I Became His Stand-In Lover to Save my Boyfriend

"Carrie, let's move up the contract timeline. If you help me complete the last task, I'll have foreign experts arrange Art's surgery and make your wish come true."

Carrie gazed at the elegant woman before her—Jared’s mother and her sponsor.

"You said it. I’ll do it."

"You also know that the woman who abandoned Jared all those years ago is back. I need you to drive her away. Once that's done, I'll arrange for you to go abroad and reunite with your boyfriend."

Carrie knew this wouldn't be easy, but she had no choice. She had to agree and do her best.

Jared had always loved Karin Britton, his first love—someone he could never have. His love for her was so deep that he’d broken ties with his family, sparking a storm that had shaken everything.

Then, Karin disappeared without a word, leaving Jared heartbroken for a long time.

Jared’s mother couldn’t bear to see her son in pain. So, she found Carrie.

Carrie had been with Art for three years. They were on the brink of marriage when he fell from a height while working and ended up in a vegetative state.

Jared’s mother promised Carrie that if she helped Jared recover from his grief, she would arrange for the world's best medical team to treat Art, with an 80% success rate.

So, Carrie signed a twoyear contract and entered Jared's life.

Her face, a near replica of Karin’s, became her bargaining chip. She was to be a standin.

At first, Jared ignored her, but as she played the role of someone who liked him, they gradually became an enviable couple.

Now, with less than a month left on the contract, Karin was back, and Jared's mother had another task for Carrie—complete it, and she could see Art wake up.

Carrie was thrilled. Soon, she would see Art return from his long slumber.

So, no matter what Jared’s mother asked her to do, she would comply.

At the same time, Jared’s message popped up.

[Buy a bouquet of 999 roses and bring them to my office. Deliver them in half an hour.]

Carrie knew the flowers were for Karin.

Just a week ago, Jared had made Karin his exclusive secretary and spent every day with her.

The company buzzed with gossip, mocking Carrie for hoping to get promoted as a mere substitute—a foolish dream, they said.

But Carrie didn’t care. To her, Jared was just a task.

She arrived at the office emptyhanded. Jared looked up, frowning.

"Where are the roses I asked for? What am I supposed to give Karin later?"

At that moment, Karin entered, looking regretful.

"It’s fine, Jared. I’m just a secretary. I can’t accept your flowers. I’m afraid Carrie might be upset and ruin your relationship."

Without saying a word, Carrie poured her coffee onto Karin’s head.

"Karin, I’m Jared’s fiancée to the public now. You’re just his secretary. Leave him alone, or I won’t let you go."

Jared immediately stood up, pulling Karin into his arms as she screamed.

"Did she get burned? Don't worry, I’ll explain everything to you."

He turned to glare at Carrie.

"Carrie, do you think you can bully Karin like this? Apologize to her right now!"

Karin cried, shaking her head.

"Don’t worry, Jared. I shouldn't have stayed by your side. I’ll resign now and never see you again."

Jared, clearly distressed, continued comforting her.

"Carrie, if it weren’t for your face, do you think I’d even care about you?"

Carrie remained calm. "No matter what, she’s the mistress, Jared. We’re about to get engaged—shouldn’t you take responsibility for me?"

Jared let out a cold laugh and smashed the custommade cup she had spent half a month crafting just to please him. He had once cherished it.

"Engagement? The only person I love is Karin. What kind of engagement could there possibly be?"

"Carrie, since you enjoy throwing coffee on Karin so much, why don’t I let you experience what it feels like?"

His expression darkened, returning to that terrifying, ruthless look he had when she first met him—like he wanted to grind her to dust.

Moments later, a group of bodyguards swarmed in, gripping her hands and feet, rendering her immobile.

Jared’s voice was like a devil’s whisper from hell. "Karin, how should we punish her?"

Carrie struggled, but it was useless.

Karin feigned generosity. "No need, Jared. I’m not that fragile. It’s just a cup of coffee. When I worked odd jobs abroad, I was often beaten and scolded by customers. I’m used to it."

Jared’s face grew even darker.

