Page 159 of Bound By Crimson
Or something else?
Nothing made sense.
Where had Eden gone? What had happened to Edwina?
Why had no one ever told her any of this?
The attic seemed to close in around her, pressing against her chest, squeezing the air from her lungs.
She clutched the frame tighter, feeling its edges dig into her palms.
She didn’t have answers.
But she had something now.
And she wasn’t letting go.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
A Deeper Unraveling
The estate was silent, unchanged.
But panic clung to her like static.
You shouldn’t be up here. You weren’t meant to find this.
This wasn’t just a family secret. It felt older. Deeper.
Like she’d pulled the thread on something she didn’t even know was there—and now it was unraveling faster than she could catch it.
She turned quickly, forcing herself to reset the room.
The vanity. The stool. The cloth over the mirror.
She returned everything exactly as she’d found it.
She closed the chest containing the baby clothes and placed the shoes back on top.
The empty picture frame sat cold on the floor where she’d taken the photo.
She stared at it for a second too long.
Leave it, she told herself.
She tucked the photograph in the back of the journal with the birth certificate, turned off the attic light, and eased open the door.
The creak of the hinges scraped across her nerves.
The attic door shut behind her with a soft click, but it didn’t calm her. Not even close.
Lyric gripped the journal tighter against her chest, her other hand trembling as it hovered near the stair railing.
Her heart felt like it was echoing up the attic walls.
Down the narrow wooden staircase, she took each step slowly.
The old wood groaned beneath her. At eight months pregnant, every step was deliberate. She shifted her weight forward to protect her belly.
