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I just stare up at him in horror and shock. One hand feels like a cage up above my head, the other arm holds firmly across my throat. 

"Please", I plead. I grab onto his arm in hope he'd let up his hold, but it only gets stronger. It starts to become hard to breathe. 

"I can't wait to tell Carson I found you. He's been searching from the moment you lied to him. But I knew it was only a matter of time, you stupid bitch."

"Alexei will kill-" He chokes me even harder, to the point where I once again feel like I might pass out.

"He won't do anything. I could kill you right-"

"Hey", Alexei barks from the end of the hall. I do my best to turn my head, but I start to lose consciousness under the weight of his forearm, and I start to fade from reality. 

Alexei's POV

My vision goes red as I see him holding her against the wall. 

In a second, I'm throwing a punch into the side of his face, and the force throws him away from her. My men are behind me in a second capturing Emilio, while I try to catch Aleksandra as she falls. 

Her body goes limp for a split second, but I catch her before she falls to her knees too hard. As I catch her, she lets out a god awful cough to catch her breath.

I pull my piece of perfection against me as she gasps for air. 

Emilio fights to free himself, but my men are too strong for him. I've trained them to never back down, and to stand a chance to anyone who cross their path. 

Aleksandra takes a moment, and she gains her mobility back to her body. 

I sit on the ground against the wall and pull her onto my lap, caressing her hair as she continues to suck oxygen back into her lungs.

Though every part of me wants to go shoot Emilio in the head, she is more important. Making sure she is okay is the only thing that matters right now. 

"Alexei", I feel her tug on my shirt jacket. She takes in a deep, shaky breath. I wrap my arms around her and pull her tight to my chest.

I was told by every man who has a wife, in one of those very rare conversation we have about our personal lives, that when you find that one, you'll find a new side of you; one that is like a real human, not just a mafia man. 

She was that girl, I knew from the moment I saw her. 

Aleksandra's POV

When I fully come to, I'm in Alexei's arms, on his lap, on the floor in the hallway. 

"Alexei", I whisper.

"Hey", he hums quietly. 

When I open my eyes, he is already staring down at me. His huge brown eyes have so many different thoughts running behind them, I can't tell how he feels. 

"I'm sorry" I whisper.

"Please, Aleksandra, this is my fault", his tone gets a tad angry, but I can tell it's being directed at himself. "I should not have left you alone."

"Oh my God", Dina's voice pierces my ears from the foyer. Then her heels clack over to us. "Alexei, what did you do?"

Dina's hands are all over me, checking my head, cheeks, shoulders, then trying to get me up off of Alexei. 

"Don't touch her", Alexei demands. Dina's hands disappear, for which I'm thankful.

"Emilio is Carson's brother", I start to cry. I bury my face into Alexei's chest, and his hand holds the back of my head firmly.