A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

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

As soon as she saw Matten ass 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.

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

08:27

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

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.

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 Teel?

up, grabbing his arm before slowly calming

needed but a soft

placed his hand

"It

matter anyway. You have someone new now," Sofia replied sarcastically, causing

blaming me

you

expect me to stay depressed? I was drowning and no one was

grabbing everyone's attention before

of coffee." He said, somehow asking permission from Matteo-he saw how uncomfortable I was, and he wanted to give

but he nodded, gesturing for

for

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,

and I followed behind

must've told you about me,"

"He did."

де

"Congratulations on the wedding."

"We eloped."

elevator, and

see you in

cleared my throat, "Did he tell you

He hasn't been like that for years

Once

lobby. There was a café and we decided to go there. As we sat down, I started to notice

you known Matteo?" I asked, starting

We were friends

"That's a long time.

been through a lot. So, I can

slightly warm on the inside. I knew

It was good to know Matteo was

really love

was a stupid question, and I began to realize

Alena. She was his

her. It would be insane to not

continued

Luca con

"I'm not

come back before you, things would be different.

just scared

what? "Going back

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

trust the things

can't do anything until we find

Chapter 28

was away for months because he started a business in Singapore. He used to be with Matteo whenever

was oddly similar to Angelo, always looking around to

"I know

O you

of my coffee before looking at him,

You

You

t to the

Mikhail Orlov's daughter,"

I figured out."

Hou got me

He smirked,

know a Russian tying

Papa and I aren't talking

his s daughter and things were

around to find Matteo making his way towards us before leaning

my