"It’s not your place, Carrie, to bully someone under my protection."

"Bring me ten cups of boiling coffee."

Carrie’s heart pounded. "Jared, what are you trying to do to me?"

She didn’t want to risk her life—she still wanted to see Art awake and healthy.

Jared’s lips curled into a smile as he held a cup of steaming coffee. "I’ll repay you tenfold for what you did to Karin."

The next second, scorching liquid splashed across her face.

A searing pain shot through her, and she thrashed against the bodyguards’ grip, but she couldn’t break free.

Jared nodded in satisfaction. "Karin, I won’t let anyone hurt you."

Then, more cups followed—burning coffee drenching her hair, her collarbone, her stomach, her thighs…

Agonizing screams filled the office.

Karin clung to Jared’s arm, laughing wildly.

Jared’s voice was sharp. "Carrie, apologize to Karin. Now!"

She spat on the ground. "I’m right. As long as I’m here, she’ll always be the mistress!"

Without a word, Jared struck her across the face.

"You have no shame."

Then, he handed the last cup to Karin. "Finish it."

Karin hesitated. "Jared, I don’t want to treat Carrie like this. She’ll hate me forever."

He gently ruffled her hair. "You’re too kind, which is why people take advantage of you. With me here, she won’t dare hate you."

With that, Jared guided Karin’s hand, and together, they poured the remaining coffee over Carrie, who was already soaked through.

Her exposed skin turned red and swollen, angry blisters forming before their eyes. The sight was horrifying.

One could only imagine the pain.

No matter how furious Jared had been with her in the past, he had never gone this far.

He had always been gentle to her—once, when she cut her finger on a sharp page, he rushed her to the hospital, refusing to let her touch water until it healed.

Now, to protect Karin, he acted as if he wanted to rip her apart, tendon by tendon, bone by bone.

With one final push, he sent her crashing to the ground.

"Don’t do it again," he warned coldly. "Today was just a small lesson."

After being mercilessly thrown out of the office, Carrie returned home.

She wasn’t sure how much longer she could endure this before she collapsed completely. If things continued like this, would she even live to see Art wake up?

But she had no choice—she had to do what Jared’s mother wanted.

She found the burn ointment and applied it to her skin, the searing pain spreading through her body like wildfire.

Ever since Karin came back, she had seen a side of Jared she had never fully known—cold, distant, and ruthless.

She had once gone to great, foolish lengths to make him acknowledge her, to make him look at her in the eye.

She had saved his life when he was drunk and nearly hit by an outofcontrol vehicle. She had thrown herself forward, pushing him out of harm’s way, only to have her own calf dislocated in the process. She had spent a month in the hospital recovering.

When Jared once mentioned wanting to see the sunrise at Golden Mountain, she had climbed a snowcovered peak with a high fever just to capture the perfect, breathtaking footage for him. He had scolded her for an hour afterward.

But after that, he had started treating her better. He had even stopped calling her Karin so frequently.

For a moment, she had believed that even if he didn’t love her, at the very least, he saw her as a person.

Now she knew better.

To Jared, the world was divided into two categories—Karin, and everyone else.

Fortunately, she didn’t love him. It had all been an act.

She skillfully logged into the account with the ID "Wait for him to wake up" and habitually posted some complaints. This account used to record her love with Art, but later it became a place to scold Jared.

Her only dream was to marry Art and live a peaceful, happy life.

Thinking of him, she took out her recorder and started speaking to Art.

This was a habit of hers—whenever Jared wronged her, she recorded her thoughts, as if confiding in Art.

A deep male voice suddenly interrupted her. "Leaving? Reunion? What are you talking about?"

Carrie quickly turned off the recorder and looked at Jared. "Nothing. Just watching a video."

Her face was still covered in ointment, and the sight startled him for a moment.

But then, as if remembering why she was in this state, his expression hardened.

"This is what happens when you hurt Karin—it’s your own fault."

His voice was sharp. "Do you finally understand your mistake? Can’t you tolerate Karin?"

"I let you stay, so you should be grateful. A standin should know her place. Do you understand?"

