A Perfect Lie: His Doll Wife

e 45th floor burned my life to the ground. I saved a man, but in return

lastic surgeon I'd secretly loved for years. He promised to

final bandages came off, he handed me a mirror.

a woman named Gia. "My one true love,

pted into her p

, a living shield to protect her from scandals. "Yo

e me. He threatened to release photos of my burned face if I d

ore. I was a copy, a counterfeit trapped in a gilde

pte

a blue sky, the solid weight of concrete, the blueprint that promised a future. I was overse

so included

on, a man who sculpted perfection with his hands. I had a crush on him since college. It was a quiet, ho

e 45th floor, doing a final check. A man in a simple su

restricted," I said

"I... I think I' m

, a scream. The smell of burning plastic filled the air. A

n beside me was frozen in t

him toward a service corridor

him ahead of me. A falling beam of hot metal grazed my back and the side

covered half my face, my neck, my arms. I was a monster. My career, my future, it w

, he

od in his tailored suit. I had seen him on TV, in magazin

serious gray, as

nerves. "I' m Carter Long. My family' s company takes full responsibilit

d, unable to

burns. He visited every day. He talked to me about architecture, about my designs

mpany event years ago. He said he was impressed by my talent. It wa

ld my uninjured hand

he promised. "I will restore you.

He was offering me hope when I had none

my hand tighter. "I'll be with y

grafts, laser treatments, reconstructive surgery. He made it sound

he alternative was living like this forever, a hu

ispered, "I

t by my hospital bed, a diamond ring in his hand that spark

with emotion. "Let me spend the rest of my l

years was asking me to be his wife. I said yes. We wer

, patient and gentle. He managed my pain, changed my dressings, and told me

f, two years after the fire, he

. It was a stranger. A beautiful stranger, with perfect symmetry,

t was

e. It was a woman, an influencer with milli

same face as the

I asked, my voice

ful look in his eyes. "My childh

ed to spin. Th

have yo

, his voice cool and detached now, the warmth gone.

ps of ice. "Her image needs to be perfect

out, a horrible under

said. He took a step closer, his presence suddenly menacing. "That' s

hitting the wall.

coldly. "I gave you a new l

is vows in the hospital chapel turning to pois

s important," he said.

was a substitute. A

spat, my new, unfamiliar

will do as I say. Or I will show the world the pictures from before. The real you. The burned archit

ried, the man I thought I lov

't Alysha Jones anymore. I was a copy, a coun

ad no w