A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Matteo

Angelo had managed to track down Alena's phone last night. The moment my call went through and it began to ring, I didn't waste any time to get Angelo-even though I couldn't stop calling Alena, hoping she was going to answer, it didn't matter because at the end, we

figured out her location.

I called Alexei, letting him know the good news.

However, he wasn't as excited. He seemed rather dull and faking his reaction which I instantly knew, he had figured out his sister's location all along.

He just didn't want to tell me. I didn't understand his purpose.

So, here we were, standing in the living room of my vacation-villa.

Alexei had his hands in his pockets while I stared at the note on the coffee table:

'She belongs to me now.'

Ever since we arrived here thirty minutes ago, I had been frozen in the exact same spot. Angelo guarded the door with my other two men while I tried to figure out the culprit. Angry. Upset. Disappointed.

towards my wife-more I didn't know which one to describe my emotions but I knew I felt them all at once but not towards myself. I was angry at myself for never checking out this place. I was upset at myself for not knowing my wife any better. I was disappointed at myself for letting this happen.

"Matteo..." Alexei called out, breaking the silence.

My hands were clenched into fists as I tried to hold back from hurting anyone. To be exact, I wanted to throw everything onto the ground and scream as loud as I could but I knew that wasn't a solution to this problem.

I needed to stay calm. As calm as I could.

"You knew. You knew but you didn't tell me," I replied.

I turned to look at my brother-in-law, feeling betrayed. I had came to see him and begged for his help-believe me when I said it, I had never begged for anything or anyone in my entire life but I knew my wife's safety was more important than my ego.

Now I knew, I had begged for nothing. I had embarrassed myself.

"She wouldn't let me."

"She's my wife, Alexei. I deserve to know."

"I've asked her to tell you. Believe me."

-I shook my head, "I don't know what to believe. Now her life's in danger and we're back to square one."

Square one. The very beginning.

Just when I thought I had found my wife, she was out of my grasps again. This time, every second mattered because it was a matter of life and death. Alena could be in danger right now and I was standing here wasting my time.

I needed to find her as soon as possible.

00000.83%t#

I slammed my fist on the coffee table as I crumpled the note, trying to hold back my tears from falling-I had cried every night ever since she left me, couldn't even get myself to sleep even if I was exhausted.

For once, I thought things were going to go according to plan but I was faced with another disappointment.

"If you told me... this wouldn't have happened." I added, turning to look at the blood on the floor.

It wasn't a pool of blood but a few drops of it was easy to tell it belonged to my dearest wife. She had been beaten up, probably punched or kicked and I was nowhere near to protect her. I had failed as her husband. Alexei clenched his jaw, "We'll find her."

"No, I'll find her. And you'll be the last to know,"

I walked out from the living room and went straight up the stairs, towards the bedroom. My eyebrows furrowed at the sight of clothes in her luggage and a few scattered on the floor but what attracted me most was her phone on the bed. I went to pick it up, looking at the lockscreen; it was still a photo of me.

There were a few missed calls from me and I knew she didn't even heard it when I called-she was probably downstairs when the tragedy happened. If I had called her earlier, she was probably going to pick it up.

I could've made it to her earlier.

No, she was hours away from me.

I sat on the edge of the bed, holding her phone tightly as I grabbed one of her clothes. I began to smell her clothes and before I knew it, the tears had fallen. As much as I wanted to hold myself from crying, it was a little bit too late. Her clothes smelt like her. They all did.

It had been weeks since I had smelt her again. The same vanilla and candy smell, the same smell that had seduced me from the moment she walked into my office and the same smell of her body whenever she was near me.

I gripped hard onto her clothes, feeling my anger clouding me.

"Fuck, fuck!" I breathed, trying to calm myself.

Angelo had ran up the stairs but once he saw my condition, he stood still in the doorway. He immediately reassured my other two men that everything was fine-my curse may have alarmed them.

It was his first time seeing me like this, yet he respected my privacy as he closed the door behind him.

"Baby, where are you?" I muttered under my breath, holding her clothes to my chest.

When I had married Alena, I never thought I could lose her one day. Being in the mafia never reassured my own safety and I knew it could risk my wife's safety as well. Even her father had trained her to protect herself but she was never interested and she never continued the training once she started medical school.

I shouldn't have dropped my guard down when it came to her safety but I was too eager on making her happy. I needed to show her how much I could trust her in which I did, I just didn't trust her to be safe whenever I wasn't around.

I had feared this the most.

My heart felt like it was crushed into pieces.

The rage only increased and I knew I had to start searching for her, even though it would take me days without sleeping. I

needed to find my wife as fast as I could.

"Angelo!" I called out and within seconds, he came rushing in through the door.

"Yes, boss? Something wrong?"

"I need you to alert Luca. We need to find Alena,"

"Of course."

"We're going to find out who did this and when we do, leave that person to me." I said through gritted teeth, imagining ways of how I could torture the son of a bitch.

That person had crossed the line by hurting and kidnapping Alena. He knew better than to mess with someone like me I had many good relationships with the other mafias and my respect had only increased when I married the Bratva princess. This situation had involved not only the Sicilians but the Russians. Two of us combined, that motherfucker was going to suffer. He was asking for a death sentence.

He was begging for a death sentence.

I had been slow on killings ever since Alena came into my life because I needed a calmer life. My men, on the other hand, finished my job for me. It was to ease Alena, she wanted to make sure I was safe whenever I left the house.

She had a habit of checking my fists whenever I came home. It was her way of knowing if I had beaten someone up or if my day was clean from all those crimes.

Anything to keep my wife happy, even though I found satisfaction in hurting my enemies.

I had kept my beast on a leash for her.

Now, it was time to unleash that monster.