Page 123 of Bound By Crimson
“Lyric—”
“I don’t want the baby sleeping on the other side of the estate, Kai. I won’t hear him cry. I won’t know if something’s wrong—”
“Lyric.” His voice turned firmer. “You’ve never had a child before. You don’t know what those first weeks are like. My mother does. She raised me. She’s just trying to help. She wants what’s best.”
Her heart sank.
“So what I want doesn’t matter?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m saying you’re worrying too much. You need rest. She’s giving us that.”
Lyric let out a hollow laugh.
“Rest? Kai, she’s taking over everything. And she says the strangest things.”
He tensed slightly.
“Like what?”
Her voice shook as it spilled out.
“She told me you used to sleep in her bed when you were nineteen. That you didn’t wear pajamas because you liked feeling ‘free.’ She said no woman would ever love you the way she does. Kai—what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
His face changed.
Not in confusion—
In anger.
“She never said that.”
“She did,” Lyric insisted, her chest tightening.
“No. You’re twisting things. She would never say something like that. You’re being paranoid.”
“She also called me fat,” Lyric added, voice rising. “She said you liked slim women. She said maybe you wouldn’t have left if I hadn’t let myself go.”
He stepped back like she’d slapped him.
“What is wrong with you?”
She blinked, stunned.
“What?”
“You’re acting crazy. I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but this? This isn’t you.”
“It is me, Kai! I’m trying to tell you what’s happening and you’re not listening!”
“I’ve heard enough.” His voice dropped. Cold. Final.
He started walking back toward the house.
“I’m going to dinner. You should go freshen up.”
She stood frozen in the garden path, heart cracking in her chest, breath coming fast and uneven.
Kai didn’t turn around.
