Page 172 of Bound By Crimson
“He knows the baby is real. I think he got me pregnant on purpose. He pretended to love me—us—then I found out he is my—” She choked, stopping herself before the truth slipped free—Uncle.
Tears streamed down her face.
“And now… he’s telling the world I never even existed.”
Silence.
Rowan’s voice wavered. “What do you mean, Lyric? What’s going on?”
Lyric made a sound—part sob, part breath, part collapse.
“Nothing…” Lyric whispered, realizing she carried a secret she could never reveal. She had to protect her son from any future backlash. This was a secret she couldn’t even tell Rowan.
“I didn’t sign anything,” Rowan added quickly. “They offered me a lot of money to stay away from you. I didn’t take it.”
Lyric couldn’t breathe.
She couldn’t think.
Her head throbbed, and her heart—her heart was gone.
She didn’t mean to hang up. But she did.
She sat there frozen.
The garden blurred.
The world—the whole world—felt upside down. Tilted and wrong.
Kai had erased her.
No.
Not just erased her.
He’d destroyed her name. Her story. Her future.Her world.
He told the world she was a liar. That her baby wasn’t real.
That she was nothing.
She rocked gently, one hand on her stomach, the other over her mouth.
This couldn’t be real.
This couldn’t be happening.
But it was.
And she had to be smart now.
For her baby. For whatever future they had left.
She picked up her phone and called Rowan again.
“Lyric?” Rowan answered, rushed. “Are you okay?”
“I didn’t mean to hang up,” she whispered.
