Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 193

Chapter 193

Natalia

He knew. He knew we’d been investigating him.

My heart retreated behind a protective wall of ice and steel as the full weight of the situation hit me. There was no point in pretending anymore.

Slowly, I reached behind me with my free hand, my fingers finding the handle of the hunting knife I kept in a drawer by the door. Old habits from my years in hiding; I’d put it there shortly after the rogues attacked me years ago and had thankfully never had to use it.

I slipped it behind my back, gripping it tightly but keeping it out of sight.

Just in case I needed it, although I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

“Yes,” I said quietly, meeting his manic green eyes. “I had Mila investigate you. I needed to know if you were the one who tried to kill me five years ago.”

Andrei’s face went dark with rage. “How dare you. How fucking dare you investigate me, hire people to snoop around my home-”

“Just tell me what you want, Andrei.” My voice was steady, which was surprising because my heart was pounding like a fucking hummingbird’s wings. “Tell me what you intend to get from me.”

His eyes narrowed. “I want my children. I want-”

“You can’t take them from me,” I cut him off. “I’ve worked too hard to make sure my children are safe, and I won’t let anyone take them away. So if that’s what you want, then you’ll have to kill me first.”

Green eyes darkened to an almost black hue, and in that moment, I knew.

He was going to take me up on that. He was going to kill me. Right here, right now, before I could expose him.

He lunged forward suddenly, his arms reaching for me.

This was it. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. Now that he knew I was onto him, he was going to finish the job.

Instinct kicked in. All of the training he’d put me through, all of the relentless drills on where to strike where it would hurt the most, all of the fucking horrors of the past five years–it all snapped into place like a key fitting into a lock.

Without thinking, I brought the knife up and forward, driving it into his side with all the strength I had. The blade sank deep, meeting resistance before sliding between his ribs.

Andrei’s eyes went wide with shock. He stumbled backward, looking down at the knife protruding from his side, then back up at me.

“I was just…” he whispered, and then he crumpled to the floor.

I stood there, staring at him… And as the fog of fear cleared from my mind, as I saw the hopeful and desperate and hurting look on his face, I realized what I had done.

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“Oh Goddess,” I breathed, staring down at him in horror. “Oh Goddess, of Goddess…”

flood was spreading across his white shirt, dark and wet and far too much.

“I was just trying to hug you,” he gasped out, each breath sounding like an effort, “I never… I never would have hurt you.”

Goddess–fucking–dammit. A hug. He’d been trying to hug me, not attack me.

What had I done?

“Andrei-“I dropped to my knees beside him, my hands hovering over the knife. Should I pull it out? Leave it in? I didn’t know, I didn’t know anything except that there was so much blood and his breathing was getting weaker by the second,

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