A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

Alena

My eyebrows furrowed at the sound coming from downstairs. I had fallen asleep when we got into bed-Matteo's arm was draped around my waist, sounding asleep as his face was planted at the nape of my neck. ! I was a light sleeper and when I heard noises, I immediately woke up.

Matteo, on the other hand, was already in a deep sleep and I didn't want to wake him up for nothing. He had a tiring day, having to deal with work related things and now, Sofia. He needed all the rest he could get to maintain his health, too. I had an early shift tomorrow, but I was used to it.

My eyes glanced at the clock on the nightstand, looking at the time exactly four in the morning.

As I slowly moved away from Matteo, it seemed to have woken him up.

"What's wrong? Where are you going?" He asked, half-awake.

It

a cute sight to see. His eyes weren't even fully opened but he managed to grab my wrist, wanting me to stay in bed. I tried to hide my smile, "I'm going to the bathroom."

was a

"Okay,

come

back."

I did go to the bathroom b

once I was done, I still heard noises coming from downstairs. Instead of ignoring it or letting Matteo knew, I stepped out of the room and decided to look.

It could be nothing. It could be the wind.

It wasn't before I glanced at Matteo, seeing him sleeping.

I walked down the stairs, one by one as I followed the sound. The lights were turned off and just by that had raised my suspicions. If I remembered correctly, some of the lights were being left turned on because if either one of us wanted to go downstairs, it wasn't going to be dark. My heart was starting to beat fast, making me anxious.

I hesitated on continuing to check for the sound. I slowly made my way to the front door, looking at the alarm system- everything was locked, nothing was breached. It meant that nobody broke inside. Unless the person managed to pass through the alarm. It didn't make

any

sense.

I began to walk to the kitchen, where the sound was coming from. As soon as I stepped inside the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of a woman. Her hair was being left down, covering the side of her face as she continued to search around in the drawers. She hadn't seen me yet.

And I was going to let it be that way.

Until she stopped and decided to turn around to look at me.

It was Sofia.

My eyes widened at the sight of her, completely surprised to see her here. As I was about to make a run upstairs and wake up Matteo, she lunged-forward towards me which caused me to be knocked down. 08.36 Fri, Oct 18

My body slammed against the floor, hitting one of the glasses in the process.

I groaned in pain before trying to still make a run for it.

But she was stronger. She was angrier.

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T

Both

of her hands were starting to grip around my neck, making me choke. My legs were kicking out as my own hands were trying to pull hers away. She didn't even move a bit and instead of her grips loosening, it began to tighten. I was gasping for air, my hand reaching out to something.

When I got a grip of a broken glass, I quickly ran it over her hand to scratch her.

Sofia screamed before letting me go and I took it as an opportunity to run away. I didn't bother to look behind me because I knew I needed to get the hell out of there. Even though my body and neck were hurting, I wasn't going to think about that now. "Matteo!" I screamed.

I made it to the stairs, but she managed to pull my hair.

When she got a tight grip on a fistful of my hair, I felt something cold near my waist. I didn't have to look to find out it was a

gun.

gun.

I kicked her away, using all my strength before she fired the gun.

My eyes widened at the sound, looking down and seeing blood starting to pool on my shirt and on my hand. Pain was starting to kick in, too as I slowly fell onto the ground. My other hand reaching out to grip the stairs before I began to panic. The pain was too much.

She smiled, leaning into me before running her fingers through my hair.

"Did you think you can easily replace me?" She whispered.

I groaned, trying to catch my breaths. My vision was beginning to blur as I tried to look around, finding another alternative to escape but I was growing weak. There was no way I could make a run for it even if I wanted to.

at the

t of someone behind me.

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Sofia's eyes widened at t Loud noises were heard as she ran away, Matteo running after her.

"What the ***k did you do?!" He shouted, "What did you do, Sofia?!"

Screams and shouts were heard from the dining room as I laid still, pressing hard onto the side of my body, wanting to stop the bleeding if I could. I was losing a lot of blood and I was going to pass out any minute now, but I wasn't going to give up that easily. Al loud banging was heard before everything went quiet. It felt as if a few minutes had passed.

"Baby... Alena, can you hear me?" Matteo came, sitting beside me before touching my face.

My husband was panicking as he kept shaking my body, not letting me drift away. I couldn't say a word because nothing was leaving my mouth. I could feel him touching me, pushing my hair away from my face but I didn't do anything back-my body was growing colder, His hands were oddly warm.

too.

They were never too warm

"Baby," he called out as tears were forming in his eyes.

I blinked a few times, reaching out to touch his face.

He was cursing as he typed in his phone. Then, he was calling Angelo and Luca. He made a run to the front door to sound the alarm-he wanted the police to come.

Then, he went back to sit beside me, holding tightly onto my hand.

"You need to stay awake, Alena. Come on."

I closed my eyes, trying my hardest to stay awake but I kept failing.

My body went limp as soon as he picked me up, slowly placing me at the backseat of his car. The leather seats were white, and I was staining them with my blood but now, he didn't seem to be bothered by that. "I called out, choking.

Matteo

"It's okay, baby. We're going to the hospital now." He started the engine before quickly driving down the road-the car was moving fast, and I knew he was running through all the red lights.

"Stay with me, Alena!"

His voice was slowly drifting away as I cried, tears were pooling my eyes before streaming down my cheeks.

I couldn't bear the pain any longer.

I was groaning and moaning in pain at the back, looking at nothing else but my husband. He was occasionally glancing back at me, worried in his eyes. I could hear him cursing under his breaths even though he was going as fast as he could but to him, I was drowning in my own blood. "F***k!"

His phone started to ring, and he answered immediately, the call went to the car.

"Are you on the way to the hospital? Is Alena okay?" Luca was heard on the other line.

"I'm still on the way but we're almost there,"

"What do you want me to do with her?"

"Dat

Do wh whatever you want but keep her alive. Leave the killing to me," he replied before ending the call.

The car came to a stop and Matteo kept shouting for the nurses and the security guards. I was growing weaker every second, letting him open the door before picking me up. My arms were too weak to wrap around his neck, to comfort him, to let him know that I was going to be fine.

He was too worried. He was panicking.

I didn't like seeing him this way.

My heart was broken at the sight of him.

Noises were heard and every attendant came to check up on me. They were rushing me in the emergency as I was placed on the hospital bed-they were calling out surgeons and an anesthesiologist.

Matteo was holding tightly onto my hand before kissing my cheek, "Stay with me. Come back to me."

"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to step aside."

I was crying as I saw myself getting further away from my husband, seeing him staring back at me in all hopelessness. There was nothing more heartbreaking than wanting nothing but to run back to him and be in his arms but being forced to leave. My body was aching and everything was too overwhelming that I couldn't focus on one pain.

"She's going to go into shock soon. We need to hurry," One of the doctors said as I was closing my eyes, letting the darkness

consume me.

I couldn't feel anything afterwards, but I still heard the noises until they too, were slowly drifting away. I didn't want anything else than to run back to Matteo. I wanted nothing more than to be with him.

But why was I being pulled further away from him?

Why couldn't I feel my body?