A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

| sent a quick text message

to my

husband:

‘Chplease. I'm scared."

The text message was simple but it was enough to rush him hif he could check his phone. He had told me

about having a meeting and | knew he was probably busy but if he was able to see the notification, he was going

to rush home. | never wanted to make him worry when it cto my safety but it wasn't the right tto be

selfish for now-I was pregnant and this wasn't just aboutanymore, it involved the safety of our unborn baby.

Without further ado, | ran up the stairs and straight into our bedroom. I locked the door behindand went to

the bed, staying still as | stared at the door. | was paying attention to my surroundings if | could hear something

but everything was quiet, not even a single strange noise could be heard.

| didn't realise how long | had been staring at the door or how long | had stayed in the sposition but | wasn't

bothered to think about anything else. As long as | was alone and safe, | only needed to wait for Matteo to come

home. My phone had beeped a few times and | went to look at the screen.

There were a few missed calls from Matteo which didn't went through because it didn't ring earlier. | stared at

the screen for a few seconds before | went to press onto his name, ringing him back-he was probably driving on

the way home. My eyes widened as soon as | heard his phone ringing from the hallway.

"Alena?" He called out, "Where are you?"

| immediately jumped down from the bed and went to the door unlocking it before pulling it open. Matteo was

standing by the stairs with his phone in his hand. Then, he ran towards me, wrapping his arms around my body

in a hug.

Tears began to fall down my cheeks as | realised my body was trembling. | was shaking in fear for the past few

minutes until he chand | didn't even notice that. | felt like | could finally breathe again after being in his

embrace; he madefeel safe. "Shh, it's okay, I'm right here, he whispered.

08:28 Wed, Nov 13 ww.

Chapter 108

I snuggled closer, inhaling his cologne.

84%

FD

After a few minutes, he pulled apart and went to cup my face. Both of his eyes were staring into mine for a little

while, trying to get a better look at me-he was worried if something had happened and he was a little bit too

late. Luckily for the both of us, nothing had happened and we had survived another day.

"What happened? Are you okay?" He asked, frowning.

| nodded, "I'm okay."

"| chas fast as | could. I'm really sorry,"

"Don't be. You're here now,"

"What's wrong, baby? Why are you scared?"

"The sliding door in the living room was unlocked."

"What?"

I nodded a few times, grabbing onto his hand. "I just got hand I saw that it was unlocked. | was really scared

because | was alone and you weren't here with me. | had imagined the worst,"

He pulledin again, this tresting his chin on my head. "I'm sorry, baby."

"But Matteo, the door was unlocked."

"I'll call Luca now,"

Matteo had went to call Luca, asking him to cover immediately. Afterwards they began to speak in Italian

and | went ahead to sit on the bed, wanting to relax after what happened. The phone call didn't take him long

and after a few minutes, he was joiningon the bed. We were sitting next to each other as he grabbed onto

my hand.

"I'll have him to check the cameras. He has access to them," he added.

"Great. Is he on his way?"

He nodded, "Yes. He'll be here in a few more minutes,"

| layed my head on my husband's shoulder and we stayed like that for a few minutes. It didn't matter as long as |

was near him. | could feel calm just by sitting beside him-it didn't matter if we weren't even speaking. We

appreciated our quiet times.

Matteo and | walked down the stairs when Luca had arrived. | was waiting in the living room when Matteo went

ahead to open the door for him. Luca stepped inside the house with a laptop in his hand, immediately placing it

on the coffee table in the living room. He went on to type a few things on the laptop before displaying

something.

"So, what is it? Did someone break in?" Matteo asked, looking at the screen.

"Is everything else still in place?"

Inodded, "Nothing moved."

"Weird. The security footage was unavailable for the past two hours."

08:28 Wed, Nov 13 2 2.

Chapter 108

"What? So, you can't check what happened?"

Luca shook his head, "I can only the security footage after you got home."

"That's impossible. We never had this problem before,"

"Did we have a power shortage or something?" Matteo asked, frowning.

"There was something wrong with the cameras but I don't think it was related to any power shortage. I'm

guessing the cameras were hacked temporarily," he replied.

84%

"Then, he must've got into the system." My husband muttered under his breath before he went to pace back and

forth. He was beginning to worry as he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to take a deeper breath.

"Fuck, he's really good." Luca added.

"How can he enter the system,

Luca?"

"I-1 don't know. That wasn't supposed to be possible," he replied.

0

FD

| kept quiet as | stayed still, trying to calm myself down. After the first encounter at the café, we hadn't been

safe. He was showing up in front ofmore frequently and he was doing it all on purpose, to scareoff. He

was probably watching us right now as we spoke. "Do you think he can watch us now?" | asked, looking at the

camera.

Luca and Matteo turned to look at me. It didn't take Luca long to disable the security footages and shut them

down as a safety measure. If he had hacked the system, he could always watch us from the security cameras, it

was safer to disable them. This way, he wasn't able to see what we were doing.

"Now they can't see us and we can't see what happens when we're not home," Matteo said.

"We don't have a choice. It's better if they can't see us," Luca replied.

"I have something to say," | interrupted.

Both Matteo and Luca began to look at me, waiting forto continue. | blinked a few times as | took a deeper

breath, trying to be ready for the words to cout of my mouth.

Matteo made his way towardsbefore grabbing onto my hand after he saw how much | was struggling. He

had sat besidefor support, waiting foras | took my time. Luca, on the other hand, looked at the both of

us.

"It's okay, you can tell us." Matteo whispered, rubbing onto the back of my hand.

"I saw him today,"

"What? Where?"

"It was during lunch and | saw him there. He was just staring at me,"

"Did he cnear you?"

"No, no, he just stood there for a little while before he disappeared. | don't know where he went but | didn't see

him again after that." | continued to speak, "The way he stared atwas to show how much he wanted to scare

me. He did it on purpose. | could tell," "He's getting braver to show up in front of you," Luca muttered.

"But he keeps showing up when Alena is alone. He knows when she's alone," Matteo said.

08:28 Wed, Nov 13 ww.

Chapter 108

| shook my head as | turned to look at my husband, "What do | do? I'm really scared."

"Why didn't you tellearlier, baby? It happened during lunch

84%

"| wanted to tell you but something happened at work and | got really busy. It had slipped my mind until | got

hand | saw the door was unlocked. Then, it all ctoabout what happened and how terrified | was," |

replied.

FD

Matteo continued to rub onto my back as he went to kiss my temple, trying his best to calmdown. It was

going to take a few more hours forto be completely calm but he was being very helpful-l knew he was

probably going to run a warm bath after Luca left. One of the things he loved doing to calmdown.

"It's okay. You're safe now," he replied.

"But for how long? He knows where | work."

"You wouldn't like what | have to say, Alena."

| frowned, "I know what you want to say."

"I don't have the heart to say it to you,"

| stood up before taking a few steps back.

Matteo was going to forbidfrom going to work after what happened. He was going to make sure | stayed at

hwith supervision or | had to follow him around. If | didn't agree to any of that, he was probably going to

stay hand keepsafe. "It's for your own good, Alena."

| kept quiet as | looked at them.

0