The duplicated bride

ach step toward the altar was a step further from her own life. She felt a tingle on the back of her ne

-but enough to narrow her face, lengthen her chin, and draw the exact shadow under her cheekbones, just like Lara. With each

e a false move, if he kissed her to

ong it made her nauseous. She swallowed. She looked at her reflection in the full-length mirr

riz, Lara's assistant, leaning over her shoulder. "Haught

disguised haste. Behind them, two makeup artists checked every line of shadow, eve

ng, "you are Lara. You went to ballet school in Paris. You broke your ankle

ing, not only from the weight o

me nauseous," she recited,

smiled,

l everyone for two days. Then you're gon

her brother's medical debts. The check that would bu

he living room opened

d, a white carpet-not red, white as a freshly polished tombsto

p tension in his broad shoulders. His dark eyes-darker than in the magazine photos-scann

ouldn't. She lifted her chin a couple of millimeters. She forced a small,

oliticians, businesspeople. Smiling faces, mouths murmuring congratulations, eyes shining with curiosity and en

ests, made a slight gesture

kles. She felt the damp touch of a drop of sweat running dow

d extended his hand. Mia placed hers on his: firm, cold, like marble. For a second, her thumb brushed the

deep, metallic. Almost

sn't a question, not a reproac

k," she replied, modulating her voice with surgic

hardened in his gaze. She knows something's

music faded. An expectant murmur

Mia felt each flash lik

lazar, acc

with the image of her brother on the hospital gurney. Hang in ther

er wrist. A fleeting touch, almost accidental, but Mía felt the pressure of h

congratulate her. Every kiss on her cheek was a pinprick keeping her awake. Every rais

his lips barely touched hers. Cold. His breath tasted of

ed against her ear. The way he said her n

eld the pose. She

tear made its way to disappear into th

ater, he would