A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera novel Chapter 21

Chapter 21
Alena
I pulled the front door open, revealing Alexei standing with his arms tucked inside his pants’ pockets. He was dressed for work in his white buttoned-down shirt and black slacks but a few of his buttons were undone.
The last time I saw him was months ago and feeling betrayed by my own brother, I didn’t miss him much but if he came here to make amends, I was willing to put my feelings aside..
“Alexei, what are you doing here?” I asked, frowning.
“I came to see you to talk. Can I come inside, or should we go somewhere else?”
I stepped aside, letting him in.
Matteo wasn’t home because he was at work, keeping up the pretenses of his company for the sake of money laundering. In fact, it was a legal company, but nobody knew about the money except for his employees. They signed an agreement to keep it a secret.
“I just didn’t expect to see you here. How did you know where I live, anyway?”
“I have my ways.” The cliché answer from anyone as mysterious as Alexei.
If I were to ask Matteo about the private things he knew, he was going to give me the same answer, too. People like them, in the mafia, they never told the truth about a lot of things especially if it involved their work activities.
“Right … do you want coffee?”
We made our way towards the kitchen, and I served him a cup of coffee, it felt needed to at least get him something to drink.
“Thank you, Alena.”
We kept quiet for a while as he took a seat near the kitchen island. I was waiting for him to start talking about whatever he wanted to talk but he was taking his time-I didn’t want to rush him or anything so, I kept quiet.
“Is your husband home?” He asked, putting the cup down.
“No, he’s at work. Is something the matter, Alexei?”
“I just came to see my little sister. I don’t want to see him,” he replied before grabbing my hand, caressing the back of it.
Honestly, I missed when we were younger because things were simple. We didn’t have a lot to think about. All we knew was fun and enjoyment but now we couldn’t stop thinking about our future, about our lives.
We had to push aside our sibling bond.
We had to be more selfish.
“Do you really hate him that much? Did he ever cross you in the mafia or is it just a Russian and Italian thing? Do you really not like him, or you just don’t like him because he’s Italian?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“A little bit of both.” He smiled.
“D****n, Alexei. He’s actually a decent person compared to you and Papa.”
“You’re only saying that because he’s your husband.”
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“I’m saying that because I’m a good judge of character.” I shook my head, “You and Papa were planning up to marry me to Viktor. You, out of everyone, knew just how much I wanted my own control in life. Why didn’t you stop him, Alyosha? Why did you let him go on with his***d plan even when you knew it was going to hurt me?”
“I needed to put the Bratva first. Besides, Viktor is a good man. He’s Russian and if he does anything to hurt you, we’d hurt him first. He’d never do anything crazy.
“That’s what you say. He might not hurt me, but I can’t ever love him. Do you prefer seeing me unhappy?”
“There’s no such thing as getting everything you want, Alena. You’re a Bratva princess. You got to realize that you need to make sacrifices. You can’t have your career and a happy life at the same time. Sometimes, you need to think about more than just yourself.”
“That’s where you’re wrong …” I sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I never wanted anything to do with the Bratva. I didn’t ask to be a part of it.”
“You don’t get to choose which family you’re born into. And you don’t get to say that either because you married an Italian mafia. What do you expect for your children? To not take over Matteo when the time comes? He has a big responsibility, Alena.”
I kept quiet, realizing the truth.
“When you have a son, do you think he gets to choose what he can do in life?” He continued to speak, “Reality check, Alena. He needs to take over the mafia. He needs to do the killings. He needs to do the torturing. None of your children’s hands would be clean.”
“No, my children will get to choose.”
I tried to defend myself even though I knew it was useless. My children, especially my sons, if I were to bear any children of my own-they weren’t going to have a choice. They were going to inherit the mafia and they were going to do all the killings, that was the truth. Alexei was speaking nothing but facts.
“We both know that’s a lie, little sister.”
I breathed out, looking away.
“What do you want, Alexei? Did you come all the way to my house to manipulate me?”
“No, I came all the way here to see you so we could talk just like how we used to when we were younger. You need someone rational in your life. I don’t know what lies Matteo has been feeding you. You’re losing self-control.”