Carrie let out a cold laugh. "I don’t understand. All I know is that you’re still my fiancé, and we’re about to get engaged. Yet here you are, fooling around with your secretary."

Whatever flicker of hesitation had been in Jared’s eyes vanished instantly.

"You?" he scoffed. "You’re not even worthy of carrying Karin’s shoes."

He turned sharply, knocking into a vase on the table. It wobbled, then toppled over.

Carrie instinctively stepped back, but before it could hit the ground, Jared reached out and caught it.

The vase shattered against the corner of the table, and shards of glass sliced through her calf.

But Jared’s hand was injured even more severely.

Without thinking, he blurted out, "Are you okay? I’ll take you to the hospital and get it bandaged."

Carrie was about to tell him she was fine when Karin’s voice rang out from his phone.

"Jared, there’s a power outage in my building. Someone’s been knocking on my door, and I’m scared. Can you come over?"

Jared glanced at Carrie for only a second before answering.

"Don’t be afraid, Karin. I’m coming right now. Just wait for me."

He barely spared Carrie another glance before saying perfunctorily, "Go get it treated yourself. I don’t have time for you."

Carrie wasn’t surprised.

She made her way to a roadside clinic and got the wound bandaged.

While waiting, she absentmindedly scrolled through social media and saw Karin’s latest post.

Jared—who had an obsessive dislike for anything unclean—had actually changed a lightbulb in her apartment.

The caption read: "After all these years, you’re still the only one who truly cares about my safety."

A second later, Jared’s comment appeared below it.

"As long as it’s you, I’d walk through fire and cross mountains of swords."

They were truly in love.

Then, her phone rang. It was Jared’s mother.

"Carrie, Jared says he’s going to marry Karin. This time, he insists on marrying her no matter what. I won’t rely on you anymore."

Her voice turned cold.

"Since you failed to drive her away, just wait for the contract to expire and leave quietly. I’ll keep my promise and arrange the surgery for Art—but as for the followup expenses, you’ll have to figure that out yourself."

The call ended.

For a long moment, Carrie just stood there, letting the words settle.

She only had to endure it until the contract expired, and she would be free.

After everything she had suffered, that day had finally come.

Carrie wanted to play it cool and leave on the exact day the contract expired, but Jared unexpectedly approached her again.

Tomorrow was his friend's wedding, and he had the audacity to ask her to dress up and attend with him.

She rejected him outright. "Just take Karin with you. I don’t mind."

He froze for a moment, clearly surprised by her response.

In the past, she would never have given up an opportunity like this to someone else.

Then, realization dawned on him—she was playing hard to get. He smirked. Who knew what kind of trick she was trying to pull this time?

After all, a person’s nature didn’t change overnight, especially not someone like Carrie, who had once been willing to go through fire and water for him.

"You still need to come as my date," he insisted. "We don’t want people gossiping about Karin. It wouldn’t be good for her reputation."

Carrie laughed inwardly. He was really careful when it came to protecting Karin.

She shot back, "Aren’t you planning to marry her anyway? This would be the perfect chance to make an official announcement."

Maybe she could use this as an excuse to leave early, finally escaping this place where she could no longer bear to stay.

Jared’s tone was cold. "Carrie, I need to make sure you don’t harm Karin. That’s the only reason I’m bringing you along. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s anything else. Know your place."

Anger flashed through her eyes, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she turned and stormed back to her room.

At the wedding banquet the next day, Jared held her arm for a few minutes before letting go, leaving her to socialize on her own.

While on her way to the restroom, Carrie unintentionally overheard a conversation between Karin and her friends.

"That Carrie is nothing compared to our Karin. It’s disgusting that she’s still clinging to President Dalton!"

"Obviously, Karin is the future mistress of the Dalton family. We should make sure Carrie is humiliated tonight."

"I’ll slip something into her wine later and send her to the old man’s room. Once she’s caught in the act, everyone will see her as a cheater."

"That way, Jared can break up with her cleanly and be with me. I won’t be labeled as a homewrecker, and I’ll finally get rid of this eyesore. It’s the best of both worlds."

