacrificed for the greater good.

At the dining table, Natalia Zabinski and Eleanor Duncan exchanged a glance, a hint of smugness at the corners of their mouths.

Violet called home and had the operator connect to her residence, and it was Lucy Zimmerman who picked up. Hearing Violet’s voice, she was startled and asked exaggeratedly.

"Sis, where did you go? You haven’t been back all day. You don’t know this, but brother-in-law is angry, his face looks terrible, longer than a donkey’s face."

"Let Joseph take the phone. I have something to say to him."

Violet, not in the mood to listen to Lucy’s nonsense, finished speaking only to hear Lucy raising her voice, "Brother-in-law, brother-in-law! Sis wants you to take the call!"

Joseph Lancaster came down the stairs, expressionless as he took the phone, holding it to his ear, his gloomy eyes staring at a certain spot, not uttering a sound.

Even across the receiver, Violet could feel the oppressive aura. Suppressing the discomfort in her heart, her voice softened.

"Joseph, are you listening?"

"Mm." A monosyllable, with no emotion.

Violet knew that her leaving for her parent’s home without a word had angered him.

Biting her lip, she tentatively said, "I want to come back, do you have time to pick me up?"

"No time." With those two words, the phone emitted a busy tone.

With one hand gripping the phone, and the other clutching the coiled cord, Violet didn’t move for a long time.

"Violet, why aren’t you speaking? What did Joseph say? Is he angry because you came back?" Aria anxiously asked beside her.

Violet forced a smile at the corner of her mouth, lowering the phone from her ear, "Joseph has to catch a train for a business trip soon, he doesn’t have time to pick me up."

Aria visibly sighed, "Oh, I see. Let’s eat first. Tomorrow I’ll drive you back, and I’ll also bring Lucy back."

Watching her mother’s back, Violet lowered her eyes, her thick eyelashes hiding the emotion in her eyes, her lips pulling into a bitter smile.

Since marrying, this was the first time she returned to her parent’s home to stay, and yet, her two sisters-in-law were putting on a show, and her mother seemed unwilling to take her in.

After sitting for a while, she picked up the landline again, "Uncle Zhang, could you help me connect to Joseph Lancaster’s phone?"

...

At six in the evening in November, it was already dark, the dim streetlights lengthening Joseph Lancaster’s slender silhouette.

The end of autumn and the onset of winter brought a cold chill, yet the aura emanating from the man was even colder than the frost of a winter night.

Under the streetlamp, Joseph’s face was ashen, Violet Zimmerman’s voice, full of suppressed tears, echoed non-stop in his ears.

...Joseph, I’m in F City, can you come pick me up...

He didn’t know what was happening, he only knew that the woman, his child’s mother, was helplessly seeking his help through the receiver.

Hearing that helpless voice made his heart twist.

When Joseph entered his brother’s place, his face was just as ashen.

He had no right to interfere with what happened between his brother and sister-in-law, but the person who started it all! He definitely wouldn’t let an unrelated person disrupt his family’s peace.

"Second Master is here." Ms. Zhang approached as usual to help him with his slippers.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The somewhat foolish person watching TV in the sofa saw Joseph and greeted him happily, "Joe, you’re here!"