A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

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Chapter 113 Matteo

A few hours had passed and I had given enough time for Alena. She needed the time to herself, I knew she was feeling a little bit better after that. Well, I had hoped for her to feel a little bit better after that because I never wanted her to be upset for too long.

Luca had spent his time in the kitchen, going through whatever interesting he could find. I watched him the entire time because I didn't know what else to say, we had said enough for the past few days-he didn't seem to mind either.

He wasn't bothered by all the staring because he was in my kitchen, eating my food.

We did have a little conversation before he left.

"What's going on in your head?" He asked as he took a bite of his food.

It was one of the leftovers from a few days ago. The food was still good enough to eat and it was better than throwing them in the bin, at least Luca could finish it all off.

Sometimes, I wondered how this grown man could act as miserable as he was; he had a nice home, he had a good life, he had the money for everything but he spent most of his days scavenging in my kitchen for food.

"A lot of things. One of it is about you," I replied.

He scoffed, "What about me?"

"Your odd routine."

"What's odd about my routine?"

"You're always in my kitchen, Luca."

He took another bite of his food before he smirked. I didn't know what else to say to him but I could never hate him for being around, he had sacrificed a lot for Alena. Besides, we were always close even before Alena came into my life. He was with me through thick and thin.

"You always have a lot of leftovers," he responded.

"I know you'd finish them,"

"Better than throwing them all away, right?"

I shrugged as I continued to look at him while he remained unbothered. He was probably going to spend the next few hours in the gym to burn the extra calories he took which was one of the reasons why he never cared to eat a lot. It was also one of the reasons why he could maintain a healthy weight.

Maybe, smoking helped him as well.

"Seriously, what's on your mind?" He asked, once more.

About my life. About Alena."

"What about it?"

Nothing that you don't know about. I'm more concerned about you,

Here we go again. He raised an eyebrow What is it?

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"Are you happy with your life?"

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It was a real question. Luca was a simple man, he wasn't the type to take things to heart and if he was going through something rough, he tried to cool himself off by distancing. He spent most of his time alone, doing the things he loved and he never complained about being lonely. He was content, I just didn't know how much.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"I don't know. I'm just curious," I replied.

"Well, I'm doing alright. I'm just fine."

""Just fine?"

"Yeah, just fine. What kind of answer are you expecting?"

"Something more, I guess."

He leaned back before he took a deep breath, "I think you want to know about my love life. You want to know what's going on inside my head most of the time because I seem to be living a simple and pathetic life?"

"That sums it up."

There was nothing wrong with choosing to be alone for the rest of your life. I was the one who had swore off love before I met Alena-I didn't think I could be with someone else because I didn't trust love to be gentle anymore. Then, when Alena came into my life, she gave me a different perspective. I was able to think straight.

Everything I experienced with Alena was perfect from the very beginning. Through all of the hardships we went together, it never broke us apart but brought us back stronger. It was never an easy journey for the both of us but we knew we could reach our happy ending. I just wanted Luca to be genuinely happy with his life.

He deserved to be happy especially after everything he went through as well.

He was always reserved and he was good at that.

"I'm doing fine on my own, Matteo. I don't need another opinion," he said.

"Do you ever think you'll be in love?"

Luca looked up at me and both of his eyes were staring straight into mine. He was looking at me but I knew, his mind was thinking of something else. The question was probably a little bit too personal for him but we had passed through that stage a long time ago, we didn't have any other barriers in between.

"I want to," he replied.

"What's holding you back?"

"Haven't found the one.".

"I saw the way you looked at Ana,"

As soon as Ana's name left my mouth, it somehow caught him off guard. He didn't expect me to bring her up but I had thought about it for awhile. I wasn't blind to notice how much he showed interest in Alena's sister but due to the relations we had, he didn't pursue.

He was also probably a little bit afraid if Mikhail cut his head off

"And how did I looked at her?" He raised an eyebrow, waiting for my answer.

"Intrigued. Interested. Drawn to."

He scoffed before he bursted out laughing, "Whatever you say, man."

I rolled my eyes as I stood up, knowing I wasn't going to get any answers from him. He was good at keeping things to himself and it was going to stay that way. I could never read his mind but it seemed as if he could easily read mine. Either way, he wasn't going to express.

Regardless of how long we had known each other, he was always going to be 'Luca'. His heart was probably stone cold unless he managed to find someone who could warm him up again which was never impossible. He had a heart and he could open his heart, whenever he found the love of his life.

"Clean up before you leave," I said as I walked out

I didn't waste any time to hear whatever he had.

of the kitchen.

say as I walked up the stairs..

I knocked on the door before pushing the bedroom door op

open, seeing Alena sitting on the bed as she looked out the window. As soon as she saw me, her attention shifted and she went on to look at me instead-she was in the same clothing as before but she had changed into a pair of shorts.

I made my way towards her before I sat down near her, grabbing onto her hand.

Alena didn't pull away. That was a good sign.

""Hey," I muttered under breath.

"Hi."

my

We both stared at each other, not knowing what else to say. However, I knew I had to comfort her after what happened today. It was hard for her and I had given her some time to process. I hoped she was ready to listen to me or to whatever else I had to say. "Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded, "I'm okay."

"I'm really sorry, Alena."

"It's okay. I understand, Matteo."

"Luca and I have thought about it many times. It wasn't just something we both decided within one night. It took us weeks," I replied.

"I'll go through with it."

I raised an eyebrow as I continued to look at her.

I scanned her face because I needed to know if she genuinely meant that or not. I wanted her to do it for her own sake and not mine-it was to capture the culprit. It was a risk we had to take for our future. We didn't have much time if we left things like this. "Do you really mean it?"

"Yes,"

I immediately went to her before I wrapped my arins around her body, pulling her close. We were hugging one another and I felt better as soon as I felt her arms around my body as well. She wasn't pulling away which meant she wanted to be in my

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arms too.

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"We'll go through the plan in detail and you don't have to worry about a single thing,"

"You'll keep me safe, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would. I promise,"

"Okay. I really want to feel safe,"

"I promise, Alena. I won't let anyone hurt you,"

We stayed in each other's arms for a few minutes.

This was it. This was the moment.

We didn't have much time to waste. I had received Alena's consent and as soon as I could get to meet Mikhail again, I could convince him once more. This plan was going to work and I believed in myself as well, we weren't going to fail.

Our men was going to surround the area and it was best to choose somewhere public. All eyes were going to be on Alena, to make sure that she walked in and out of there safe. She wasn't going to be in any harm if everyone paid close attention to her, including me. I was going to stay as focused as I can on her.

As soon as we saw him, we were going to catch him on sight.

Then, we could retrieve Alena and to safety.

I needed Mikhail and Alexei's men for that as well. We weren't going to risk all of our men for this case but we needed extra protection incase it went out of hand-the plan could fail and he could run away if he caught onto us but it was fine, as long as he didn't harm Alena. I was more concerned about my wife's safety more than anything else.

Without her. I was nothing.

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