Chapter 123
Eleanor:
“What do you mean Liana Bernardi?” Natasha asked, rushing inside after Killian.
The fact that my mate was avoiding her eyes told me that it was indeed true, but the fact that it meant that the woman was my aunt was a whole different case to me. And though I did my best not to show it, I couldn’t help but find myself feeling smaller than I thought that I would.
“Killian, stop avoiding the answer…”
“I am not avoiding anything, but right now, I need to be alone.” He said, stopping her.
“I just lost my mother and the love of my life, was slapped with the case that my mother could have been the reason behind the death…”
“ENOUGH!” He yelled, taking all of us off guard. He looked at Natasha for a second, his eyes holding back more pain than I have ever seen in my life, and Natasha took a step back as she looked down at her feet. “If you lost your mother, then I lost her too, I lost my best friend and brother just as you have lost your lover. The one fucking difference is the fact that you were given the chance to let the fucking pain out while I was stuck in that fucking basement getting answers out of them. Therefore, if you do not want me to break your heart, then let me calm down and digest everything that happened before the two of us can talk.”
Natasha’s heart raced, and she looked down at her feet for a second before taking a step back. I looked at the two of them, and at that moment, I couldn’t help but feel like I was stuck between a wall and stone, and the thing was, I didn’t even know how to react. On one side, I had my best friend, who I knew was fighting to stand strong, and on the other, I had my mate who was blocking too much inside.
“Follow her, Eleanor.” Killian said, taking me off guard. “I don’t want her hurting herself and I know that you would be able to stop her.”
“Killian…”
“I need to be alone, malyshka.” He said, stopping me. “Don’t pressure me anymore than necessary.”
He turned to leave, and though I wanted to follow him, Yaroslav’s eyes told me not to. I kept my eyes on him for a second too long before taking a step back as I walked toward Natasha’s room. It was dead silent, and for a second, I feared that she might have done something to herself, and opening the door, I couldn’t help but frown when I saw that it was dark.\
*TRIGGER WARNING, READ WITH CAUTION*
I turned on the light and looked around for a second to find her sitting on the floor in front of her bed. Her eyes were fixed on the wall as tears fell from them, and I couldn’t help but frown when I saw a gun in her hand.
“Natasha…”
“He shot me here,” she said, her lips quivering as she spoke. “I entered the room, hearing him talking to the bastard, and he shot me. The one mistake he did was that he aimed too low. He could have ended my pain by shooting my chest. I wouldn’t have to be dealing with all this on my own.”
“Please don’t say that, Natasha…”
“I have traitor blood in my…”
“Natasha, stop.” I said, and she shook her head before getting up. Her eyes widened in rage, and I couldn’t help but frown when they met mine.
“WHY? HUH? GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULD STOP ALL THIS?” She asked, yelling at me. “YOU WERE LUCKY TO HAVE AN ENEMY’S BLOOD. THE MAN NEVER PRETENDED TO BE FAMILY. WHILE MY MOTHER, THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO KEEP ME SAFE…”
“Natasha, enough with this nonsense. One does not choose their parents and you sure as hell wouldn’t be blamed for what she did…”
“The woman entered this house as a traitor and died as one. I don’t even know her story, and I don’t think that I can fucking handle it. The woman had me and wanted me to enter Killian’s bed. YOU SHOULD BE HATING ME FOR IT! Rather that sympathy, you should be raging that the woman that stands in front of you should have been your fucking challenge.” She said, making my chest ache. “They always said that nothing could defeat a person harder than their own blood. Fate had it that you…”
I slapped her, stopping her from whatever she was going to say. Her eyes widened and I shook my head at her. “Snap out of it, Natasha. Whatever it is that you are thinking, I know for fact that none of it played in your head.”
“Why? Huh? What makes you so sure? What is making you so fucking sure that I didn’t want to get in his bed?” She asked, extending the gun to me. My eyes widened as she closed my hand around the grip the handle. The rage that I saw in her eyes was one that I never pictured to see, and looking down at the gun that she had me holding, I couldn’t help but notice that my hands shook as I felt the cold metal under my skin.
“Natasha, stop it.” I said, shaking my head at her. “I know that you are in pain, but this is not the way to go…”
“What do you know?” She asked, snapping at me. “What do you know about the fire that was poured inside my chest? Huh? What do you know about the fucking pain that I am going through?”
“I know what pain is…”
“You got everything out of it, I lost everything and everyone. For fucks sake, I found out that everything that I ever knew was just a FUCKING LIE!” She yelled. Her chest rose and fell and I pulled the gun from her hand before throwing it on the floor, away from the two of us. Her eyes widened, and I walked toward her, wrapping my arms around her as I pulled her into my arms, hugging her tightly. “Everything that I ever knew was a lie, Eleanor. Every single thing, it was all a fucking lie…”