"Are you sure President Dalton is okay with this?"

"Don’t worry," Karin sneered. "He can’t wait to make things official with me. If he wasn’t okay with it, he would’ve stopped me by now. He doesn’t love Carrie."

Inside the restroom stall, Carrie clenched her fists.

Now she understood why Jared had insisted on bringing her tonight.

They were willing to ruin her reputation just to clear the path for Karin.

If she were really caught in bed with another man, the stain on her name would never wash away, no matter how much she tried to explain.

But she couldn’t afford to let them succeed. She had to protect herself—she had to protect Art.

When Karin finally came over to toast her, Carrie smiled sweetly, pretending to chat as she subtly switched their glasses.

Later that night, when Karin was taken to the designated room, her socalled "sisters" hurried off to inform Jared, leaving her behind.

She barely had time to process what was happening before her legs gave out, and she collapsed.

Carrie, standing in the shadows, smirked.

She had already switched the drinks.

Now, watching Karin slump onto the bed, Carrie walked over, dragged her closer to the drunk man, and slipped out of the room without looking back.

When Jared and his group burst through the door in a rage, they were met with an unexpected sight—Karin, halfundressed, draped over the man.

“What?!” someone gasped. “Why is Karin here? Where’s Carrie?”

Carrie chuckled from behind them. “Obviously, I’m outside. Unlike Karin, I’m not that desperate.”

Jared shot her a cold glare before striding forward and yanking Karin up. “Karin, what the hell are you doing?”

Snapping back to her senses, Karin’s eyes darted around in panic before she quickly pointed at Carrie. “It was her! Carrie drugged my drink and dragged me here—she wanted to ruin me! Jared, you have to believe me!”

Carrie scoffed. “How convenient. You planned to set me up, and now you’re flipping the blame on me?”

Karin’s friends immediately jumped to her defense.

“I saw Carrie leading Karin away! She was acting suspiciously the whole time.”

“She’s just jealous of how much President Dalton dotes on Karin! She wanted to destroy her reputation. A woman this vicious should be locked up!”

Tears welled up in Karin’s eyes as she clung to Jared’s sleeve. “Jared, if you don’t believe me, search her bag! I’m sure you’ll find proof!”

Without hesitation, Jared snatched Carrie’s bag and rummaged through it—only to pull out a small bag of white powder.

Carrie’s breath caught in her throat. How? She never expected Karin to plant evidence in her belongings so seamlessly.

Jared’s face darkened as he threw the bag at her feet. His voice was icecold. “Do you still have an excuse?”

Carrie took a deep breath. “That’s not mine. I have no idea how it got there!”

“If I had really done this, wouldn’t I have destroyed the evidence instead of conveniently leaving it in my bag?”

Jared wasn’t a fool—he should have seen the logic in that.

But the accusations kept piling on.

“Liars never admit their crimes!”

“Everyone knows you’re afraid Karin will replace you as Mrs. Dalton! That’s why you drugged her!”

Carrie met Jared’s gaze, her voice steady. “There are security cameras here. Just check the footage, and you’ll know exactly who’s lying.”

She wasn’t going to let them smear her name so easily.

Panic flashed across Karin’s face before she suddenly let out a pained cry, tumbling off the bed.

“Jared… my stomach… it hurts so much… Am I going to die?”

Jared’s expression twisted with worry. Without hesitation, he scooped her up in his arms.

“Don’t be afraid, Karin. I’ll take you to the hospital right now.”

Carrie stepped in front of him. “Not so fast. Clear my name first—I won’t stand by while everyone accuses me of something I didn’t do.”

Karin whimpered in his arms, her body trembling in exaggerated agony.

Jared’s patience snapped. “Carrie, how could you be so heartless?!”

“She’s in pain, and instead of letting her get medical help, you want her to stay and argue? What do you want—to watch her die?”

Carrie opened her mouth to refute, but before she could, Jared shoved her aside, sending her crashing into the wall.

“Karin has always been kind,” he said, his voice laced with disappointment. “I never thought you could be this cruel. I gave you a chance, to be honest, but you let me down, Carrie.”

