A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Matteo

My eyes

wandered around the room as I entered. The doctor was standing beside Alena as he checked up on her while Alexei stood near the edge of the bed, eyeing his work. As for my mother-in-law, she was sitting beside her daughter as she held tightly onto her hand. Alena was not unconscious anymore and she had her eyes on me the entire time.

I smiled, assuring her everything was fine.

The doctor checked up on her pulse, her lungs and everything else. He also asked a few questions regarding her health for any symptoms. Throughout the whole time, Alena was calm and cooperative-she looked a bit pale but didn't seem as stressed as she was before. "You need to get a lot of rest. It can happen again if you don't," the doctor said as he eyed the rest of us.

It was more like a warning to the family, as if we were the cause of her to be stressed out. Well, in a way, we were the main reason. Alena had been stressed out ever since Mikhail decided to separate us, leaving us with no other choice but I knew the moment I told her the good news, she was going to be relieved.

Alena nodded before she turned to look away.

"Is she okay, doc?" I asked.

The doctor nodded, "Yes. She's fine,"

Once the doctor was done, Alexei spoke to him in Russian as they walked out of the room. I immediately made my way towards Alena before pulling her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around me even tighter, showing how much she needed me to be there for her. "I'll give you two some time," Mama said before she walked out of the room, closing the door.

We were left to ourselves and I knew it was the space we needed

My heart felt calmer when she was near me, as if everything else was solved. Alena and I didn't have to stay away from each other anymore because Mikhail had agreed to let her return home with me. Even though this was good news for us, we still had another problem to solve.

"I was so worried about you," I whispered in her ear.

"I'm sorry,"

"What are you sorry for? Don't be."

"For not taking better care of myself." "Alena..."

She shook her head as she leaned back, "I know we promised to take care of ourselves. I was so stressed out with Papa and I cried the whole night. I didn't get enough sleep and I didn't even feel like eating."

I kept quiet, listening to her,

I knew Alena, I knew my wife. We hadn't been married for long but ever since we got married, she was the type to always express her feelings in order to feel better. Whenever she vent to me, I gave her the safe space she needed. I had to make sure she felt heard. u.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault," I caressed her face.

"I broke our promise,"

"Hey, baby. Don't be so hard on yourself." @x86%

The sight of her tears leaving her eyes broke me. I never liked it whenever she cried because it broke me too: Alena was a strong woman but just like any other person, they had their limits and once they've reached their limit, they were bound to explode. My hands reached out to caress her face a few times before I kissed her forehead, trying my very best to calm her down. I tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear as I tried to get a better look at her face and the entire time, she just stared at me. She stared at me as if I was her saviour.

"Don't look at me like that," I muttered.

"Like what?" She raised an eyebrow, genuinely asking.

""Like that."..

"I'm just looking at you."

My lips curved up into a smile before I grabbed both of her hands, "I have something to tell you. Are you ready?"

"What is it?"

She grew curious as she continued to raise an eyebrow, waiting for me to continue. I had planned to delay my response and just let us enjoy our time together but I didn't want her to be sad anymore. She deserved the good news-the two of us deserved it. We had suffered long enough.

"I talked to Mikhail," I replied.

Her eyes widened, "And? What happened?"

"What do you think?"

"Matteo..."

"Alena..."

"Did he threatened you again? Did he try to hurt you?" She asked, grabbing onto my hands as she tried to search for any cuts. Then, she went to inspect my face to see if there were any bruises.

The way she panicked and worried had brought a smile to my face. Within seconds, I was holding onto her hands as I

my mind. laughed which caused her to look at me as if I had lost

""We're going home, Alena."

"What?"

"We're going home. You heard me," I leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"What did Papa say? He was okay with it?"

I nodded, "We talked earlier and we came into terms about you. He made me promise not to put your life in danger because if he ever found you in that same situation again, he was going to kill me himself." "Of course he'd threatened you."

D

3

"It doesn't matter, baby. You heard the good news,"

Alena wrapped her arms around my neck before she pulled me in for a hug, taking her sweet time. Our faces were inches

apart

if we leaned back and our lips were bound to meet. We had missed each other deeply, the whole time we were apart.

"You're not lying?" She asked, whispering in my ear.

I chuckled, "No. Why would I lie? Do I ever lie to you?"

"It's just... it's hard to trust Papa especially after what happened

"Don't worry. It's settled,"

We stayed in each other's arms for the next few minutes. We weren't in a rush anymore because we had all of the time in the world. For once, we felt as if everything was going according to plan again and our lives were back on track. I had missed her scent. I had missed her.

Once we pulled away, I had cupped onto her face before I leaned in to kiss her lips. The feeling of her soft lips against mine was always intoxicating and addicting, regardless of how many times we had kissed, I could never get enough. She was like a drug to me. The smile plastered on her face afterwards was the real joy.

I was excited for the life we had to explore. We weren't being held back and we could easily plan new things for our future, it was something worth looking forward to.

"Do you think we'll be okay?"

"We will always be okay, Alena. We'll be fine,"

"We haven't found the man behind my kidnapping yet,"

I nodded, "I know. I'm still working on that."

"I'm just really worried, too.",

"Me too but we'll do everything to protect you."

"We?"

"Your father and I."

She raised an eyebrow, "What? You had a deal with him or something?"

"He's not all that bad."

"You're friends with him now?"

I bursted out laughing at my wife's reaction. Mikhail and I weren't exactly on good terms even after our recent conversation but we came to an agreement about the current situation. We weren't going to hold her back any longer from her career and her life. I was also going to do better as a husband.

"We're not friends. We just came to an agreement," I replied.

"I don't believe it. You guys came to an agreement without trying to kill each other?"

"Hey, hey, now. I never tried to kill your father. He was the one who had a gun pointed at my

head."

Tue, Nov

"You know what I mean, she rolled her eyes.

"Just believe me, Alena. Will you?"

She took awhile to think it through before she nodded and I could see her expression softened.

It was my chance to fix our marriage, to become a better husband for Alena. Once I found the man behind her kidnapping, I was going to make things right again-leaving the mafia world behind and never return, it was one of my plans. As long as I was in the mafia, I was going to risk her life.

What was going to happen when we have children? We could risk our family.

It wasn't just about our marriage. It was about Alena's relationship with her father as well. This was the chance to fix their bond and they could be as close as they were before.

After the conversation I had with Mikhail, I knew he only wanted to protect his daughter. He never wanted to control her life or decide things for her. He thought the things he did was for her own good and he overlooked Alena's feelings.

I could see it from the look on his face when he talked about his family. He cared and loved them more than anything else but he wasn't fully ready to let go of the Bratva. Despite his love for the Bratva was strong, he loved his family even more.

For me, that was more than enough.

Despite Alexei being the leader of the Bratva, Mikhail wasn't able to fully step down. He had retired and he didn't want to get himself involved with in that line of business anymore but I knew he missed it. He missed the thrill he experienced when he was younger. Some men in the mafia, never enjoyed the killings. I was one of those men.

Every time I killed, it was never personal but I knew everything had changed when I almost lost Alena-I knew the next time I killed, it was going to be personal. It was going to be very painful for that person and I wished he could endure it until he eventually died. My hands held tightly onto my wife's hands, assuring her it was going to be fine.