A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Chapter 91 Alena

As I turned around and tried to reach out to my husband, I was left feeling the bed empty. My hands ran on the sheets before I slowly stood up and looked around the room, trying to find Matteo but he was nowhere to be found. I sighed deeply, grabbing my phone to check the time.

It was nearly three in the morning and I had fell asleep after we had sex. We managed to clean ourselves up and as soon as I got into bed, my eyes were heavy and all I wanted to do was float away into the land of dreams.

I was comfortable because Matteo was beside me. I just didn't realise when he had left but I knew Papa and Alexei were waiting for him downstairs which meant he had went to see them after tucking me in. "Matteo?" I called out but the house remained quiet.

So, I slowly pushed the duvet away from me before stepping down the bed.

I walked out of our bedroom and down the stairs, seeing the lights were still turned on. My eyes wandered around as they tried to adjust to the lighting until I saw a familiar figure sitting on the deck chair by the swimming pool. He was just staring at the water without doing anything.

I took slow steps towards him before I called out once more, "Matteo?"

had somehow woke him up from his trance as he turned to look at me. He seemed to be surprised to find me awake, "Alena, what are you doing awake? You were sleeping." "You're not in bed," I replied.

Our eyes were staring at one another and he didn't have to express it in words for me to understand that he wasn't feeling alright. I could tell just from his gaze yet he still tried his best to hide it away from me because as soon as the sadness appeared, it left. "Did you miss me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded, "Mm, I don't like sleeping alone."

"Come here," he patted on his thigh.

I made my way towards him before I sat on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. He had his hand placed on my waist as he held me in place-our faces were inches apart and I could admire him up close. I reached up to tuck a few strands of hair behind his ear. Matteo pulled me in until I was snuggled close to his chest.

We stayed still for the next few minutes until I decided to break the silence.

"When did they leave?"

"Minutes after you fell asleep," he replied.

"Did they say anything?"

"We talked for awhile. That was it."

"What did you guys talk about?"

"About you."

I leaned away to get a better look at his face, "About me? About what happened?"

"Mm, about what happened."

"And? What did they say?"

"You have a lot of questions, don't you?"

I scoffed, "Well... you're giving really short answers."

<3

A smirk appeared on his face as he continued to look at me, "We just talked about what happened to you at the café and how it can never happen again. We also talked about finding the man who did this and end it for good," "Did he threaten you?" I asked.

My husband didn't say a word as he just stared at me. He knew he couldn't lie to me and he had thought being quiet was the better option but I knew Papa, he was waiting for Matteo to mess up because as soon as he did, he'd have another person to blame.

I had enough of Papa blaming Matteo for what happened. He had been doing that a lot recently ever since the kidnapping and I knew it was taking a toll on Matteo's mental health; he had a lot of other things to think about, it could slowly eat him alive.

As good as he was in keeping up the facade, he only did it in front of people.

"Matteo," I called when I didn't get any answers from him.

"I wouldn't really say it like that," he replied.

I shook my head, "That's it."

I pushed both of his hands away from my body as I stood up, leaving him to eye my every action in surprise. He remained still at his spot and it was nice of him to stay still instead of trying to calm me down because at moments like this, I just wanted to express. "He's rude to you. He needs to stop disrespecting you," I said.

"Well, he's rude to me but he doesn't really need to stop disrespecting me."

I raised an eyebrow, "You're fine with the fact that he has been disrespecting you all along? You're not going to do anything about it? You're just going to stay calm and let him step all over you. Is that how it's going to be, Matteo?"

He looked away as he sighed, "There's not much I can do, Alena.

"Why is that? Can you please explain to me so I can understand better?"

"He's your father. What do you expect me to do? Shoot him in the face? Stab his heart? As much as I can't tolerate the disrespect and the shit he's been giving me, there's not much I can do to change that. He replied, standing up before he made his way towards me. Matteo grabbed onto my arms as he looked into my eyes, "I'm doing all of this for you. Trust me, if he wasn't your father, I'd kill him already."

Trolled my eyes, "That's really nice to know."

"I'm being serious,"

"I know you are. You've been tolerating because of me."

"I can tolerate your father but your brother has been testing my patience lately,"

"Alexei? What did he do now?"

"He's been really rude to me. I don't think he likes me much,"

3

Matteo walked to the pool before staring into the water. I stared at him from behind as I sighed, trying to find some sort of clarity for all of this. We never had any problems in our relationship where we needed to be permanently separated but the issues were starting to become clear between him and my family

Alexei and Papa probably thought they were doing all of this for me. They thought they were protecting me but they didn't realise how much damage they did to Matteo-they didn't seem to care about him either. Well, they never understood how Matteo and I were one. If anybody treated Matteo badly, it was bound to affect me.

"I'm sorry. I really am," my voice was low and almost inaudible.

"Don't apologise on behalf of your family, Alena. It was never your fault to begin with," he replied.

"But I don't like how they've been treating you. Whether they're my family or not, they should treat you nicely. They can't keep on seeing you as the enemy."

"It's hard because it's been that way for generations."

"Screw that. Just because our ancestors fought, we have to as well?"

Matteo chuckled before he grabbed onto my hand, kissing the back of it. I had always loved it whenever he kissed my hand because he made me feel loved, in many different ways. He didn't have to stay in bed with me for hours to show me how much he worshipped me. He had shown me in different ways and I appreciated them.

"You have your way with words. I really like how your mind works," he said.

"Really? It's really loud up here."

To my surprise, he leaned in to kiss my forehead. The kiss was long and meaningful, leaving me to close my eyes. He had cupped onto my face as he kissed me and I only stayed still, loving the feeling of his warm lips on my skin.

"Is it quiet now?" He asked, leaning back.

My cheeks began to heat up and I knew if the lights were turned on out here, he could see me blush. I looked away from his eyes because I was afraid if he could see right through my soul even though we didn't have any boundaries between us anymore.

I loved how he made me feel like a teenager in love.

"Still loud." I answered, smiling.

He kissed onto my forehead again, this time longer.

"How about now?"

"Better," I replied, looking up into his brown eyes.

Matteo pulled me closer as he wrapped his arms around my waist before he leaned in to kiss my forehead again. Everything around me went quiet including the thoughts in my head. My mind was always busy and the thoughts were sometimes too loud to handle but whenever he kissed me like that, they went quiet and I felt peace.

B.

It was beautiful because only he could do that.

I snuggled into him, resting my head on his chest.

180%

I listened quietly to his heartbeat as they were in a steady rhythm. It showed how he was at peace as well and he wasn't anxious or nervous. We were two troubled souls who ended up finding peace in each other-the longer I spent time with him, the longer we were married, I could finally admit he was my soulmate.

The word 'soulmate' was heavy.

It didn't only mean a 'romantic partner' but it meant so much more. It didn't only mean someone who was attached to us in this world but also in a different realm. It was as if we were destined to be together before we were even born and I thought that was beautiful. We got comfortable to each other really quickly and we shared a deep connection, something we could never experience with anyone else.

It wasn't just our bodies that craved for each other. It was our souls as well. Our souls were somehow tied and the bond was irreplacable.

My life before Matteo was different; I was selfish and I only focused on building my career. However, my life with Matteo was steady and a journey, it wasn't always going to be easy down the road but as long as we were together, we could always be happily in love. My life after Matteo? I never wanted to imagine that.

All I wanted was my life during him.