Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 217

Chapter 217

Natalia

The hurt that flashed across Andrei’s face was immediate and devastating. His arms dropped from around my waist, and he took a step back as if I’d physically slapped him.

“I see.” His jaw tightened. “I didn’t realize I needed permission to

ren.”

I passed my hands over my face. “No, that came out wrong. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then what did you mean?”

I dragged my lower lip through my teeth, suddenly feeling foolish. “I meant you’re not supposed to be here because…” I gestured helplessly at the chaos around us. “Because this was supposed to be a surprise. For you.”

Andrei’s eyebrows drew together as he looked from me to the dinosaur decorations scattered across every surface, then to the kitchen where our magnificent cake was still visible.

“The twins‘ birthday party. I’ve been planning it for weeks.” I managed a small smile. “I wanted it to be perfect. Special. Because you missed… because you’ve missed so many birthdays, and I thought maybe I could make up for some of that, even just a little bit.”

Understanding dawned across his features, followed immediately by something that looked like regret. “Natalia…”

TH

“But now Max is sick again, and the party is supposed to start in three hours, and I can’t even reach the ceiling to hang these stupid streamers, and-” My voice cracked, and I quickly looked away as if that would somehow hide the tears that had suddenly begun to form in my eyes. “I just wanted everything to be perfect for you. For all of us.”

Andrei just stared at me in shock. I could feel his green eyes burning holes into the side of my head.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter,” I said quickly, blinking away my tears, even though that silly little part of me still felt like crying over the lost surprise. “What matters is that Max gets better and-”

“It does matter.” Andrei’s hands came up to cup my face. “It matters because you cared enough to plan something special. It matters because you’ve been thinking about me, about us, about making new memories.”

Something shifted in his expression, and when he spoke again, his voice was rougher than before. “It matters because after everything I put you through, you still wanted to give me something beautiful.”

“Andrei-”

“Let me help.” The words were simple, but the intensity behind them made my heart flutter. “Please. Let me help you finish setting up.‘

“Are you sure? You don’t have to-”

“I want to.” He glanced around the room, taking in the scattered supplies and the ladder still lying sideways where it had fallen. “Besides, someone needs to make sure you don’t kill yourself trying to hang decorations.”

Despite everything, I found myself smiling. “I wasn’t going to kill myself. I was being careful.”

“Uh–huh.” Andrei moved to pick up the fallen ladder with a smirk. “That’s exactly what someone who was about to fall off a ladder would say.”

“I had everything under control.”

“Clearly.” Andrei shot me a mischievous glance. “But I’m sure you won’t say no to a little help with the

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Chapter 217

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decorations, Miss Mom of the Year.”

“You shouldn’t have to help,” I said quietly. “This should have been… you should have been planning birthday parties with me from the beginning. You should have been there for their first birthdays, and their second, and all the ones in between.”

“Natalia.”

“I stole five years from you. Five years of bedtime stories and scraped knees and birthday candles. Five years of watching them grow up, of being their father. And now I’m trying to make up for it with one party, like that could possibly be enough…‘

“Stop.” Andrei’s shoulders dipped with a sigh. “You didn’t steal anything from me.”

“I did. I kept them from you, kept you from them. I was so scared and so convinced that you were the enemy that I hid them away like a disgrace.”

“You were protecting them,” Andrei insisted, already moving to pick up various fallen decorations that needed fixing. “You thought I was a threat to your children, so you did what any good mother would do. You kept them safe.”

“But I was wrong-

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“You didn’t know that. How could you have known?” Andrei didn’t look at me as he tied a balloon around the chandelier. “Based on what you believed at the time, based on what Lilith had made you believe, keeping the twins away from me was the smart choice. The safe choice.”