A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera novel Chapter 28

Chapter 28
Alena
Matteo and I were walking hand in hand down the hallway, straight to the hotel room where Sofia was staying. Angelo was already inside waiting for us with Luca-Matteo’s best friend.
He had recently returned from Singapore, so he wasn’t present ever since I met Matteo. It was going to be my first time seeing him, hopefully he wasn’t as bossy or arrogant as I heard people said about him.
Angelo opened the door, standing aside to let us in.
Sofia was standing near the glass window, looking better than yesterday. Her hair was tied into a low ponytail, her face fresh and clean. She wasn’t wearing the same clothes as yesterday either. Maybe, Angelo had went out to grab new clothing.
As soon as she saw Matteo entered the room, her eyes sparkled, and her smile widened.
She went straight to him, wrapping her arms around his neck before pulling him in for a hug. I was standing awkwardly beside them as I watched it unfold.
It felt weird to watch my husband hugging with his wife when I was standing there, clearly as his wife, too. I wondered if our marriage was valid because Sofia wasn’t dead, but I only thought about that to myself—we had important things to settle.
It was Sofia who embraced him while he stayed still, not touching her.
“You came,” she leaned back, her smile never fading.
“To settle things between you. I need to know what happened for the past five years.”
Matteo came with nothing but business in his head. He wasn’t about to sit and chat for hours. He just wanted to settle things so he could get it all over with. Besides, like he said, he had better things to do but he knew he wasn’t going to be at peace until he found out about Sofia.
He felt as if she had other motives, but he wasn’t going to accuse her until he had the evidence.
“Can we at least have lunch first? I’m starving,” she responded before walking to the nearest sofa, taking a seat.
“I’ll order room service.” Angelo replied, which earned him a nod from Matteo.
Sofia didn’t take long to order what she wanted to eat, and the room service was quick enough. While Matteo and I were sitting on the sofa opposite from her, she was eating and taking her sweet time.
Luca, on the other hand, had his arms crossed as he leaned against the window.
“Tell me, what happened to you for the past five years?” Matteo started asking, ignoring whether she had finished eating or not. “Why didn’t you try to reach out to me?”
She shook her head, “I was trying to protect you, Matteo. There wasn’t any way for me to get to you.”
“Did they hurt you? Why would they keep you captive for five years if you didn’t provide them with any information?”
“They thought you were going to crash and burn. They didn’t expect you to thrive instead.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your business. The mafia. They thought that if you lose me, you wouldn’t be able to live on your life. They wanted to see you fail after you’ve lost your wife but instead, they saw you thriving. You got colder, meaner, and more ruthless. You showed too much anger to back down.” She spoke, looking straight into his eyes.
08:27 Thu, Oct 17
Chapter 28
Then, she turned to look at me. “And you remarried.”
“That’s not the case here, Sofia.”
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She smiled, “Of course not. I don’t blame you for falling in love with someone else, I left you alone when you most but trust me, my intentions were good. I wanted to keep you safe, and I did what I had to do.”
“Why can’t you tell me who they are?”
“I don’t know them, Matteo.”
He leaned back, sighing heavily. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Why not?”
“You were with them for five years. It’s not possible for you to not know them.”
needed me
Suddenly, her eyes were filled with tears as she stopped eating. She grabbed a tissue and wiped away the fallen tears before. trying to fake a smile. Angelo, Luca, and Matteo were watching her like a hawk, and she was probably feeling overwhelmed.
“You’re scaring her …” I whispered to Matteo, but he didn’t care.
He continued to interrogate her.
“You can’t just expect me to believe that you came back unharmed. You look like you’re hiding something, and I want you to tell me the truth. Who are they and what did they want with you? Cut the crap about wanting to keep me safe. I want real answers,” he spoke.
The tears couldn’t stop falling down her cheeks, “Matteo, stop it.
“I mourned you, Sofia. For five years.” He stood up, pacing back and forth before turning to look at her again. “I kept blaming myself because I wasn’t there for you. When I was finally accepting it and moving on, you showed up again. How do you expect that makes me feel?”
I stood up, grabbing his arm before slowly calming him.
No words were needed but a soft touch.
Matteo placed his hand on mine, caressing it.
“It wouldn’t matter anyway. You have someone new now,” Sofia replied sarcastically, causing both Matteo and I to turn and look at her.
“So, you’re blaming me for moving on?”
“I thought you loved me!”
“I do. I did love you. How long did you expect me to stay depressed? I was drowning and no one was there to help me, god’s sake.”
Luca cleared his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention before he made his way towards us.
“I think Alena and I should grab a cup of coffee.” He said, somehow asking permission from Matteo-he saw how uncomfortable I was, and he wanted to give me some space.
Matteo was upset at Sofia, but he nodded, gesturing for me to follow Luca out.
for
He kissed my lips for a short few seconds before smiling, letting me follow Luca out of the room to leave him with Angelo and Sofia. I knew Angelo was going to keep an eye on Sofia in case things went overboard, but I trusted Matteo.
08:27 Thu, Oct 17
Chapter 28
Luca walked down the hallway and I followed behind him until we reached the elevator.
“Matteo must’ve told you about me,” he broke the silence.
“He did.”
“Congratulations on the wedding.”
“We eloped.”
We stepped inside the elevator, and he pressed the button.
“I know and there’s no problem with that. It’s good to finally see you in person because I was excited to meet the woman who stole Matteo’s heart.”
I cleared my throat, “Did he tell you about me?”
