A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Matteo

The past few days were hectic as we did everything we could to find Alena.

I hadn't been able to get a good night's sleep because I feared for her safety, for her condition. The days passed by slow as I was drowning in my own sense of guilt, thinking of different ways this situation could've been different if I didn't push her to update me. The nights were supposed to be calming and relaxing but I was pushing to the limits with Angelo and Alexei. Luca, on the other hand, went on to pick up the traces being left behind in hopes he could find at least one clue. However, the son of a bitch was good in his job. The only trace he left behind was Alena's blood, to show he was capable of hurting her and he was willing to torture her unless we gave him what he wanted. In a way, it turned out to be a game for the enemy. They wanted to see us struggle and fall apart just so they could achieve what they wanted-it only came down to a few, it could be money, power or my downfall. enemies I knew I had a lot of enemies. I had always admitted that.

Along the way to my success and how I had built the mafia, I came across different men. Most of the men wanted alliance and more power while some rebelled and decided it was best to go against me. Not just that, I even had to fight a few men. Sometimes, they wanted revenge.

As someone who had been long enough in the mafia, I knew how much these men wanted revenge. They were willing to spend years planning in order to achieve their goals. They were not the ones to give up if things were hard but instead, they pushed forward. Alexei and I had spent more time together in finding Alena; we pushed away our differences and we prioritised the person we loved. Despite having a few disagreements and arguments here and there, we knew it was best to drop our egos. At first, we didn't want Mikhail-Alena and Alexei's father to find out about it. We thought we could keep the whole situation a secret but unfortunately, he found out quicker than we expected.

Things

weren't easy at first with Mikhail. I was his first target to blame and I decided it was best to take the whole blame anyway; Alena was my responsibility, I should've been more careful with her safety. It was my fault she ran away. It was my fault she went missing in

the first place and it and it was my fault she was kidnapped.

It all began because of that night, because of our argument. Mikhail

I said a lot of things that kept messing around in my head; about how much he should've stopped his daughter from marrying me in the first place, about how much he knew the Italians were always trouble. He had lost his trust in me to protect his daughter. Then again, I never blamed him for that. I knew he was right.

His wife, on the other hand, knew things couldn't be settled with arguments. She was always sweet to me whenever I came to stop by and see Alexei-served me coffee and wanted to contribute to her plans as well. It was nice, knowing how much her presence could calm Mikhail for a little bit.

Whenever she was in the room, Mikhail never said hurtful things to me but he stared at me like an eagle.

If Alena was my daughter, I would've blamed her husband, too. In a way, I could understand Mikhail's situation. He had raised her with everything he had, gave her everything she ever wanted and all of that was taken away by me. By an Italian. By the Russian enemy. WHE

0

Alena's kidnapping had caused our peace treaty to crumble, the Bratva were willing to start a war to fight the Sicilians if we weren't able to find their princess soon. I knew if things were going to head that way, I was bound to rather die. Ever since Alena was away from me, I had lived an empty life.

My life before Alena was dark and dull. The moment she left, it became heartbreaking. Now, she was out of reach, nowhere to be found and I didn't want to think of the worst case scenario, I didn't want it to ever cross my mind-she was still alive, I kept trying to convince myself. If she was gone, I needed to be gone with her. I was willing to put everything on risk and jump off the highest building I could find, letting myself die.

Die seemed like a solution because I could never live my life without Alena. I could never be in a world without Alena. I was willing to follow her to the afterlife, where we could be together, where we could be reunited as one. As long as I knew she was alive, I needed to push through and fight for her.

I knew she was out there... somewhere, waiting for me.

Every second and every minute was torture for me. I hated the fact that I couldn't find her as soon as she was kidnapped. I hated the fact that she could be beaten up and tortured while she was incapable of defending herself. "Boss," Angelo called out, breaking me from my trance.

I had been staring out the balcony for the past fifteen minutes, watching the night sky. The stars had kept me company for the past few days, missing how much Alena and I used to stargaze whenever we couldn't sleep. Alena loved to learn new things about the universe, she had a few books about it.

Well, as for me, I loved hearing her tell me about the facts of the universe. I loved watching her eyes sparkle whenever she explained it to me, I loved watching her lips curved up into a smile as she pointed at the stars and I loved watching her rest her head against my chest throughout the night.

I loved it even more watching her naked body under the moonlight.

Anal and Alexei are here. They want to see you," he replied.

update?" I asked, turning to look at Angelo.

"Bring them in in."

Angelo opened the doors and they began to walk in.

I had glanced down at my wrist watch, seeing it was near midnight. These two gentlemen walked in with a troubled look on their faces and I knew, they had bad news. It didn't take me long to quickly sit with them near the coffee table. Alexei stared at me as he clenched his jaw, his hands in fists while Mikhail seemed defeated.

"What's wrong? Have we found her?" I asked, silently praying for something good.

"We did," Alexei replied.

"Then, what are we waiting for?" I stood up, getting ready to grab my weapons and save my wife; having different ideas on how to kill the culprit. Wait, Matteo. You need to see this," Mikhail said

as he handed me his tablet.

I took it away from his grasps and my eyebrows furrowed at the pictures. It was Alena, sitting as her hands and feet were tied on a metal chair-she had bruises on her face and on her body, her clothes were blood stained and she was skinny.

B

09:2

My head began to throb at the sight as my hands clenched into fists, staring at the pictures.

"Who sent this to you?" I asked, looking at my father-in-law.

"We don't

We I know yet but we have our men investigating it."

"Are we just going to sit here and do nothing?"

Alexei

i stood up, making his way towards me before punching me on the face. My lips were cut immediately as I could taste my own blood from his hard punch. Mikhail had stepped in to pull his son while Angelo tried to protect me from further attacks. However, I had raised my hand up, stopping Angelo from hurting Alexei.

I deserved that.. Actually, I I deserved more than a punch to the face. Even though the punch was painful as hell, the ba***ard really did know how to throw a punch but I deserved to be hurt. Alena was in tha in that situation because of me. I was the cause of that. "You're the reason why she's gone. You're the reason she's hurt!" Alexei shouted, trying to push me onto the ground but his father was quick to hold him back. "Alexei.

calm

the f***k down!" Mikhail said, through gritted teeth.

Alexei tried his best to control his breathing as he stepped back, running his fingers through his hair.

The pictures of Alena broke me. Into a million pieces.

Alena was always perfect, always taken care of, and always protected. This all happened when she married me, she was brought deeper into the world of danger-I failed to protect her even when I should've. Mikhail and Alexei did a better job in protecting her. I wiped away the blood from the corner of my mouth with my hand, knowing the stinging pain of it was nothing compared to the pain of seeing my wife in that condition. "We're going to find her. And when we do, we're taking her away. Mikhail said, which caused me to frown as I looked at him.

"What do

Wha

you

mean?"

"She will be safe with us, with her family." can't do that....

she's

my

wife.

11

Mikhail shook his head, "We want you to let her go."

My heart felt as if it had stopped beating and it took me a few seconds to process his words. They wanted me to leave Alena, they wanted to take her away from me. They wanted to take my wife away from me because I had failed

"Mikhail, I know that I failed to protect her but I can't live without her. I'll do better,"

"You said that before, Matteo. This isn't the first time."

Mikhail and Alexei began to walk towards the doors, leaving me confused.

When the doors shut, so did my world.