Shit.
I was so tired of people calling me that name.
“My name is Lon—” I started weakly, but the pressure of the gun ramming into me cut me off.
The woman standing in front of me kneeled down to look at me. A small part of me recognized that her eyes were the samebright blue as mine, but I was having a hard time wrapping my head around what was happening… even when she reached out and took my face in one hand, her long nails biting into my skin as she turned me to look at her.
“You are the biggest disappointment I’ve experienced in every life I’ve lived, Nicholas. Stop playing dumb.”
A spark of emotion I didn’t recognize tore through me when she said my name again, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I suddenlyknewexactly who she was, or if it was some lingering effect of a past personality finally coming to life.
“Youkilledhim,” I snarled, trying to surge forward.
“If you move, I’ll fucking shoot you.” Behind me, Renn’s voice was hot and angry, and I didn’t understand why. I understood the woman staring at me with smug satisfaction on her face, though. Maybe a few months ago, I wouldn’t have believed it, but now… now, it made sense.
But what had I ever done to Renn, unless he was just in her pocket for the money?
“I’m sure you’re not a bad person.” I tried to keep my voice as calm as I could. “And I know you probably don’t want to hurt anyone. I didn’t do—”
This time, the gun smacking across the back of my head made my vision blur for a second, but it wasn’t meant to knock me out.
“Shut the fuckup.” The absolute fury in his tone took me by surprise, and the delight in the eyes of the woman in front of me as she stood and backed away was enough to tell me that nothing good was happening right now. “Don’t sit there and act like you’re innocent. I know what you are—I know what you did.”
What Idid? Did I hurt someone else? It was completely possible. Otto only remembered as far as he’d been alive… and I…
“That wasn’t me.” This time the hit from the gun dropped me forward, so my palms slapped the ground, and I let out a lowgroan. If he kept doing that, I might actually remember the past. Either that or I’d have to figure it out in the next life.
“Come on, Nicholas. Hasn’t Otto told you… everything is your fault.” As the woman in front of me spoke, pictures fluttered from her fingers. Most of them landed scattered on top of one another, face down. I was careful when I reached forward and flipped the first one.
A pretty man with blue eyes and dark hair… who had his throat slit.
Beneath it, another pair of blue eyes were staring up at me lifelessly, and this time the cut was so deep I could see his spine in the wash of dried blood.
Oh.
Oh…
Oh, shit. My eyes rose to the woman above me, and the smirk on her face told me that she knew what she was doing—she knew the lie she was telling…
And it also meant the man standing behind me was actually innocent.
Behind me, the man in question kneeled down and flipped over another photo. Another boy with pretty blue eyes and dark lashes full of blood.
“Do you even remember my brother?” His voice was a furious, pain-filled whisper in my ear, and my stomach churned.
Brother.
Whoever Otto had been before, he’d killed a cop’s brother, and now there were bodies popping up all around me that looked like they’d been murdered the exact same way.
And for some reason, the woman in front of me wanted him to think I’d been the one who did it.
“I…” I swallowed hard. If I told the truth, maybe he’d let me go… but he’d go after Otto, wouldn’t he? I shook my head andfocused my attention on the woman instead. Shit, I didn’t even know her name. “I don’t know you. You know that, right?”
“I’ve been… informed of the situation your brother put you in.” Her voice was cold, and when she reached into the jacket pocket of her coat and pulled out a thick black book, I frowned. “But everything you are and everything you’ve done is right here… andIremember everything, Nicholas. I don’t need you to remember to get satisfaction from watching you pay for your sins.”
My sins.
I still wasn’t sure what she meant. As far as I knew, the only thing I’d ever done was to Otto. The only person I’d ever hurt was him. So what was she talking about?