“All the time. He hasn’t been like that for years so it’s nice,”
Once we reached the ground floor, we stepped out and walked in the lobby. There was a café and we decided to go there. As we sat down, I started to notice more about Luca.
There was a dark demeanor, but his eyes were soft.
“How long have you known Matteo?” I asked, starting a conversation.
“Awhile. We were friends since we were kids,”
“That’s a long time.”
“Yeah, we’ve been through a lot. So, I can really tell when he’s genuinely happy.”
I nodded my head, feeling slightly warm on the inside. I knew he was saying Matteo looked happy now and it made me feel
a little jumpy. It was good to know Matteo was happy and his feelings were obvious.
“Did he really love Sofia?”
That was a stupid question, and I began to realize it when it left my mouth.
“Whole-heartedly, Alena. She was his everything,”
“Of course… he married her. It would be insane to not be madly in love with your wife.”
Luca continued to stare at me before looking away, “He moved on. If she had come back before you, things would be different. Now, he has you and you’re his priority. There’s no need for you to feel jealous,”
“I’m not jealous. I’m just scared if I’m holding him back,”
“From what?”
“Going back to her.”
He scoffed, letting out a laugh afterwards. “He’s barely trusting her right now. He’s more focused on wanting to know how she’s still alive if she was kidnapped than wanting to run back into her arms. Sure, it’s confusing to see your dead wife again but I know Matteo, he’s not easily clouded. He’s aware.”
“Do you trust the things she said?”
“Hardly but we can’t do anything until we find out more,”
Chapter 28
Luca and I ordered iced latté before spending the next half an hour in the café. Apparently, Luca was away for months because he started a business in Singapore. He used to be with Matteo whenever they were dealing with any issues regarding the mafia. Despite knowing how to torture people, he was also a very good hacker.
He was oddly similar to Angelo, always looking around to check our surroundings.
“I know who you are, Alena Rose.”
I took a sip of my coffee before looking at him, “Who am I, then
“You belonged to the Bratva. Mikhail Orlov’s daughter,”
“You got me all figured out.”
He smirked, “I did your background checks. It’s shocking to know a Russian tying a knot with an Italian. More like having a death wish.”
“Trust me, Papa and I aren’t talking anymore.”
“If you weren’t his daughter and things were different, it could’ve been easier.”
As I furrowed my brows, I saw Luca looking at something else behind me. I turned around to find Matteo making his way towards us before leaning in to kiss the top of my head, making me smile.
“Did you kill her yet?” Luca asked, expressionless.
“No but she kept saying the same things,”
“Mm, that’s not helpful. Should we just get it over with?”
He shook his head, “I want to know what happened to her. I also want to know who we’re dealing with.”
Matteo took a seat beside me, taking a sip of my coffee. We were always sharing our foods and drinks, but I didn’t realize he had gotten much comfortable in showing that in public. Besides, we were only months into knowing each other. Nevertheless, I liked how he acted.
“You have a lot of enemies, Matteo. It’s impossible to know which one wants to attack you,”
“Yeah, but we need to figure it out. Don’t say anything important to Sofia. Just keep her in the dark because she might be a mole or something, we can’t risk anything.”
“Noted with that.”
Matteo went to look at me immediately before grabbing my hand, caressing, and kissing the back of it. My lips curved up into a smile at the sudden act, loving how he was able to calm me down by the small gesture.
“I’m going out for a cig,” he stood up walking out.
So, it was only Matteo and me.
He caressed the side of my face, “I’m sorry if it’s too much for you. Things were just going fine between us,”
“It’s fine, Matteo. It’s not your fault.”
“I just want to be happy with you, Alena.”
“I know that… don’t worry,”
He leaned in, kissing my cheek. “Right. What do you think we should do tonight?”
Chapter 28
We decided to spend the night at home, doing absolutely nothing but lay on the sofa to watch movies. It was fun to spend the night with someone we love doing nothing than going out-we didn’t need to go through the hassle of getting ready and looking pretty.
Matteo made pasta and they tasted delicious. I was literally begging for more as soon as I finished my first plate.
If he was going to keep cooking great food, I was bound to gain more weight but at this point, it didn’t matter to me. Matteo was doing all sorts of things to make me happy. He was being a great husband and I was grateful, not everyone was able to experience this.
I laid on his chest, letting him rest his hand around my waist as we watched a thriller movie.
“I would’ve run away,” I muttered.
He chuckled, “And you should if you’re being chased by a serial killer.”
I rested my chin on his chest as I looked up at his face, seeing him focusing on the movie. He was wearing glasses and it was making him look ten times hotter. He had no problem with his vision but whenever he was looking at screens, he would put it on.
“Matteo …” I called out.
“Mm?” he replied, his eyes were still focusing on the screen.
Then, his eyebrows furrowed at what was happening in the movie.
never took this long to look at my husband. Despite being ruthless at work, having bleeding when he was shot, he was just a regular person. Behind those beautiful brown eyes and features, he was a normal person who needed love.
I was lucky enough to have him around.
My hand reached out to touch his face which instantly caught his attention, “What’s wrong, baby?”
“Nothing… I just love looking at you,” my lips were curved up into a smile.
“You’re obsessed with me, huh?”
“Very much so.”
I leaned in, kissing his lips. He responded back with the same softness and when I pulled away, his hand was already making its way into my pajamas.
“Mm, I feel like your hand is making its way somewhere.”
“Really? I didn’t realize,”
With a chuckle, he leaned in to kiss me again.
We didn’t pay attention to the movie anymore as we enjoyed the waves of passion.
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