Page 49 of Bound By Crimson

Chapter Forty-Nine

Good Girls Just Smile

The house felt different.

Not warm. Not safe. Just… quiet.

And for once, that was enough.

Kai had been home for two days. He hadn’t snapped. He hadn’t raised his voice.

He kissed her temple when he passed by, whispered things like “I missed this” and “You look beautiful today.”

And she soaked it up like a dying thing begging for water.

He touched her belly like it was sacred again. Like he remembered.

And she—she played the role.

Smiling when she felt hollow.

Laughing when her chest still ached.

Nodding when he spoke, pretending she didn’t hear the flatness in his voice.

But she noticed it.

She noticed everything.

The way he kissed her lips but didn’t linger.

The way he laughed, but not in his eyes.

The way he never quite looked at her the way he used to—not like she was the only thing in the room, not like he needed her .

Still, she told herself it was fine.

It had to be. He was home. He was trying. This was what trying looked like… right?

They sat at the dinner table with Mrs. Thornwick like they were a family. A perfect one.

Candlelight danced off silverware. The roast was seasoned well. The table was quiet. Too quiet.

Lyric sat with her back straight, hands folded politely in her lap like she was auditioning for her place in their world.

Kai reached for her hand under the table, his fingers brushing hers.

“See?” he said softly, eyes locked on hers. “This wasn’t so hard.”

She smiled.

Even though her cheeks ached from holding it.

Even though she could feel the weight of Mrs. Thornwick’s gaze like a hook twisting between her ribs.

“I’ve never seen her so well-behaved,” the woman said, sipping tea with a glint in her eye.

It was almost… amusement.

Lyric kept smiling.

Biting her tongue so hard she tasted metal.

Let it go.

Let it go.

This is what being lovable looks like.

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Later that night, Kai helped her to her feet with a hand on her back—gentle, almost reverent.

“You look beautiful tonight,” he whispered.

She nodded, her throat too tight to answer.

She followed him up the stairs, two steps behind like she had been the night they first arrived.

He opened the door to his room, and she stepped in behind him, scanning the space like it was a sacred place she’d been granted access to .

He unbuttoned his shirt slowly, and as she turned to close the door, she noticed something on the nightstand.

A folded piece of paper. Just sitting there.

Kai moved quickly, snatching it and slipping it into the drawer.

“Just work stuff,” he mumbled, not looking at her.

She nodded. But something in her stomach twisted.

It looked like a woman’s handwriting.

She blinked it away.

She was imagining things. She had to be.

Later, in his bed, she curled into him like she used to.

His arm wrapped around her. His breath warm at her ear.

“I’ve missed you like this,” he murmured, fingers resting on her belly.

And she melted into him.

Because no matter how much she hated herself for it—no matter how many lies she’d swallowed—his voice still unraveled her.

God help me, I believe him, she thought. Or I need to. Maybe there’s no difference anymore.