Victor sighed. “You really should be helping. I have always had to do most of the work. Run if you must. You do not want to see this part. You never did. But be assured of this: I will find you wherever you go. And when I do, I will be ready. You are mine. Nothing you can say or do will stop me from achieving my goal. Surely you, knowing me best in all the world, know that this is the truth.”

Shuddering, I turned back to Victor. My savior. My husband. I did know that. And I knew that, out there, the world held no help or pity for me. I nodded.

Some of his anger dissolved. “I know the process seems horrible. But you will not see or feel those parts. It will be as waking from a deep sleep. And when you awake, you will be as this abomination is—stronger, faster, invulnerable to the elements. Free from pain and fear. But you will not be a corruption like him. You will be like a seraph from on high. You will be perfected. All your life you have lived in fear and worry. I will keep you safe from ever fearing anything again.” He paused, and I watched as he deliberately softened his expression, put on the smile I had taught him to use. “I will let you look away. I will let you leave now and not observe any of my final trials. I take this burden on myself alone, to gift you with the result after I have waded through hell to deliver you heaven. Can you accept that?”

Defeated, exhausted beyond imagining, faced with the loss of my final friend and the impending destruction of my newest one, I raised my eyes to meet his. I would be strong. So much stronger.

“Will you let Mary go?” I asked.

He frowned. “She will be useful.”

“Please. No one I know. Not again.”

He sighed. “She knows about us, though. We will have to relocate. It will complicate things.”

“We could go back to Lake Como. I could paint while you…work. I would look away. Wait for you to finish. We have time.”

Victor’s shoulders relaxed. The true smile that only I could ever coax from him lit his face like sunshine breaking free from the clouds. “I sold the villa and emptied most of your accounts.” He gestured to a large leather trunk in the corner. “We can buy a new laboratory. Somewhere secluded. Somewhere I will not be interrupted again. Together.” He opened his arms.

“I only ever wanted to be with you,” I whispered. I stepped toward him, but I slipped, falling to the floor amidst the glass and the water. Victor rushed to me. He crouched down, reaching to help me up.

My fingers curled around a shard of glass. I jammed it into his side.