The Cage Of Their Perfect Lie

ain to rush to another woman's side. That was the night I learned our m

ntil I bled just to keep their precious business alliance intact. My life's work, my photography, was stolen by his mis

eld, a sacrifice on the

eart, I finally understood. If they wan

roy the man who broke me. But I never expected him to follow me to

pte

son

t to race to the side of another woman. That was the night the carefully constructed fantasy I had built for myself shattered, and the cold, hard truth of my marriage was laid bare. B

y. I was a photographer. I chased storms in the Midwest, captured the raw, unfiltered life in the favelas of Rio, and slept in tents under the N

hat I was to be married to Grayson Daugherty, the heir to the Daugherty corpo

aid, pushing my barel

n the polished mahogany. "Addison, this isn't a request. This is for t

icate to be traded," I s

rn. "Addy, please. Think of what this means for all of us." Dani, the perfect daughter. Sweet, demure, and ut

out and my father' s final, cold command echoing behind

uddy ditch in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, camera pressed to my eye, capturing the ethereal dance of fog through anci

finally trudged back to my Jeep, I was covered in mud, my

me. Two grim-faced men in black suits who unce

voice crackled through the car' s speakerphone, s

My family stood by a private table, their faces a mixture of embarrassment and r

aw him. Gray

eccable. He looked like he' d been carved from marble, a monument to discipline and

pology. "Grayson, my deepest ap

fixed on me. They traveled from my mud-caked boots up to my defiant, smudged fac

presence filling the space. He walked towards me, a

aced myself for a lecture, for the cold

, the untouchable prince of New York finance, was kneeling at the

uch surprisingly warm. My skin tingled where he made contact. He inspected the blister

ine. "Red is your color, but these shoes ar

slack. He cleaned the raw skin on my heel with an antiseptic wipe, his movements precise and gentle,

were a rebel. A force of nature. They said it like it was a bad thing." He paused, a ghost of a smile playing on his li

d. It was a line. A perfectly crafted, devastatingly effective line. B

hine, this stoic heir, had just seen the messiest, most reb

chest, a feeling I would later come to reco

amable wind, had just agreed to orbit a mountain. I thought I wa

he second. 6:00 AM workout, 7:00 AM financial news, 7:30 AM breakfast (always blac

white walls of our penthouse. I blasted punk rock at dawn. I filled his steril

of him. A flicker of annoyanc

replaced his protein bars with glitter-filled fakes. I even, in a moment of sheer desperation, adop

k at me, and say, "I'll have it taken care of." He never raised his voice. He never show

lt for me. Frustrated with his unresponsiveness, I set a small, controlled fire in a metal trash can. It w

nched everything, and I ended up sitting in the ba

gry. He looked... weary. He spoke quietly with the

you ever get mad?" I demanded, my voice trembling. "Do

light. "Anger is an inefficient emotion, Addison. It

screamed. "Yell at m

waste of energy," he

had into it. For a moment, he was still, and then, to my shock, he responded. His hand came up to cup the ba

ated. Even his ki

uy named Leo, right in front of him. I laughed too loudly at Leo's jokes, touched

there, waiting patiently, his fac

spat at him in the elevator.

d, looking down at me. "Robots are

st. "Is that what thi

r. The silence

me. I had given this man my heart, and

duled "intimacy night" once a week. It was on his calendar, slotted between "Re

low, dangerous purr. "It's Tuesday, G

the first real crack in his composur

gentle. It was rough, demanding, a punishment and a possession all at once. I responded with equal

ad won. I felt a tremor run through

, his ph

one I' d never heard befo

s if it had never been. He pulled away from me, his fa

is expression crumpled. It was the most emotion I had ever seen on his

a low, urgent murmur. I couldn't make out the words, but t

k was gone, replaced by a raw, frantic energy. H

he said, his voice flat and col

you going?" I asked, my

me. He was already shrugging on his

ss. He didn't even look back. The car screeched away from the curb, leaving me

d resolve settled in my gut. I wasn't just going t

ind out where he

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