“What are you trying to do, Alexei?”
He scoffed, “Your husband is a liar. A big f****g liar, Alena.”
Before I could ask him what he meant or throw him out, he placed his phone on the island. My eyes wandered down to the pictures before my heart began to sink.
They weren’t regular pictures. They were wedding pictures of Matteo with someone else.
They looked content as they kissed, and I felt as I was being betrayed. I swiped to find another picture of them kissing on a secluded beach. It was clear because he had a band on his finger in every single photo and so did, she.
She had dark blonde hair and beautiful features. She was probably Italian, too. But she was nobody I knew.
“Did he tell you he was married?” He asked, shoving the phone closer to me.
“Those are old pictures. They’re divorced,”
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I didn’t even know if iny answer was the truth. I felt betrayed but I didn’t have the right to. She was probably an important part in his life before he knew me-something probably happened to her, and she was gone. Our marriage was a lie in the first place, maybe he wasn’t ready to tell me yet.
“You’re wrong. They’re not.”
“I don’t need to hear this from you.”
“You must. You can’t run away from everything,” he took his phone before shoving it in his pocket. “I did a lot of investigating to check up on him. It was hard to find anything at first because let me tell you, Alena, he’s good at keeping himself hidden. But once I did a little extra digging, everything was out in the open.”
I kept quiet, hearing him speak.
He continued, “So, what did he promise you when you married him? Because as far as I could tell, your marriage isn’t valid. He’s still married to someone else. And for someone who’s a Catholic, I don’t think he’s allowed to have multiple wives.”
“Stop it, Alexei.”
“Maybe, all those nights alone… he was seeing his real wife and got home pretty late to you. Has it ever occurred to you that men in the mafia are not really good men? Some of them are but you get my point. They’re not saints. We’re not saints.”
Tears were beginning to stream down my cheeks, and I wipe them away quickly. Alexei didn’t have to see because he was going to think he won.
“If you’re done, you can leave the way you came,” I muttered.
“I don’t want to see you get hurt, Alena. It’s better you know now than continuing to fall for a man who’s too in love with someone else.”
“I said, if you’re done… you can leave.” I spoke through gritted teeth, trying to hold back my anger.
Alexei stood up, staring at me for a few seconds before walking out the door. As soon as I heard the front door closing shut, I began to let the tears escape. I fell onto the ground as I gripped tightly onto the kitchen island, slamming my mouth shut to avoid making any sound.
I was crying as my heart was breaking.
Everything around me felt like a haze.
After crying my heart out, I immediately made my way up the stairs and to his bedroom. I hesitated at first, but I needed to know what he was hiding inside. So, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
As I made my way to his bed, I saw a frame on his nightstand.
A selfie of Matteo and the same woman.
My heart shattered as I sat on the bed, crying out. It was hurting me because I felt the same way Ldid, years ago. It wasn’t supposed to hurt if he didn’t say he loved me. I wasn’t supposed to care if he didn’t lie to my face about wanting a future with me.
In a way, I was already falling for him, too but I was scared.
I should’ve stayed scared. Now, I was vulnerable.
I put the frame back where it was before opening the drawer, finding albums and more pictures of them.
Alexei wasn’t lying. He spoke the truth.
08:32 Wed, Oct 16
Chapter 21
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My husband was married to someone else. The pictures in the album showed more proof. They probably knew each other for a long time before they tied the knot but the pictures they had, showed a lot of happiness.
They were happy and, in those pictures, Matteo was smiling a lot.
Did he get his whole family to lie, too?
They welcomed me and treated me as if I belonged into their family. How could they do that when they knew the truth? Not about my marriage with Matteo but about Matteo and his wife.
I found everything I wanted to know. They were also wedding bands in one of the drawers and an engagement ring. It confused me a bit, why was her wedding band and engagement here if they were still married?
I put everything back where they belonged before slowly stepping out of his room.
My phone was ringing because there was a call from him. A few texts came in as well, but I didn’t bother checking them. All I wanted to do was lie on my bed and shut my eyes.
My heart needed a break. I was naïve to fall too quick.