A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Matteo

My beautiful wife was soundly asleep as she snuggled close to my hand, finding it comfortable. I loved it whenever I watched her sleep, I could admire how peaceful she looked; one of the reasons why I always slept after her and not before.

After our love-making session earlier, we had changed into a more comfortable clothing after we had cleaned ourselves up. Then, the moment she laid on the bed, she was already asleep and I didn't have the heart to wake her up. Besides, she deserved to rest after what happened today.

Once I was sure she wasn't going to wake up, I slowly tucked her in.

Luckily enough, she didn't move a bit and I was able to leave the bed.

I glanced at her one last time before I closed the door behind me and I walked down the stairs. Apparently, Igor and my mother-in-law had left earlier, leaving only the rest of them to wait for us. Luca was enjoying his favourite pie while Angelo watched him ate. As for Mikhail and Alexei, they were standing near the window as they had a conversation in Russian.

I could understand them. I just never wanted to converse in their language.

"Everything okay?" Luca asked, raising an eyebrow.

None of them heard about what happened upstairs. Alena could be a bit loud sometimes whenever we had sex but our bedroom was mostly soundproof. Nobody could hear the sounds we made unless they were in the same room which was a refief-it was bound to be awkward if her father and brother heard us having sex.

"Yeah, she's asleep now. Managed to calm her down," I replied.

The words 'managed to calm her down' almost brought a smirk on my face because only Alena and I knew how that went. I did try to calm her down by having her close to me but the only way I could keep things off her mind was to please her. Alena was pleased. She was fully satisfied.

"Great, that's good to hear. We can talk now," Mikhail interrupted.

I nodded, gesturing for him to take a seat by the sofa.

Mikhail went to join me at the sofa, followed by Alexei. The three of us were seated and comfortable enough to have a conversation about what happened-as much as I wanted to be upstairs with my wife and wrap my arms around her, there were other things I needed to worry and settle.

What happened today could never happen again. Never.

"She was traumatised. We could see it on her face," Alexei started to speak as he looked at me, glancing a few times at Luca who already rolled his eyes.

These two didn't get along and they were never going to get along. There was always some sort of misunderstanding between them, they could never agree with something. I knew because Luca never liked Alexei, he wasn't afraid to show it either.

Alexei, on the other hand, wasn't the one to lose. He made it known about how much power he had. We didn't have a huge gap between us which was one of the reasons why he didn't feel the need to respect me as his brother-in-law or one of the leaders of the mafia. Bad blood. It was always like that between the Italians and the Russians.

"When she was kidnapped, she went through a lot. That man was the cause of it and we could tell because she was terrified

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of him. She wanted to scream but she couldn't and she just froze at the spot." I replied, only looking at Mikhail.

Mikhail nodded a few times before he sighed, "That man came near my wife, too."

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"We can't let that happen again. We don't know what kind of twisted plan he has. He might come after your wife next time if he's stupid enough to start another war,"

"Do you think he's working alone?"

"No. I think he works for someone."

"We've been trying to find out about him for months but we couldn't even get a single clue. Out of nowhere, he just decided to appear in front of my daughter and now he's gone again. Who do you think he might be working for? Anyone you know? Anyone you might suspect?" Mikhail asked, eyes staring intensely into my own-he was expecting the enemy to come from my side, my enemy instead of his.

Well, I didn't blame him for that because Alena was my wife and that man had came after her in order to hurt me. As much as I tried to deny the fact, Alena was supposed to be safe if she wasn't my wife. She was always in danger ever since she married me. That was the truth.

As hard as it was to accept it.

"I have a lot of enemies. I'm sure you do, too."

"Well, I keep track of them. Don't you?"

I scoffed, "Sometimes the people you expect to be on your side are the ones stabbing you at the back. I can't keep track of my enemies just to be one step ahead of them. Sometimes, it's not even them who has all of this planned."

"So, you're saying... you don't

n trust your a

"I don't even trust anyone. Any can backstab you."

Mikhail leaned back as he tried to process it. The look on his face showed just how much he agreed with me, even though he wasn't going to admit it out loud.

to be happy for you if you gained more I had been in the mafia for years and I had a lot of experience as well, not as much as Mikhail but I knew how bad things could turn when you became more successful. People in the mafia was never going power, they were always going to try and bring you down.

One of the reasons why I never learned to trust people.

I only trusted the ones I loved.

That trust was once broken by my ex-wife, even though I had never expected her to be the one to ruin me. Love could be our biggest strength and also our biggest weakness, it was difficult to know who to love.

However, love came easily with Alena even though I had promised myself never to love. She had opened my heart, the moment she came walking in the door and asked for my help. I could sense the good energy coming out of her and how much she was willing to risk, just to have her own freedom.

Not just that, she was also sexy as hell and she managed to convince me even more. I had met a lot of attractive young women who knew what they wanted and most of them only wanted money and sex. As for Alena, she thrived for her own success. All she wanted was to be successful in her line of work.

Alena had a pure b

She loved helping people.

Mikhail was the lucky one to have a daughter like her.

"It leaves us with another unsolved mystery. We'll continue to investigate and find out more about this man. Until then, none of this can ever happen again. Do you hear me, Matteo?" Mikhail said as he left me with a warning.

The last time we had spoken about Alena was still clear in my mind. The promise I had made to protect his daughter was a promise never to be broken. I was left with the pressure to keep up because he could take her away anytime he wanted. It was as if he was waiting for my downfall.

"It won't."

"Good. Do whatever you have to make sure she is safe,"

I sighed, "That would be impossible. She starts working again next week,"

"I don't have to remind you about what's at stake here, Matteo. You told me you were capable of protecting her despite everything. You're a man and you're a man with a lot of power, you don't need me to figure things out for you. Remember your promise." He said before he stood up and gestured for Alexei to follow, as they were leaving.

I stayed still at my spot as I tried to process everything he said.

I stood up, looking at Alexei who had been staring at me for the past few minutes.

Mikhail had already walked out of the living room. Luca and Angelo were eyeing us but at the same time, they were minding their own business. They could forward and attack Alexei if he tried to do anything but I knew, we had passed that.

"You're not going to fail her again, right?" Alexei asked.

"Why do you think I'm going to fail?"

He shrugged, "You seem a bit scared."

"I'm only scared if anything happens to my wife. I can't lose her again."

He shoved both of his hands into his jeans' pockets, "You know, Matteo. I never expected to hear those words from you. All my life, I knew you as a ruthless leader and at one point, I had wanted to become like you but watching you like this, I realised just how ordinary you are. You're not that special."This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

The words were like knives and they went straight to my heart.

"I never thought I was special. I'm only human, just like you." I replied with a smirk.

"Humans like us can never fail, Matteo. We have a lot of responsibilites. If you want to become a normal human being, this mafia life isn't for you."

I clenched my jaw, "If you're worried about me failing to protect your sister, you don't have anything to worry about. She's my wife and she's mine, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that she is safe. That no harm can come to her."

Alexei smirked before he patted on my shoulder, "We'll see. I hope you know that."

Then, he walked out.

I stared at the empty spot in front of me.

Those were just words.

As much as

they hurt my ego, it was best to ignore him.

I only needed to prove myself and what I was capable of.