A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Alena

"Mama! ***a!" I called out, despite having to force my voice out due to the soreness but I was happy to see them here. They looked worried as they were careful with hugging me, afraid if they were going to hit any painful spots. "Oh, my baby... my sweet little girl." Mama said, wiping away her tears before kissing my cheeks.

Her hands were slightly trembling, yet she tried her best to hide it all away. She was always trying her best to appear strong while Ana, she was already crying her heart out like a little child. It made me smile, knowing she was concerned as I pulled her in for a hug.

"Hey, don't cry. You You look silly." I joked.

She cried even harder; her tears were spilling on me.

"How could you say that? I was worried about you!"

"I know... I know." I slowly rubbed behind her back, trying to comfort her.

Well, I hadn't looked in the mirror ever since I got into my room and I was sure I looked as horrible as I expected myself to be but, my husband was looking at me as if I was the most beautiful woman in the world so, it gave me a small confidence boost.

Mama and Ana were looking at at me as if I was broken.

Mama and

They were shaking their heads, trying to hold back their tears. Yet, they failed miserably.

"I'm glad you're okay." Ana said, her eyes were red and puffy. "I'll be fine... Matteo's here to to take care of me," As I turned As I turned to

look

at my husband, he was standing beside me with both of his hands in his pockets. He wasn't looking at me like he was before because he was too busy glaring at Papa and my brother, Alexei. They were staring at each other as if they were throwing daggers. The three of them were practically glaring at each other but they didn't bother to say a word. I could see Matteo tensing up at the sight of him clenching his jaw while Papa and Alexei were doing the same.

I knew it, they were going to blame him for what happened to me.

"Matteo?" I called out, immediately grabbing his attention.

"Yes,

Yes, baby? Matteo leaned in, tucking a few strands of hair behind my ear before giving a long kiss on my forehead. It was calming enough, and both my Mama and Ana were touched by the scene. Their eyes were in awe as they smiled, loving the way my husband was treating me. "Can I please have some water?" I asked. "Of course, I'll be back."

He left the room, passing by Papa and Alexei.

They stopped looking at him as soon as he was out of sight and were now looking at me. Alexei came to stand beside me

while Papa stayed still in his spot. I knew after what happened at the house, Papa had his ego and didn't want to apologize- he didn't think he was at fault here.

"I thought he was going to protect you." Alexei said.

Instead of asking about my condition, he decided to put the blame on Matteo. It wasn't Matteo's fault to begin with. We were sleeping and it was late at night, nobody expected anything to happen, especially when we thought Sofia wasn't capable of doing that. We didn't think her as a threat.

"You don't know the full story," I replied.

""I don't have to. He

"Stop it, Alexei." Magot you into this,"

xei." Mama interrupted, still caressing the back of my hand. "We didn't come here to pick a fight. We came here to see your sister. So, you can decide to drop whatever it is in your head, or you can leave."

I didn't need Mama to stand up for me, but I was happy she did. I just didn't have the strength to argue with my brother nor

my vocal cords. did I have the voice. There was no need to further strain

Alexei kept quiet. He was an obedient son whether it was Papa or Mama-he knew to respect them and he wasn't the one to rebel. It showed clearly until he grew up, following everything Papa said regarding the mafia even when it was wrong, even i I was to determine my future husband. "How long were you in the operating room, honey?" Mama asked.

not sure, Mama."

"Well, it doesn't matter. You're in recovery now and I'll be with you all the way," and Mama

Ana,

Ana and

Despite the

So, it

ama were both smiling at me, nodding their heads. It was a 'nice feeling to have the whole family here in the same room-we hadn't experience this in a long time ever since we grew up. the current situation with both Papa and Alexei, I was trying my best to ignore them. it didn't bother me when Papa was only standing at the corner of the room without saying a word. He looked worried about me but if he wanted to keep holding onto his anger, he could do that. wasn't losing anything. A few minutes later, Matteo came back into the room with a jug of water. He placed the jug on the desk before pouring me a glass and helped me to drink. My whole family watched everything-while my sister and mother were smiling, my brother and father were glaring as hard as they y could.

Matteo was a couple of years older than Alexei, but it was clear, Alexei didn't have a single respect towards my husband.

Maybe, this was more of a mafia thing than anything else. They weren't exactly enemies, but they weren't friends either. The Russians and the Italians never managed to come into conclusions of what they differed,

"The nurse and the doctor will come in to check on you in a bit," he muttered.

I nodded as a response.

"What happened, Matteo?" Mama asked, frowning.

"Alena was attacked."

"And where were you when she was attacked? Did you plan to get her killed but failed?" Alexei started firing questions which

5Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

caused the rest of us to look at him. The attention immediately shifted to his behavior, and I didn't realize the heavy sigh I let out.

"Alexei!" Mama shook her head.

"No, Mama. We need to know the truth. We can never trust the Italians,"

Matteo kept calm by staying still and quiet by my side, continuing to caress my head before smiling. He found it funny, but I knew he was just trying to ignore his anger-he could push him away and punch him on the face, yet he knew better. He wasn't going to do anything reckless even though Alexei was provoking him.

about the Russians." Matteo replied.

Yet I never said a word Why did you even marry my sister? Did you expect to get more power?"

"Stop avoiding the the subject.

