A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

his office, throwing away the crumpled papers into the lustbin.

bother

nt

The office was a mess but it didn't

the moment, he deserved to take his tand take care of his health better. He didn't have to worry about the

tidiness of his office just because | was in here.

"| just got you back. | didn't want to worry about losing you," he replied.

"Don't you | want to fight

them back?"

"I can't just kill them off, Alena. They're important to you."

I sighed deeply, keeping quiet.

Matteo stared atbefore reaching out to touch the side of my face. A frown had appeared in between his

brows as he tried to get a closer look, "I didn't notice this before. Is it a bruise from when you were kidnapped?"

My eyes widened for a few seconds as | took a few steps back.

| didn't expect him to notice the small bruise because it had been a week since it happened. Apparently, Papa's

slap had been a bit too hard on my skin, leaving a bruise the next morning. It should've disappeared completely

but I hadn't been consistently icing the area. "Alena? What happened?" He asked, this tin a serious manner.

"Nothing. Nothing happened."

"Don't lie to me, please. Who did this to you?" the

| tried to cover my cheek with my hand but it was already too late. Matteo had noticed the bruise and it was

stupid ofnot to cover it up before | chere-then again, if we were staying together for the weekend, he

was bound to notice them anyway.

"It was from the kidnapping." | responded, the lie didn't exactly convince him.

"You didn't have that before. The ones you had from the incident had already disappeared,"

"It's nothing, Matteo. Don't worry about it."

He clenched his jaw, "Did Mikhail hurt you?"

| stared up into his light brown eyes, trying to proceed with another lie but the moment our eyes met, | had

remained frozen. | couldn't simply lie to Matteo because he was important to me, even if | wanted to protect

Papa, even if | didn't want Matteo to hate him despite the things he had done. | kept quiet, looking away.

"I'm going to kill him." Matteo said, clenching his hands into fists

"Hey, hey, he didn't mean it. It was an

accident." Chapter 71

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n accident? An accident is when you trip and fall. This wasn't an accident. He intentionally hurt you." He took a

few steps closer to me, slowly reaching out to touch my face.

FD

The anger was clear in his eyes but he was trying to hold it in. If Papa was a stranger, | knew Matteo wouldn't

bother to hold himself back from hurting him but Papa was my father, Matteo had to prevent himself from doing

anything crazy.

"It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Why did he hurt you?"

"| probably made him upset,"

"Not a reason to hit you."

"I know. I'm sorry."

You're sorry?"

"What?"

What?

"You're sorry for him? You're sorry because he hit you?"

"I don't know what else to say."

We both kept quiet for a few seconds.-..

-Matteo sighed again before pullingin for a hug, wrapping his arms around my body. | felt close in his arms,

despite the weight he had lost, | was still very petite. Every the had hugged me, I always felt safe. It was a

feeling | never had with anyone else except Matteo. A knock was heard on the door and | immediately flinched,

somehow afraid if we were caught but it was just Mama and Igor. "Can we cin?" Mama peeked through the

door, smiling.

I nodded, gesturing for them to cinside. | had forgotten about them because | was lost in my husband's

arms and as soon as they cin, Matteo slowly let go of my arm but he rested his hand on my waist.

"Igor and | will cback on Sunday to pick you up here." Mama said.

"Wait, you're not coming with

me?"

She shook her head, "No, honey. I'll be at hmaking sure things are fine."

""What if

Papa

comes hearly?"

"Alena, don't worry too much. Just enjoy your weekend together.

"He's capable of hurting Matteo."

Mama frowned, "We'll figure something out. We always do,"

Igor stood by the door as he watched us but he didn't bother to say a word. It was probably a bit weird for him to

be in the Italian territory, he was so used to working with Papa, He had been with the Bratva for years until he

decided to retire because he wanted to focus on living a quiet life. | had felt sorry for him because he couldn't be

with his family.

|

"We need to. Now that he has gotten Viktor involved," | responded.

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Chapter 71

"Viktor? The sViktor you were arranged to marry?" Matteo asked, interrupting.

T

| nodded, remembering that | hadn't told Matteo about that yet.

"What do you mean he's involved?" Another question escaped his lips as he raised an eyebrow, somehow being

impatient for

the answer.

| turned to look at Mama, unsure of the words to say. | knew | couldn't find any better words to say to Matteo

about the current situation but | couldn't bear the hurt on his face if the words cout of my mouth.

"Has he lost his mind?" Matteo clenched his jaw, "That won't happen!"

"Mikhail is working on to file a divorce for Alena on you. Then, he wants her to marry Viktor." Mama said, holding

onto my hand; she was always there forthrough everything, she knew how much | needed her support. nase

"We'll make sure it won't. Whatever it takes."

| took a few steps towards Matteo before grabbing onto his hand, trying to calm him down. His eyes had soften a

bit as he looked atbut | knew, he was growing anxious. We were going to lose each other if we couldn't

figure something out to solve this and we couldn't risk that.

"Matteo...can't lose you. | can never lose you." | said.

"I can't lose you, too. You're everything to me, Alena."

"We need to figure it out. We need a plan."

The four of us were quiet as we continued to look at each other. Mama seemed genuinely concerned and Igor

was mostly sympathetic. As for Matteo and I, we were using each other's touch as a way to regain our strengths.

"Have you thought about running away?"

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