Page 44 of Bound By Crimson

Chapter Forty-Four

Gaslit and Gone

The silence after the attack was suffocating.

Lyric lay curled against the locked door, her body trembling, tears soaking into the carpet.

She could still hear the crack of porcelain.

Still see the blood.

Still feel the walls closing in.

Slowly, she pushed herself upright and grabbed the phone.

Kai.

She dialed.

No bars.

She moved to the window, heart racing—still nothing.

The room was a dead zone. Just like the rest of the house.

Her fingers fumbled across the screen as she typed:

Please call me. Please. It’s not what she said. Please.

No reply.

The hours dragged—thick, heavy, endless.

And then—

Bang. Bang. Bang.

She jumped, heart slamming against her ribs.

“Open the damn door!” Kai’s voice roared from the hallway.

“Kai—please—”

She fumbled with the lock .

The moment the door cracked open, he stormed inside, brushing past her so hard she stumbled back.

He spun toward her, eyes blazing.

“How could you?” he shouted. “After everything she’s done for you--gone out of her way to make you feel welcome! —and you attack her?! I had to leave work! Fly here—she called me sobbing!”

Lyric shook her head, words tumbling over themselves.

“No—no, Kai, she lied—she—”

“You’re not the woman I fell in love with!” he snapped, voice breaking. “You’re selfish. You’re ungrateful. I don’t even know who you are anymore!”

Lyric’s breath hitched.

Her world tilted.

“I didn’t hurt her,” she whispered. “She’s lying—”

But Kai wasn’t listening.

With a guttural sound—half rage, half heartbreak—he turned and slammed his fist into the edge of her dresser.

The wood cracked, the mirror rattling violently in its frame.

Lyric flinched against the doorframe, chest heaving.

Without another word, Kai shoved past her again.

She stood frozen, heart cracking wide open.

At the doorway, he hesitated—just for a second.

Turned to look at her.

And in that moment—

She saw it.

Lipstick.

Smeared low on his neck.

Not hers.

Not even close to her shade.

A brazen, laughing smear.

The door slammed in her face with a crack that sounded like a gunshot.

Final. Cold. Irrevocable.

Lyric pressed a hand to her mouth to smother the scream rising from her chest.

But it was too late.

She wasn’t just broken.

She felt erased .