Chapter 231 My Princess, You Really Did It
“Open the door. Let me out!”
Genesis screamed so hard her voice cracked on the final word, throat burning like fire. She didn’t care. Tears streamed down her face in relentless rivers, but she didn’t care. She only glared down at him, chest heaving, the gun trembling in her grip.
“No.”
The single word landed calm and final, a quiet guillotine.
Kieran met her eyes. His own were red-rimmed, swimming with raw hurt. She saw it, the way pointing the gun at him carved pieces out of him. But all she felt was her own pain, sharp and endless: every lie, every wound reopening.
“Let me go, Kieran. Let me go.” Her voice splintered on the last plea, turning soft, desperate.
“No, I can’t, baby.”
She shook her head violently. “Don’t call me that. Your love is torture. Is this how you love me? Lie to me one second, then hold me the next like nothing happened?”
Kieran closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again, softer. “I love you so much, my princess. So much that if you pulled that trigger… I wouldn’t hate you.”
The words stabbed deeper than any bullet could. “And why not? Because you love me? I love you too, Kieran, I love you so damn much and that’s exactly why this hurts. Why do you always have to hurt me?”
Her whole body trembled. It took everything not to collapse right there, knees buckling under the weight of it all. Nausea rolled through her; the room spun too fast.
“Is this what love is? You saved me from that nightmare family, gave me joy… but it always came wrapped in pain. I accepted that you cheated early in our marriage, I had nowhere else to go. I accepted so many things: you ruined Jaden’s career, that poor kid. You hid secrets, made me watch that tape in front of people. If you loved me the way you claim, you would’ve told me about the tape yourself. What kind of husband wants his wife to discover more of her abuse like that, publicly, humiliatingly?”
“I love you, princess. You know I do.”
“Yes, I know. And it’s like slow, sweet poison. If I stay, I’ll die, Kieran. Do you think just because I can finally speak, the trauma vanished? No. It’s still there, clawing deeper. You see the nightmares—they’re getting worse. Lying with you sometimes quiets them, makes me feel safe… but everything else is closing in. People want us dead. I can’t even breathe, can’t take care of myself. And now this? What I saw tonight? I’ll lose what’s left of me. You’ll be left with a hollow shell of a wife. So please… let me go.”
“I don’t want to fight. I don’t want to leave you. But I have to. Please.”
Kieran nodded slowly. Tears slipped down his cheeks. He looked at her like she was the only light he’d ever known.
“I can’t, princess.”
“Arghhh!”
Genesis’s scream ripped out again. The gun jerked in her shaking hand and her finger slipped.
BANG.
Her body recoiled with the shot. Eyes wide as saucers, she watched in frozen horror as time stretched thin.
The bullet flashed from the barrel in a streak of fire and smoke.
Kieran’s eyes widened just a fraction.
It punched high into his chest, left of center, inches from his heart.
Blood bloomed instantly, dark and wet, soaking through his white shirt like spilled wine on snow.
The gun slipped from Genesis’s numb fingers and clattered to the floor.
She stared, unblinking, at the spreading stain, the way it dripped thick and obscene onto the carpet.
“Kieran…”
Her voice cracked into a sob.
He staggered, one step back. Then another.
His hand rose slowly, almost curiously, and pressed over the wound. Blood welled between his fingers, bright against his skin.
Genesis’s scream turned primal, tearing from her core.
“NO! NO! NO!”
She lunged, hands flying to his chest, pressing desperately over his, trying to hold the life inside him, trying to erase what she’d done.
“I didn’t, I didn’t mean, Kieran, please…”
His knees buckled. He hit the floor hard, back against the bedframe, legs splayed.
Genesis dropped with him, knees slamming into the carpet, hands still clamped over the wound. Blood, hot, slick, seeped through her fingers, coating her wrists, soaking the front of her dress.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, voice splintering. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t, don’t leave me…”
Kieran looked down at her. A faint, broken smile curved his bloodied lips.
“My princess…” His voice was wet, fading. “You… really did it.”
Genesis wailed, a sound so raw it felt like her soul was being ripped out.
“NO! Please, please, no, Kieran, stay, stay with me…”
She pressed harder. Blood pulsed between her fingers.
His trembling hand lifted. Touched her cheek, smearing crimson across her tear-streaked skin.
“I know,” he whispered.
His eyes fluttered.
Breath rattled, shallow, wet, failing.
Downstairs, the gunshot had frozen the house.
Then pounding. Furious, frantic fists against the locked door.
“GENESIS!” Revelation’s voice, raw with terror. “GENESIS! OPEN THE DOOR! WHAT HAPPENED?!”
Banging. Shoulders slamming wood.
“GENESIS!”
Daisy’s small, shattered cry drifted up.
“Lily…?”
More pounding. The door shuddered.
Genesis heard none of it.
She was trapped in this single, shattering moment—Kieran bleeding out in her arms, her useless hands trying to hold back the tide, her screams turning hoarse.
“Kieran, please—don’t go. Don’t leave me. I can’t—I can’t do this without you…”
His eyes met hers one final time.
Soft. Loving. Broken.
“I’m… sorry…” he breathed.
His hand slipped from her cheek.
And Fell limp by his side.
His head lolled.
Breath stopped.
Genesis’s scream became something wordless, pure, animal grief. It felt like her ribs were cracking open.
She shook him. “Kieran! KIERAN!”
The door exploded inward. Wood splintered.
Veronica burst through first, eyes wild. She saw them and screamed.
“KIERAN!”
She shoved Genesis aside, hard.
Genesis fell back, hands still coated in his blood, staring in numb horror as Veronica dropped beside him, pressing frantic hands to the wound.
“NO! NO, KIERAN, WAKE UP! WAKE UP!”
Revelation stumbled in behind her, face ashen.
“Oh God…”
Daisy’s wail rose from below.
Elena’s voice—frantic—trying to hold her back.
Genesis sat frozen on the floor.
Blood on her hands.
Blood on her dress.
Blood on her face.
Kieran lay still.
Breath gone.
Eyes closed.
Her lips moved.
No sound.
Then, a single, shattered whisper.
“I killed him.”
Revelation dropped beside her, reaching out.
This time Genesis didn’t flinch away.
She just stared at Kieran’s still face.
And whispered, over and over, like a broken mantra.
“I killed him.”