Chapter 243 You Are Meant To Be mine

Chapter 243 You Are Meant To Be mine
>>Riona
His posture was stiff, almost... dispassionate, as though he were examining a job well done.
And then, he stood up, his head tilting ever so slightly, as if confirming something in his mind. The moment he saw that Demos wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing, he stood, wiped his hands off on his dark clothing, and turned away.
That was it. He was walking away.
…
Walking away?!
A surge of anger shot through me like a bolt of lightning, and before I could stop myself, I was pushing myself up onto my feet, despite the pain searing through my arm, despite the dizziness swirling around me.
“No!” I screamed, my voice raw, hoarse, but desperate. I staggered, barely able to keep my balance, but all I could think about was Demos—Demos, who had taken care of me, who had fought for me, and now, he was gone.
And the way it made me feel was beyond words. The way my heart was shattering was beyond description.
It was like someone had snatched the whole of my heart from my chest. And this man, this faceless monster, was just going to walk away like it didn’t even matter.
I didn’t think. I didn’t care about the pain that shot through my arm as I ran toward him. Every step was fueled by rage, by a need for revenge, by the desperate desire to make him pay for what he’d done.
“Stop!” I cried, voice breaking as I lunged toward him, the sound of my footfalls the only thing filling the alley.
He stopped for a moment, glanced back at me, then ran for it.
The cool night air brushed against my skin, carrying with it the sharp sting of pain from the bullet wound in my arm, but I didn't care. Not anymore. The world around me was a blur of shadows and light, my heart thundering in my chest as I pushed my body beyond its limits as the full moon shone in the sky.
He was fast, faster than I expected. His form was barely visible, just a flicker of movement in the darkness, but I was gaining on him. I could feel it. I was so close now that I could practically taste it.
The alley was narrow, the walls closing in on either side as I pushed through the shadows. I almost stumbled as I turned a corner, but I didn’t stop. My shoes slapped against the concrete as I sprinted forward, my every muscle screaming in protest.
Focus. Focus. Don’t lose him. The thought echoed in my mind like a mantra, pushing me onward, even though I could barely see through the haze of pain and fury clouding my mind.
He turned another corner ahead of me, disappearing into the night. But I was right behind him, too close now to let him escape. I pushed harder, my feet moving faster, my breath coming in short gasps.
I could hear him now—the soft thud of his boots on the ground, the rustle of his clothing as he weaved through the alley. He was trying to lose me, to slip away into the darkness, but I was relentless. I was faster.
I rounded the corner, just in time to see his silhouette darting ahead of me. He was close now. So close I could almost reach out and grab him.
With a burst of energy, I closed the gap, my hand stretching forward, fingers reaching for his shoulder.
But at the last second, he juked to the side, spinning out of my grasp. I stumbled for a moment, almost losing my footing, but I recovered, my heart pounding in my chest, my pulse a wild rhythm.
He was fast, but I was desperate.
I pushed myself harder, ignoring the way my legs felt like they were going to give out, ignoring the sharp sting in my arm, the blood dripping from the wound.
This was it. This was the moment.
I reached him. Finally.
With one final leap, I threw myself forward, hands grabbing at his jacket, yanking him backward. The force of the pull sent him stumbling, but he didn’t fall. He twisted around, pushing against me with surprising strength, his face now illuminated in the dim light of the alley but he was wearing a mask.
I wasn’t expecting him to be this strong.
His eyes met mine, cold and calculating, with an edge of cruel amusement.
“Still chasing me?” he said, his voice dripping with mockery.
I gritted my teeth, refusing to let go, refusing to back down. “You’re not getting away.”
His smirk deepened as he shoved me backward, knocking me off balance. My feet slipped on the wet pavement, and for a second, I thought I was going to fall.
But I didn’t.
I caught myself, my body trembling, but I didn’t stop. Not now.
He laughed, a low chuckle that sent a shiver up my spine. Then, without another word, he turned and sprinted again, his pace even faster this time.
And I followed.
I had no choice. I couldn’t let him go. Not after everything. Not after Demos.
The chase seemed endless. The world blurred around me as I moved through the alleyways, my legs burning, my lungs screaming for air. I pushed myself harder, ignoring the sharp pangs of pain shooting through my body. The adrenaline kept me going, a hot rush that drowned out everything else.
We turned another corner. He was ahead of me again, but I wasn’t going to lose him. Not this time.
I was so close now, so close I could almost touch him. And then—he stopped.
I didn’t have time to process it. One moment, he was running, and the next, he was standing still, turning toward me.
I was already halfway to him, and in a blur of motion, I was upon him, slamming into him with everything I had. He stumbled back, but he didn’t fall.
For a moment, we stood there, facing each other, our bodies close enough that I could feel the heat from his breath. His eyes narrowed, his lips curling into a twisted grin.
