Chapter 24

Bel opened her eyes, her back aching after sleeping on such a hard mattress. She needed to start spending more time at home. After all her nights atEamon's, her bed felt like a metal slab…andit seemedCerberus preferred Eamon to her now.His solid warmth was nowhere to be found, andit was his absence thatdragged her to consciousness.

With sluggish movements, she twisted to search for him, but itwasn'tblack fur that greeted her. It was blonde hair…AnneBlaubart'sblondehair,and Bel jerked to a seat only for her bound wrists to yank her back down. A groan involuntarily escaped her lips, and she breathed through the sharp pain firing in her joints until it lessened, giving way to fear.They'dbeen right about Anne and Hyde being the same person. She must have figured out Bel learned the truth, but how had she taken her? The last thing Bel remembered was getting in her car.She'dbeen safe.She'dbeen driving home to Eamon, to the man who would protect her, but thatwasn'tright, was it?She was forgetting something, but what? Whatcouldn'tshe remember?

"You'refinally awake,"a masculine voice said, and Bel froze, the fear in her chest doubling as she remembered the missing piece. The photograph. The one of Jax Frost and Charles Blaubart. Annewasn'tHyde, but someone close to her was, and Bel had been foolish to thinkshe'descaped his reach.

"I'msorry for drugging you for so long, but I had visitors to attend to,"Charles said as he approached, and Bel finally understood why her back hurt so severely. Shewasn'tlying in her bed. Shewas strappedto a metal gurney, the straps digging into her arms and legs to keep her from fleeing.

"You'reHyde."Her voice shook as she realized whyshe'dseen blonde hair when she first woke. Anne was unconscious on the gurney beside hers, but thankfully, her chest still moved as she breathed. Hehadn'tkilled her. Not yet, at least.

"All these years, andyou'rethe only one to figure it out,"Charles said."Poor Robert. He was so good at playing me.It'sa shame I had to drop his body into the ocean, but Icouldn'thave him running around after you found my island clinic. I seenowwhy everyone is so obsessed with Detective Isobel Emerson."He brushed his knuckles over her cheek, but she yanked her face away.

"I'man officer of the law,"she growled."My friends will come for me."

"No, theywon't."He smiled, that same unnervingly perfect smile.

"Eamon will, and when he does, you'll beg for death."

"No, he won't." Charles peered at her with eagerness, and Bel knew he was about to shatter her world. "He doesn't know you're missing. None of them do. You're dead."

"Dead?"She tried to sit up again, but the straps dug into her, yanking her down.

"Well,obviouslyyouaren't,sinceyou'retalking to me, but the rest of the world thinks you are. Bajka police found your body at an accident site a few miles from town. I took great care with the body I left for them. Even yourownfather believed it was you. You made the newstoo.‘ Bajka Detective Isobel Emerson killed in a fatal car crash.' IfI'mnot mistaken,that'show Mr. Stone learned about your death. On the news…how brutal."

"He will kill you for this," Bel snarled, thrashing against her bonds. "You think you're so smart? You think you're safe? You signed your own death warrant."

"There, there."He stroked her hair, and she recoiled at his touch, but there was no escaping him."I understand your need to threaten me, but your boyfriendcan'thelp you. No one can.There'sa private exit at the rear of my buildingthat isn'tmonitoredby security.I looped the parking lot footage and broke into your car while you waited in my office.Cheapthing, itwas easy to gain access, and I set a timed narcotic release. It triggered the moment you exited my parkinglot,andyoupassed out. You drove off the road."He shook his head with mock pity.

"You made it so easy. Andthere'sa reason I kept you alive,a reasonI went through so much trouble to make another woman look likeyou,because your arrival on my doorstep was only a matter of time. Itwould'vebeen easier to kill you, especially since you were catching on to my truth. I knew it was you who uncovered the clinic. Thenwhenyou foundFrost'sgirls, I knewyou'dput the pieces together. I had my confirmation when you fled my office after you so unexpectedly showed up. Was it the framed news article?I forgetit'sthere sometimes, butit'sfun to seeAnne'seyes when she visits me.Or shall I sayAnnalise'seyes? Shewon'tbe Anne for much longer."

"Annalise?"Bel almost choked on the name as Charles unstrapped her from the gurney. She readied herself to punch him in the nose the second she was free, but the surgeon was toosmartto leave her unattended. The moment he freed one arm, he folded it across her body and bound her wrists together before freeing her the rest of the way.

"Yes, Annalise."He dragged her off the gurney."Iwould'vethought you figured it out by now. I always tell her to stop it with that gum, but shedoesn'tlisten. It seemed harmless enough, even if it was aggravating, but when you took an interest in her habit, I wondered if you would connect the dots."

"But the eyes,"she stumbled over her words as her feetstumbled overeach other."The eyes are wrong. Theycan'tbe the same woman."

"And no one can become you,"he said with a wink."Come. I want to show you something. The reason I brought you here instead of dumping your body at a crash site like I did your poor double."

He pulled her out of his surgery and into a windowless underground bunker. It was immaculately clean and beautiful in its scientific design, and Bel imagined this was how a fantasy mad scientist would construct their laboratory. The expansive roomdidn'tfeel real, so when she finally saw its crowning masterpiece, she convinced herself she was imagining things.Shewas still asleep, still drugged. It was impossible, yet no matter howmany timesshe blinked, the sight never changed. Anne Blaubart floated before her in a massive human-sized glass cylinder, her lifeless body perfectly preserved. Her open eyes stared down at Bel with milkyvacancy,as if to remind her of the nightmare shewas walkingthrough because Anne Blaubart was lying very much alive on the gurney back in the surgery. But Anne Blaubart was also dead in the cylinder before Bel…and in the cylinder next to it…and the cylinder next to that.

