When Love Ends, So Does Mercy

My older brother ran away the day before his wedding, abandoning not just his bride-to-be but also the newborn daughter she had just given birth to a month prior. Afraid of offending the Roger family—one of the most powerful in Riverford—our parents panicked. They begged me to take my brother's place and go through with the wedding in his stead.

So, I did.

From that day forward, I took on a role that was never meant to be mine. I became a stand-in husband and a reluctant father. But I didn't do it halfway.