Chapter 7

Gia was moved to the same private hospital, just a few floors below me. Carter was with her constantly, a devoted guard dog.

I saw her once, when I was being taken for a check-up. She was in a wheelchair, looking pale and fragile. She clutched Carter' s hand, her eyes wide with fake fear. There were no marks on her wrists, no signs of the supposed overdose. She was a performer, and this was her greatest role.

"Carter, I' m so scared," she whimpered, loud enough for me to hear. "What if she tries to hurt me again? What if she finishes the job next time?"

She was a master manipulator. She played on his guilt, his obsession, his desperate need to be her savior. She even threatened to harm herself again if he couldn't guarantee her safety.

She looked at me from her wheelchair, her eyes glinting with triumph. She was blaming me, painting me as a violent, unstable threat who had driven her to this.

Carter fell for it completely. He looked at me with a new kind of coldness, a chilling resolve in his eyes. He was trapped in her web, and he was going to do whatever it took to "protect" her.

Later that day, Gia sent me a text.

He' ll do anything for me. You' re finished.

A wave of fear, cold and sharp, washed over me. Fear of what he was capable of. Fear of another surgery, another violation. I had to get out.

I got dressed, my ribs screaming in protest. I threw my few belongings into my suitcase and headed for the door.

Carter was standing there, blocking my way.

"Where do you think you' re going?" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

"I' m leaving," I said, trying to push past him.

He grabbed my arm, his grip like steel. "You' re not going anywhere."

"Let go of me, Carter!" I pleaded. "I' m not a threat to her! I just want to be left alone!"

I told him about the text message, about Gia' s manipulations. He didn't listen.

"She' s fragile because of you," he said, his eyes filled with a terrifying certainty. "She won' t be safe as long as you look like her. As long as you exist as a reminder of this scandal."

"So what are you going to do?" I asked, my voice trembling. "Kill me?"

A flicker of something dark crossed his face. "No. I' m a surgeon. I fix things."

He paused, and the words that came next were the most monstrous I had ever heard.

"I' m going to change your face again. I' m going to erase every trace of her from you. I will make you someone else. Someone plain. Someone no one will ever look at twice. Then, and only then, will Gia be safe."

He was talking about it like it was a solution, a neat and tidy way to solve his problem. He was going to mutilate me, to rob me of the very last piece of myself, all for her. He even tried to justify it, whispering twisted words of love.

"I' m doing this for us, Alysha," he said, his voice a sick parody of tenderness. "Once you have a new face, we can start over. No one will know who you are. We can be happy." He caressed my cheek, the one he had created. "I'll make you beautiful in a whole new way. Only for me."

I recoiled from his touch as if I' d been burned.

"You' re insane," I whispered.

I fought. I screamed. I kicked. But he was stronger. He dragged me out of my room, down the hallway, toward the surgical wing. Hospital staff just watched, too intimidated by the powerful Carter Long to intervene.

He was taking me to be erased. He was going to carve up my face, destroy what was left of me, and call it love.

He threw me into a pre-op room and locked the door. I was trapped.