“You think you can stop me?” he sneered, his voice dripping with contempt.
I didn’t answer. I just lunged at him, swinging my fist in a wild arc toward his face.
He blocked it with ease, his strength almost inhuman as he shoved me back, his grip like iron on my wrist.
“You’re making a mistake,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
I struggled against him, but he was stronger. So much stronger. The world seemed to slow as I fought to break free.
And then—I saw it. His hand moved, quick as lightning, and before I could react, the mask he had been wearing slid off, revealing his face.
I froze.
No. No way.
Niall.
I staggered back, my body trembling uncontrollably, my heart thumping so loudly in my chest that I thought it might burst. My legs felt like they were made of jelly, and I could hardly breathe. Everything felt wrong, like the ground beneath me had just vanished, and I was falling into a deep, endless abyss.
Niall... Niall?
His words echoed in my head, repeating over and over, each one slicing through me with a force I couldn’t quite understand. He had to do it? My mind was struggling to catch up, to make sense of the storm of thoughts crashing against my skull. He stood there, grinning as if he had just said something entirely ordinary. But nothing about this felt ordinary. Nothing felt real.
My gaze drifted to him, trying to focus, but the words he’d just spoken kept swimming around in my head. I felt like I was suffocating under the weight of them.
“What…?” I whispered, unable to form a coherent thought.
But before I could even process that, Niall straightened up, brushing himself off like this was some casual conversation. His eyes gleamed with something—something I couldn’t place. His gaze flickered over me, almost possessive, and that feeling sent a cold shiver down my spine. I couldn’t look away.
“I had to do it, Riona,” he said, his voice soft but carrying an undercurrent of certainty, like he was stating the most obvious fact in the world.
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. What the hell is he talking about?
“What?” My voice was barely a breath, my hands trembling as I tried to keep myself upright. I wanted to run, to get away from him, but my body felt frozen. “Why?”
His grin widened, but there was something unsettling about it. He took a step toward me, slowly, like he was savoring the moment. I wanted to retreat, to escape, but I couldn’t. I just stood there, paralyzed by confusion and fear.
“Because you are supposed to be mine,” he said, like it was a fact. A simple, undeniable truth. His voice was low, his words dragging through the air, heavy and suffocating.
What?
I froze, my stomach twisting as his words sunk in, my mind unable to catch up. He was smiling like he was telling me the most normal thing, but everything inside of me was screaming. I didn’t understand. I couldn’t understand. I wanted to ask him what the hell he was saying, but the words were stuck in my throat.
“I… what?” I finally managed to croak out, my heart racing so fast that it felt like it was going to explode.
He stepped even closer now, too close. His presence was suffocating, like he was drawing the air out of the room, leaving me gasping for breath.
“I’ve loved you for years, Riona,” he said, the words spilling from his mouth like venom. “For years, I wanted you. But my bastard of a brother took you from me first.”
A shiver ran down my spine as the pieces of the puzzle started to shift into place, but they made no sense. This couldn’t be real. It couldn’t.
He took another step, his eyes never leaving mine. “I tried, Riona. I tried over and over again to convince your parents that I was the better option. But they wouldn’t listen. They told me you were happy with Milo, that he was the one. And that I shouldn’t interfere.”
The insanity of it all was overwhelming. My brain was still struggling to process his words, but the truth of them hit me like a ton of bricks. He was obsessed with me? He had been trying to take me away from Milo all this time?
My breath came in shallow gasps, my heart pounding erratically in my chest as his words rang in my ears, over and over again.
"I tried," he repeated, his voice dark, almost... obsessive. "I tried to make them see that I was the one for you. But they wouldn’t listen, would they? No, they just let you go to Milo."
He was losing himself in the words, his face contorting with a pathological intensity. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. There was something twisted, something almost dangerous in the way he spoke.
“I tried, Riona,” he repeated, almost like a chant, as if his own words were a form of justification.
I couldn’t breathe. My vision was starting to blur as everything inside me felt like it was falling apart. As Niall’s words echoed in the air, a sickening realization started to settle over me like a heavy fog. He had spoken with such certainty, such conviction, about how my parents had always kept us apart. His words had begun to twist in my mind, and something deep inside of me began to click—too many pieces falling into place. It was almost as if everything in my life, everything that had happened up until now, had led to this moment.
The pieces of the puzzle slid into place too quickly, and my body stiffened. The bile rose in my throat. My heart pounded as it became all too clear what he had done, and a thought—an unthinkable thought—flashed in my mind.
Did he?
The blood drained from my face as the horror hit me all at once. The weight of it crushed me, the sickening realization making everything feel distant, like I was outside of my own body, watching the scene unfold from somewhere far away. My hands trembled as the words escaped my lips before I even fully understood them myself.
My voice shook, “Did you... did you kill Mom and Dad?”