"I married your sister because I love her. If it's about power, I already have more than enough. I never came to visit you in order to 'claim' my power when I married her, I think you're a little bit delusional," he responded calmly.

Alexei scoffed, "Then, why was my sister attacked by your wife?!"

"Ex-wife. She was supposed to to be dead,"

Mama and Ana were silently too?"

watching us as they spoke. Alexei had raised his voice while Matteo replied calmly. In this situation, Alexei looked nothing more than a fool. plan to to kill her Talled, too?

Did the "Don't worry, Alena. Let him be,"

"What i is your problem, Alyosha?" I frowned, shaking my head as I tried to defend my husband-who immediately placed his hand on my shoulder, calming me down.

"Cut the act, Matteo." Alexei continued.

"I know it was my fault because I failed to protect Alena. I had vowed to protect her with my life, but I failed. I swear to you, on my mother, on everything I have, that I will never hurt my wife. Sofia broke into our home and attacked her when I was upstairs. We were sleeping and I didn't think she could break in like that." Matteo spoke, trying to clear the air. "How did she get in?" Papa asked, silencing Alexei before he could speak. How did

"She knew the passcode. I never changed it when she died-well, I assumed she died because I buried her. I didn't expect her to come back and alive."

"How did she die?"

"Car accident."

"I heard of it.'

The

"So, you must know I'm not lying."

Papa kept quiet, knowing he hit a dead end. Five years ago, Papa was still the Pakhan, and he heard many stories about the mafia leaders. He knew about their backgrounds and what had happened to them-just like any other leaders would.

"Don't tell me you trust him, Pa." Alexei interrupted.

"I think we shouldn't talk about this now." Papa replied.

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"So, you're letting him go? Just like that?"

"I'm saying we should talk about this another time. Do you understand that Alexei?"

Alexei nodded, keeping quiet afterwards.

Once the doctor and nurse arrived, they began to check on me. They checked my pulse, my oxygen level and asked a few questions. They wanted to know about any side effects I could be experiencing after the operation, and they said I was strong enough to handle this. The effects were going to wear off in a while then I was probably going to be in pain, especially at the area of the operation because the injury was deep, but I was lucky enough it didn't hit any important o*****ns. Just that I lost a lot of blood.

Forte

For the next few days, I was going to be weak and would need help moving around. Matteo immediately confirmed he was going to be with me all the time and whenever he had other things to do, he wanted Mama to take care of me. Mama was more than happy to come to the hospital and look after me-it was only until I was fully stable, and they could discharge me. After

discharge, Mama was probably going to come over whenever Matteo wasn't at home.

"So, for you just need a lot of rest." The doctor said, smiling.

"Thank

You

"You're welcome. If there's anything else that you might need, you can just press that button to call us." "Alright, thanks."

The doctor and the nurse left the room, leaving us to ourselves.

To our surprise, Luca walked into the room with two paper bags. He was busy talking and once he realized it wasn't just Matteo in the room, he went silent. As he made his way to the desk, he placed the two paper bags down which I assumed were only foods inside. "Quite a crowd we have here," Luca said, breaking the silence. Ana laughed, while everyone else stayed quiet. It had caught Luca's attention as his eyes immediately shifted to my sister, looking at her. Ana didn't seem to mind as she looked back at him. Something was happening there, but I kept quiet, only holding onto Matteo's "You must be starving," Mama said to me.

hand.

You m

"A little bit."

"I'll help you out?" "Okay, Mama."

Mama took her time feeding me while Ana continued to talk about her unity life. It was good and refreshing to hear her stories because at least for a little while, I could forget about Sofia. I didn't even have to think about her. Matteo hadn't left my side ever since I woke up, even though he was sitting near the window and scrolling on his phone. I knew he was listening to the conversation we were having, but he kept quiet.

Luca decided to leave after a while and soon, it was my family deciding to leave.

It was a relief to not hear Alexei interrogating Matteo anymore.

Papa came to kiss the top of my head before leaving the room, followed by a grumpy Alexei. Ana and Mama hugged me, wishing me for a speedy recovery. As Mama leaned away, she started to point at Matteo which caused me to follow her gaze. Matteo was sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed. He had fallen asleep.

He was exhausted and deep down, I felt bad for him.

"I'll stop by tomorrow, okay? Call me if you need anything."

"Okay, Mama. Thank you."

"You're most welcome, sweetheart. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Then, they all left, and the room was quiet.

I continued to look at Matteo, smiling to myself. He was always adorable whenever he was sleeping, and I couldn't easily look away from him. I wanted to go to the bathroom, but I felt bad if I had to wake him up, so I decided to wait for a few more minutes. This was love.

The

e door was opened, revealing Angelo. Matteo had woken up from the sound of the door opening and looked straight at his bodyguard, seeing Angelo carrying a duffel bag. "Thanks, Angelo." He said, standing up to grab it.

Angelo nodded before turning to look at me, "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm

m okay."

"Good, you should rest."

Then, he was out of the door.

Angelo wasn't known to talk much, and it wasn't a surprise to see him acting that way. Besides, if he didn't have anything

peace. important to talk, he preferred to keep his

Matteo walked back to the sofa with the duffel bag, opening it and revealing a few pairs of clothing. It was his clothes-he was staying the night here with me. It was obvious, but I thought he was going to go hom