With that, he carried Karin away, leaving Carrie standing alone—left to face the scorn and judgment of everyone around her.

If only he had bothered to check the security footage, the truth would have been clear.

But instead, he chose to believe Karin blindly.

Carrie let out a bitter laugh before quietly walking out of the venue.

The drugging incident ended inconclusively, yet Jared still forced Carrie to apologize to Karin at the hospital.

"I did nothing wrong. She’s the one who should apologize. Jared, you’re blaming the wrong person."

Jared’s expression darkened as he grabbed her chin with a fierce grip. "Carrie, I’ve tolerated you time and time again. Do you really think you hold any weight in my eyes?"

"You’re just a substitute for Karin. She’s only asking for a simple apology—you should be grateful and beg for her forgiveness."

Carrie struggled against his grasp, her voice strained. "Admit to something I didn’t do? Never."

Just then, a phone notification broke the tense silence:

"Happy 25th birthday to Miss Carrie."

Jared froze. His grip loosened, veins throbbing in his temple.

Gasping for air, Carrie collapsed to the ground, coughing violently.

She had almost forgotten—it was her birthday today.

She used to celebrate with Art, who always prepared surprises for her. The memories made her smile unconsciously.

Last year, Jared had given her an expensive necklace. She had tossed it into a drawer and left it to gather dust.

Realizing he had nearly strangled the frail woman in front of him, Jared felt a rare pang of fear.

Then, as if shaking off the momentary guilt, he said, "Today is also Karin’s birthday."

Carrie’s expression turned cold. "And what do you want me to do about that?"

"If you apologize to her today, she’ll forgive you right away. She’s in a good mood."

She stared at him as if he were a fool, then turned away.

But in the end, he still dragged her to the hospital.

Karin’s expression darkened at the sight of her before quickly turning into a sickly sweet smile.

"Carrie, you’re not planning to drug me again, are you?"

Jared handed Karin a bouquet, his voice gentle. "Don’t worry, she’s only here to apologize. She won’t hurt you."

Carrie turned her face away, refusing to watch their act.

Jared’s phone rang, and he stepped out to take the call. Before leaving, he warned her, "Be polite. Don’t provoke Karin."

The moment he was gone, Karin dropped the facade. "Carrie, you’re really persistent."

Carrie sighed, waving a hand dismissively. "Relax. I’m leaving in a few days. I have no interest in stealing your man or lying to you."

But Karin only sneered. "Do you think I’m stupid? You just can’t bear to leave Jared—the rich, powerful CEO!"

Carrie didn’t bother answering. To her, Art was a million times better than Jared. She could never love a fickle man like him.

Karin suddenly smirked, her eyes flashing with malice. "I won’t let you take him from me."

Before Carrie could react, Karin yanked the IV needle from her own hand and drove it straight into her own thigh.

Then, as if possessed, she grabbed Carrie’s hand, forcing it onto the needle, and screamed, "Carrie, stop! I won’t fight with you for Jared anymore! Please don’t hurt me!"

Blood spurted from her leg as she stabbed herself repeatedly while gripping Carrie’s hand, making it look like Carrie was attacking her.

Jared stormed back in, his face twisting in horror.

He lunged at Carrie, throwing her aside before cradling Karin in his arms. "Bodyguards! Lock Carrie up! I’ll deal with her later!"

His voice turned icecold. "Call the doctor. If she’s not treated immediately, I’ll tear this hospital apart."

Karin whimpered into his chest. "It hurts… it hurts so much… Why are you doing this to me? I just love you—"

Carrie pushed herself up from the ground, her face pale. "She did this to herself! I had nothing to do with it!"

But Jared was beyond reason. Fury contorted his face as he hurled a thermos, scissors, and whatever else he could grab at her.

The sharp edge of something struck her cheek, splitting the skin open. Blood seeped down her shoulder.

Completely shattered, she could only stare at him in disbelief.

Jared’s voice dropped to a chilling whisper. "Carrie, you’ll pay for this."

The bodyguards seized her and dragged her away,. During the struggle, a recorder fell from Carrie.