that had been so accusing in the supermarket.
“You’re dead,” he said.
“No.” I shook my head. “No, you’re mistaken. I’m not who you think I am.”
He shook me. Fear zipped through my chest. I wore the face of a dead woman. Maybe I had been her. But not anymore. I couldn’t remember her death. I didn’t know if it was mine. At that moment, I did not want to die, whether it was the first time, or again.
I was naked. Nothing but skin shielded my body from whatever he had planned. He looked me up and down with lust-filled eyes. A cold shiver rushed down my spine.
“You’re right. Because I remember what I did. I remember when your breath stopped.” He tore the ski mask off his face.
Jake Saunders had a hard look. The muscles of his jaw bulged. “Now, I’m going to kill you again. This time, it will stick.”
As he raised the gun, I raised my knee and slammed it between his legs.
He cried out in pain and released me. His knees bent together, trying to shield the area. The gun fell from his hands. It skittered across the floor. Instinct I didn’t know I had set in. I dove for it, but the man regained his senses quickly. He dove too.
We rolled around. Our hands grasped at the gun, each of us trying to get it from the other. A desperate hope of survival on my part. A desperate need to kill on his. He punched me across the face. Pain exploded across my cheek as stars burst in dancing lights across my vision. My focus lost, he took the gun and stood up
The world spun, and I pushed up on my hands, knees. Vulnerable, naked, but still with a will to survive.
“You look different,” he said. “Your face is the same, but your body...”
The world settled a bit, and I looked up at him. He traced a finger over my shoulder. An unease settled in my belly.
“You had a scar here.” He slid the edge of his nail along the skin on my ribs. “From falling off your bike as a child.”
I shuddered. She had a scar. Not me. I might have worn her face, but I wasn’t that woman.
“That only proves you’re mistaken. I’m not whoever you think I am. Just go. Please.”
Desperation laced my words. I felt vulnerable. I was vulnerable. He could do whatever he wanted to me. No one could help me. Cooper was dead, and Erik was across the country.
“Oh, I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “And neither are you.”
He put the gun to my head. I closed my eyes. Whatever my life this was meant to be, it was about to be over.
At six months old, my entire world shattered around me. Bits and pieces of a life that had never truly been my own—it all came from other people. How I looked, my personality—Erik orchestrated it all.
Cooper helped me discover the truth. But the chance to discover who I was outside of all that was about to be torn away.
The sound of shattering glass made me open my eyes and look up. The obsessed man fell to the floor among shards of the dresser lamp. Erik towered over him, a look of rage on his face I’d never seen before.
My heart stuttered, unsure whether I should be afraid or thankful. Instinctively, the fear dispersed. All I wanted was for Erik to hold me close. Get rid of everything that had happened and go back to our blissful existence. Even if it meant losing the temporary freedom I had.
Erik’s face softened when he looked at me, naked on the floor. “Lenore!”
He pulled me up into his arms, and I hugged him back, taking as much strength from him as I could. I needed it. Every bit I needed from him.
As soon as I saw Erik, an overwhelming rush of love coursed through me. I should have been enraged, but I was relieved.
Thunder crashed through the air, and I jumped, gripping his shirt. I trembled, swallowing back the lump of emotion in my throat. My head spun with emotions, and I could only hang onto him to stay upright.
“What the hell happened?” He pulled away and walked to the closet. He grabbed the robe resting on the hook and brought it over, wrapping it over my shoulders.
I slid my arms in, pulled it close and tightened the belt. “I... what... what are you doing here?”
Too much had happened in too small a