A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Matteo

"Your broken rib will heal in six weeks but until then, we still need to monitor your condition. Please avoid any vigorous activities, we don't want any complications." The doctor said and Alena listened, "As for your fractured arm, it might take about four to six weeks as well. You will have to go to therapies to get back your strength."

"After the six weeks are up, will everything go back to normal?" she asked.

"Yes, if you take care of yourself during this healing process, everything will be fine."

Last night, when I went back to Alena's room after ending the call, she was still sound asleep. It didn't take me long to fall asleep because as soon as my body was on the sofa, I began to realise how tired I was-the past few weeks were draining. However, ever since I got Alena back into my life, I finally felt at peace.

That was until Alexei threatened me. He had given me two days to think and he left me with no choice. Either way, he was going to take Alena away from me. "Thanks, doc.

Alena turned to look at me with a smile plastered on her face. She was excited to go home, even though she had hoped to leave last night but I persuaded her otherwise. It was my first time seeing her smile after for so long and it had made me excited, too. The perfect smile. I loved it whenever she grinned.

I made my way towards her before grabbing her hand, kissing the back of it.

"What's wrong?" She asked, looking at me.

Ever since Alena became my wife and we had fallen in love, we were in sync. If things weren't okay with us, we were bound to find out about it. I was actually scared if she could easily read my facial expressions and ended up figuring my secret.

She had every right to know about the current situation with Alexei and Mikhail but I wanted think about it myself first. She was healing and she needed rest as much as possible, she didn't have to stress herself.

I smiled at her, shaking my head. "Nothing, baby. I just hate seeing you like this,"

"Seeing me like what?" A frown had appeared as she tilted her head.

"Hurt. In pain. All because of me,"

"Don't

say

that... it's not your fault."

"It's my fault, Alena. You wouldn't be in this situation-

11

She had cut me off by pulling me close, "Stop it, Matteo. None of it is your fault. We were going through a rough patch in our relationship and actually, I only have myself to blame. I had left you all by yourself and I had gotten into the situation on my own. All you wanted to do was to keep me safe but I was too stubborn. I didn't listen," she replied.

"Baby..."

"Believe me, I will regret that for the rest of my life."

"Don't."

"Then, don't blame yourself either. Can we please just move on? "Will you ever f

me?"

04.78%

"I want to move forward with you, Matteo. I should be asking for your forgiveness."

I leaned in to kiss her lips before kissing the back of her hand again, a few times. I could never imagine a life without Alena by my side; she was the rainbow after the rain, the sunshine to scare away my surrows, she was everything I ever wanted in life. My life was dark and I had no purpose before she came.

If I lost her, I was losing myself as well.

"I love you, Alena Rose. I love you for the rest of my life,"

"Just for the rest of your life?"

I chuckled. "In this life and the hereafter. Forever."

Alena continued to caress my face as she stared into my eyes. For once, everything felt calm and we were at peace. After everything we went through for the past few weeks, we could finally see the rainbow at the end of the road.

I had forgotten about Alexei and Mikhail as I let myself get lost in her eyes.

I was always going to be reminded of my failure whenever I looked at her bruises. As she continued to heal and they slowly disappeared, it became a constant reminder. I knew after a couple of more weeks, we were going to become ourselves again. We were two adults who had gotten lost in the process. We again.

just needed

find ourselves in order to fall in love, again and

I slowly grabbed my necklace before taking it off, sliding her wedding band and engagement ring.

"No... you kept them," she said in surprise before blinking away her

tears.

"Of course. Only until you came back

me," I replied.

I grabbed her hand before sliding her rings on and she surprised me with a hug. My arms wrapped around her body as

she snuggled close and I swore I could somehow hear and feel her heartbeat k

When our bodies collided, we felt complete.

We

As a sinner, I had always blamed myself for the tragedies in my life. I had always wanted to have a different life, given a

different choice and became a normal person. If I

If I was able to choose my own destiny, I knew I would've chosen differently:

When I was younger, I never had the heart to kill someone. As I grew older and I became more ruthless, the killings were easy. The younger me was gone-I no longer felt guilty for the lives I took. I no longer thought of the families I had destroyed. Either way, I was going to go to hell. God was never going to probably endless.

forgive

person like

e unless I repented but the list was

I thought I was damned for good.

Until Alena came into my life and she showed me the goodness of it. If I had chosen a different life for myself, I would've never crossed paths with her-the beautiful Bratva princess who had also wished for a different life.

We were two helpless souls who wanted a regular life. However, we weren't given the chance to choose our road, we just decided to make the best out of it.

"Matteo," she called out for me after leaning back.

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"I want to say I'm sorry,"

I frowned, "Alena..."

"Please? Can you hear me out?" She smiled, holding tightly onto my hands. "I will only feel fine after I've said everything I wanted to say to you. You have to hear them,"

"But I've already forgiven you, sweetheart. You don't need to apologise to me," I replied.

"After everything I put you through? You deserve more than an apology, Matteo. You deserve a wife who can change and be better for you. You deserve a wife who chooses you and will always choose you even if it gets tough." She continued to speak and I listened, knowing it was going to make her feel better.

"And that person is you. You're my wife,"

"I know. I want to be better for you."

"You are already better for me, Alena."This is from NôvelDrama.Org.

"You're just saying that because you feel bad for me."

"Why would I feel bad for you, princess?"

She shrugged, biting her lower lip. I knew she never realised it but the way she held her gaze was always going to be the death of me-she always did the cute puppy eyes whenever she wanted to apologise and it made my knees grew weak.

"Because you hate seeing me like this. So, even if you're actually hurt, you choose to forgive."

"I don't feel bad for you, Alena. I just push away my hurt to put you first in everything. I've forgiven you even when you hurt me because I know, I will always choose you. I always want you to be by my side because I chose you." I responded, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear.

Her cheeks were slightly red as she blushed but she pretended to be unaffected.

"You're so patient with me," she muttered.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I caressed her face softly.

"I thought you'd hate me."

"Never. I would never hate you."

""Resent me?"

"Never, ever, baby. In fact, I will only know to love you."

I grabbed both of her cheeks in my hands before leaning in to kiss her lips and within seconds, she started to kiss me back. Her lips were buttery soft as they always were but this time, I was afraid if I broke her..

Alena was always fragile to me. She was petite.

After she had lost a lot of weight, I only got scared to hold her for long. I was afraid if my touch could hurt her, if I had held her too tight.

She moaned as we kissed and I knew she enjoyed this.

III

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I hadn't felt it in awhile but the butterflies came back. They were fluttery in my stomach and they got intense as we continued to kiss. I had never thought it was possible for me to feel the butterflies with someone after Sofia but Alena brought them back to live. Alena had healed the broken pieces of me, the ones she didn't break.

How could I break her heart? How could I break her?

The thoughts of Alexei ruining everything I ever built was terrifying. I was never going to admit it out loud but I was scared of the things he could do, of the other families he could destroy He didn't threatened me for fun. He assured me. Alena was an angel who deserved to be treated as perfect. Maybe, she deserved to be with someone else, who could her without fail. She deserved to be happy for as long as she lived.

Was it worth risking everything I had built for a woman? My woman.

protect

I broke the kiss before staring down at her, seeing her smile up at me. The perfect dark green eyes were hypnotising as I slowly got lost in them-how could I even considered breaking a sweetheart like her?.

I wasn't supposed to let Alexei or Mikhail broke me but somehow, they had managed to brainwash my thoughts and I was left considering a few different options.

I had lost my fire.

And I had two days.