"Oh god."Bel'swhisper disappeared in the vastness as she realized whythis room had been built. Seven glass tubes large enough to display the human form lined one wall, theroom'slighting aimed at the floating women to turn their bare bodies into angelic visages. Six cylinderswere occupied, but the seventh at the end of the row stood empty. It appeared newer than the rest, and Bel understood. It was waiting for its Anne…the Annecurrentlydrugged on the gurney.

"What have you done?"Shecouldn'tstop the tears as she stepped for the first Anne, the comical scar on her ribs marking her as the original. Anne Chambers. Olivia had been right. College Anne was long dead, and another woman inhabited her life.

"You killed them?"she whirled on Charles, rage and fear and sorrow mixing with her sobs."You made all these women look the same, and then you murdered them.You'rea sick?—"

"Ididn'tkill Anne."He cut her off before the obscenities screamed from her lips, and he joined her before the body of the original Anne with the scar."Not on purposeatleast,"he said with a mournful glance at his first wife, and Bel wondered if she had enough strength to knock him out by smashing his forehead into the glass.

"Itried harder than any of the other students in medical school,"he continued as if he deservedBel'ssympathy."I wanted to be a plastic surgeon more than my other classmates, but I was failing my classes. Iwasn'tgoing to graduate, but then I met this man.I'll never forget how beautiful he was. He was captivating, and I craved him. I lusted after everything he could give me, andthat'swhen he offered me my dreams. He gifted me a scalpel capable of anything I could imagine. Nothing would be impossible for me with that instrument in my hands. I would become a god among surgeons, and I was all too eager to sell my soul. He warned me that magic comes at a price. He promised I would have to pay if I accepted his gift, but Ididn'tcare. I longed for glory and fame, so I welcomed it.

"Not only did I graduate med school, but I was valedictorian. His promises came true. I could perform every surgery I wanted, including the impossible, as long as his scalpel was in myhand,and I forgot his warning. I took and took and took, and the scalpel gave and gave and gave. I was unstoppable, and then I met Anne Chambers. I fell so hopelessly in love with her that we married within months of meeting. She was perfect. Life was perfect. I had everythingI'dever dreamed of, butthenhe returned, only he was no longer beautiful.He'daged, becoming hideous. Wedidn'tspeak. He merely crossed my path, but I knew.The price had been paid. I raced home, but it was too late. My beloved Anne was dead. Her life bought my success, but without her, it was empty."

Charles placed his hand on AnneChamber'sglass coffin, and Bel took a step back, a new terror taking root. He had magic. The battlefield had been tipped further in his favor, and she felt sick at his willingness to confess his sins. If he was telling her the truth, he never intended for her to leave this bunker.

"Icouldn'tbear losing Anne, so I placed her here.I made sure she would remain forever beautiful andforeverwith me, but I missed her voice,her touch, herlaughter.I missed her love, the way she kissed, her company.Thiswasn'tenough, so I set out to recreate her."His eyes drifted to the second body, and Bel slipped a few inches backward while hewasn't looking. Shedidn'tlike where this conversationwas headed.

"She became my wife, and for a time, she filled the void,"he continued."I used my scalpel to create another woman to return my affection. I transformed her, and we were happy for a while. But shewasn'tAnne. Something was missing, and before long, I hated her. So, I started over."

"You killed her?"Belcouldn'thide the disgust in her voice.

"Ihad to."Charles glanced at her with a forlorn expression."Shewasn'tright. Shewasn'tAnne. I needed to try again, to return to the drawing board and rework the problem. Icouldn'thave two Annes walking around. The authorities would catch on, so I startedoverwith a new woman. Each time I tried, my skills grew,thereplicasmoreand more perfect.Tokeep up with the expenses my experimenting racked up, I built the clinic.The island belonged toAnne's family, but I transferred the deed to a false identity so no one would tie it back to me. I used the money to operate on Anne after Anne after Anne, and every time, I thoughtI'dsucceeded, but they were never her. Theydidn'thave her spirit. My Anne was wild and free and brave. No one could compare.

"Itried six times, and I failed six times. I believed I foundmyAnne in Annalise, but she withered under my care. She loved me atfirst,after I saved her from Frost. I helped her escape his reach, and she agreed to let me change her face with my scalpel to hide from him.She wanted to be my wife,butshedoesn'tmake me happy.She stopped loving me, andit'stime for her to join the others.It'stime for me to start over."

"Only youdidn'tsave her from Frost."Bel tripped as she stumbled backward."You knew him. I saw that news article. Annalise and Hazel stood in thephoto'sbackground.That'show he found them,wasn'tit?You gave them to him."

"Of course."The sorrow evaporated from his features as his predator returned to the surface."Most womendon'tjust agree to change their face without cause. Frost and I had an agreement. I helped him find girls no one would miss, and in turn, he let the ones I wanted escape.It'seasy to convince a woman in love to alter her appearance whenshe'safraid a serial killer is hunting her down."

"You wereSept'sboyfriend,"Bel sobbed, terrified that the far-fetch theories she and Olivia had discussed when they playeddevil'sadvocate were true. Those were suspicions, guesses, pure imagination. Theyweren'tsupposed to bereal. But that butterfly had been clutched inHazel'sfrozen hand because of Charles. Becausehe'ddated Annalise and then fed the women to a wolf so he could carve up yet another wife.

"You were the man paying for their summer trip."Shecouldn'tstop the torrent of words flowing from her lips."They were excited about their vacation, and you handed them over to that monster."

"Ineeded Annalise to see the wisdom of becoming Anne,"Charles said."I thought she was the one, and for atimewe were happy. I truly believedI'dfinally created my perfect wife, butI seenow I was mistaken. So she must join her sisters becauseI'vefound my new Anne."