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