Chapter 6
851 Words
Lyra’s POV
It’s him.
I know that voice.
Distorted through the speaker. Warped by time and fear.
But I know it the way you know the sound of your own breath in the dark.
Damien.
On the video.
In the room with my sister.
My fingers twitch against the keyboard as I pause the clip, her terrified face frozen on screen.
Jade.
Crying.
Begging.
Whispering my name.
I want to throw up.
I want to scream.
But most of all…
I want to know what the hell happened that night.
---
I storm through the house, heart pounding like a war drum, until I reach Damien’s study.
The door is open.
He’s there—jacket off, sleeves rolled, reading something on his tablet like the world isn’t collapsing outside his perfect walls.
He looks up.
Sees my face.
And knows.
“You watched it.”
I slam the flash drive on his desk.
“What the hell was that?”
He doesn’t flinch.
But I see it—the flicker of tension in his jaw. The faint hesitation before he speaks.
“Evidence.”
“Of what? That you were with her? That you scared her? That you lied to me?”
He stands slowly. Controlled. Like he’s approaching a bomb.
“You don’t understand what you saw.”
“Then make me understand,” I snap. “Because from where I’m standing, you were part of whatever made her disappear.”
His voice lowers. Dangerous.
“She disappeared to protect you.”
---
I laugh.
A horrible, choking sound.
“Don’t you dare twist this.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re telling me she vanished—cut off everyone, faked her own death—for me?”
His silence answers for him.
“Bullshit,” I say.
“You want the truth?” he finally says. “Fine. Sit.”
“No.”
“Sit, Lyra.”
I sit.
Because there’s something in his voice I’ve never heard before.
Regret.
---
Damien’s POV
I knew this moment would come.
I thought I was ready.
I wasn’t.
I open the drawer, pull out a second flash drive, and plug it into the screen behind my desk.
Lyra watches. Still. Coiled.
The screen flickers.
Jade appears again—this time not crying.
This time she’s laughing.
Smiling.
Wearing my shirt.
Lyra tenses.
“What is this?”
I meet her eyes.
“We were involved.”
She blinks. Hard.
Then: “You dated my sister?”
I don’t correct her.
Because “dated” is the wrong word.
Jade didn’t date anyone.
She consumed them.
She found my darkness and made a home in it.
“She was looking for someone dangerous,” I say. “She found me.”
“And you just—what? Let her in? Let her disappear?”
“I tried to stop her.”
“From what?”
I hesitate.
From betraying me.
From betraying us.
But I can’t say that.
So instead, I say: “From becoming the kind of person who gets killed in this world.”
Lyra looks like she’s been slapped.
“She was already dead the moment she met you.”
I flinch.
Because she’s not entirely wrong.
---
Lyra’s POV
My throat is tight.
My lungs don’t work right.
Damien and my sister.
Together.
That’s the twist I didn’t see coming.
“You don’t get to act like the victim,” I say quietly.
“I’m not.”
“Good. Because you’re not.”
He nods once.
Then steps closer.
“Jade was reckless. Smart. Dangerous. But she was losing control. Fast. I tried to protect her. But she wouldn’t let me.”
I look up.
“You mean she didn’t obey.”
“She didn’t trust.”
We’re toe to toe now.
Fury pulsing between us.
I whisper, “And now you’re doing the same thing to me.”
He breathes deep. “No. You’re different.”
“I’m her.”
“You’re not.”
Then suddenly, his hand is on my face.
Not rough.
Not soft.
Just… trembling.
So is mine.
We’re both shaking.
“What are we doing?” I whisper.
“I don’t know.”
And then he kisses me.
---
It’s not gentle.
It’s not soft.
It’s not the kind of kiss that forgives or apologizes.
It’s the kind that marks.
That ruins.
That brands your soul with someone else’s chaos.
His hands are in my hair. Mine are at his collar. Neither of us breathing.
I hate how good it feels.
I hate how real it is.
Because real means I can’t pretend anymore.
I want him.
Even when I shouldn’t.
Especially when I shouldn’t.
---
When we pull apart, everything’s changed.
We’re both breathing hard.
Eyes wild.
He rests his forehead against mine.
And then he says it.
The thing that shatters the air between us.
The thing I wasn’t ready to hear.
> “Jade’s not dead, Lyra.”
I freeze.
He steps back.
Voice low. Steady. Dangerous.
> “She’s alive. And she doesn’t want to be found.”
---
- Writer
