An odd sense of peace washed over me. Not something I could describe. Only that it felt hollow, like whatever moral compass I had simply turned off.
I shot the man in the temple. His head bounced slightly from the reaction, but then he was still.
“Christ! Lenore!” Erik half ducked from the sound of the shot, before looking at me with wide eyes.
I aimed the gun at his face.
“What the hell?” He held up his hands and took a step back. “Babe, put the gun down.”
My hand was surprisingly steady. “Who am I?”
“What do you mean? You’re my wife. Lenore?”
“Stop. Lying.” I ground my teeth together. The confusion, the fear, it all turned to anger in an instant. “I saw the lab. I saw the files. I saw your notes from the book. I saw them.”
My heart burst again. The thought of another woman with Erik all but destroying my soul.
Do I even have a soul?
He let out a breath and ran long, thick fingers through his hair. It gave him a disheveled appearance. His suit was wrinkled, and his tie crooked. Probably from the flight. And now, with his hair sticking out at every angle, it almost gave him a comical tired ‘80s cop persona.
“Lenore, I know this all seems confusing. And I’ll explain everything. I promise.”
“Explain it now.” I punched my arm out, freshening the aim of the gun.
He held up his hands. “Baby, there are two bodies in our room. We need to get them downstairs. Okay? I can take care of all of this. But we have to get them downstairs first. The longer they stay up here, the more at risk we are.”
“At risk for what?”
“Police,” Erik said. “If someone heard the gunshots, they’ll have called the police. And even if they didn’t, someone will look for these men.”
The last thing I needed to worry about was the police. If Erik rotted in a jail cell, I’d still care. As much as I didn’t want to. But if he was gone, I might not get answers. And if others found out the truth, I’m not sure they would let me see the light of day again.
“Fine. You move the bodies.”
I had no intention of giving him the opportunity to seize the gun.
11
Erik moved the bodies to the basement on his own. The way he maneuvered them, well, he had definitely done it before. Dead weight is exactly that, but he knew how to get the best leverage. How had he moved the three dead cadavers inside his house with no one noticing? What had he done with all the spare parts?
The dead men were laid next to each other on the far side of the basement, just beneath a long, rectangular metal door. Eric wasn’t even out of breath. He looked at me, sweat staining the pits of his suit shirt.
“I know you’re confused.”
“You have no idea what I am.”
Confused, yes. But more than that. Rage was a good adjective. Downright livid. Whatever was worse than that.
“You lied to me,” I said, a tight grip still on the gun. I didn’t aim it at him anymore, though. Something about hurting Erik seemed wrong. And that familiar pain came back to my chest.
“And you slept with another man,” he said. “The naked one on the floor.”
No denying that. Trying to do so would just add insult to injury. And despite having enjoyed every moment with Cooper, and even wishing that he were still alive, part of me still regretted what I’d done. That dull ache grew stronger just thinking about it. I rubbed my chest.
“And you have another lover.” I nodded to the broken picture, still on the floor.
His gaze flickered to the picture and then back to me. He shook his head, running fingers through his short hair. “It’s not what you think, Lenore.”
“Isn’t it?” I scoffed. “You made me to replace her.”
My stomach swirled with nausea, and I wasn’t even sure if it was because I was in the presence of two dead bodies. Part of me thought I should be more panicked. That I should at the very least feel some guilt. Cooper died because of me. The other man I killed, but to be honest, I couldn’t find a shred of reason to have remorse. He’d murdered the woman whose face I wore.
Was part of her still inside me? Maybe that’s why I felt so cold about it. Even if he had tried to kill me first. Kill this face a second time. Or maybe it would hit me later, but I’d worry about it then.
Kill me for the first time? The second. I didn’t understand how any of this worked.
“Yes,” Erik said. “That was the original plan.”
That brought emotion. And I couldn’t understand why, but it hurt so damn bad I wanted to rip my heart from my chest and be rid of it for good.
“Tell me about her.” I picked up the picture and traced the edge of the frame with my thumb. “Is she part of me?”
Erik gave a wistful smile. “No. She left me for another man.”
Shock jolted through me. My immediate reaction was to wonder how anyone could leave Erik. He was such a good man. A kind and doting man.
A man who created you from dead bodies.
It was the tiniest bit of reasoning. It was enough. I shouldn’t technically be alive. Erik, as much as I thought he was a good man, had some very serious flaws.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I worked too much.” He leaned against the metal table and loosened his tie even more. “I loved her, Lenore. God, did I love her, but I neglected her. And she found someone who could love her so much better.”
Pain laced his words. His eyes crinkled in the corner as he glanced at the picture in my bandaged hand. I wanted to tear it
