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The next few hours were agonizing, both literally and figuratively.

River was rushed to the hospital and luckily, she didn't displace any of her intervertebral discs. It was just a ligament tear, though she had to walk around with a brace around her hip for a good three weeks now.

The real damage, it seemed, was from a gash on the back of her head, which Mateo discovered on their way to the hospital when he felt a slight dampness on his shirt. River bled quite a lot and had two units of blood transfused into her.

The kids and Mateo were with her initially after she got patched up. The orthopedic surgeon had ordered a full check up for her twins after her little ones told her that they went to sleep soon after those bitches fed them something.

Contrary to her paranoid conclusion, they were given totally legal and safe child sedatives. Fortunately so, because both of their parents had made separate plans to make a trip back to the dock and burn their supplies and shipments if it had been anything dangerous. Not that the kidnappers were going to have it easy.

Susan Johnson was trying to deal with everything legally and righteously now, not something that Mateo really agreed to but he didn't have any say in the matter at the moment. He had to wait till the right time to confirm if the most beautiful pair of twins he had set his eyes upon, were indeed his own blood or not.

Susan had filed the FIR, and asked Eric to not do anything when he asked her daughter, "What do you want me to do with those motherfuckers?"

And because of hospital policies, the kids couldn't stay with their mother as it was already past ten by the time all the tests and check-ups were done and kids were not allowed to stay over-night.

River didn't want anyone to stay over with her. The kids needed their Grandma and Lilith was too old to stay over at the hospital, not to forget she had her blood pressure elevated from all the stress and dread due to the kidnapping.

The kids needed as many familiar faces around after that traumatic experience. River had instructed everyone that no mention of the situation was to be made at all cost. She wanted them to forget it. Forever. She knew her kids needed time to digest the situation and get over it, but she didn't want any triggers.

Jacqueline, however, had put her foot down and said that she was staying with her best friend. It was either that or going back to her own home so River had to reluctantly agree; she knew that arguing with Jacqueline was a waste of time and energy. Nobody could ever win an argument against the great Jacqueline Meyers.

Sebastian had gone to his own home because in his hurry, he had left Mia with his housekeeper. But he had promised his best friend, in between all the commotion, that Alison and he were staying over River's place that night because "family needs to stick together when such things happen".

So there she was, on a hospital bed, her senile spine throbbing in pain because it was the longest it had sat upright in.. well, its whole existence.

Jacqueline was running late. River wondered if the poor girl was called back in before she could swipe out.

Emma, one of the nurses, was checking her BP. The tightening of the fabric around one's arm was what River liked to call a disgusting sensation. She didn't know how else to explain it.

It wasn't a painful pain. It was just irritating and uncomfortable pain.

"Did you fall down the stairs or something, doc?" She asked.

"Nope, a running vehicle." The doctor grinned at her while she just rolled her eyes.

Mateo gave her a knowing eye.

They both knew it wasn't entirely a joke.

Was it forgotten to mention that he was also staying over? Technically, he was staying with Leonardo and his wife and was just visiting River because she was stuck in VIP08 and she was in VIP07. How she ended up there was another obvious story.

Emma left after adjusting the drip.

River was put on a fast just in case her cracked skull decided to swell up and cause a disaster. In other words, in case she needed surgery.

"How did you learn to ride a bike like that?" Mateo asked him as he fixed the pillows for her.

"I used to run with the wrong crowd, back in the days." She laughed and lowered her voice though no one was around. "I was into illegal racing."

He raised a brow at her, his expression almost of pride. River wondered if she was reading his expressions wrong.

She let out a deep breath as she finally settled down.

"Now, spill." She said, point blank.

"Spill what?" He asked, acting clueless though she could clearly see a small smirk etched at the tips of his lips.

River gave him a look which said, "Really now?" but decided to play along with him.

"Oh I don't know. A lot of things actually, starting with who you are."

"Mateo Adesso." He smirked. Cheeky bastard.

"And what do you do, Mr. Adesso?"

"Mateo." He pointed out, his smirk still in place.

"Alright, what do you do Mateo?"

"I own a chain of Italian restaurants. Katrina's. Heard of them?" He grinned.

River shook her head. She didn't go out much anymore and even if she did, she was already too preoccupied to care.

"Funny because I remember taking you to one once."

She raised her eyebrow.

'Ohhhhhhh....' The inner voice hummed as soon as it clicked.

"And I am guessing all those guys with the guns must be your restaurant employees?" She asked, her tone smug.

Of course, River had tried to get information on the situation and found out that the people to kidnap her kids were part of the Russian Mafia and so it didn't take much time for her mediocre brain to figure out where an Italian man who visited the hospital twice, once with a gunshot wound and then with a pregnant woman who looked like she was caught in the middle of an ambush, would fit in all of this.

Her only question was, why did he help her?

And the possible explanation was because she had saved his ass once and Mrs. Adesso and her baby's the second time.

But her over thinking brain said there was something more to it.

And that's what she wanted to know.

He pursed his lips and looked down as if he would find the answers to her questions etched on his feet.

"There was already a fight going on. We just snuck in and-"

"At least make the lie a believable one."

He sighed and looked up, looking annoyed now. "You will have a tough time believing the truth."

"What? That you are part of the Sicilian Mafia and probably at a high position too?" River asked, cocking her head.

He blinked.

"Who told you that?"

She tapped on her temple. "Figured it out here. It's not really rocket science, you know."

He looked at her as if she was the first of her kind. She probably was. "And you are not scared?"

"Well, you are on my side so why would I be scared?" She shrugged.

River ran with gangs at some point in her life so these kinds of people didn't scare her as long as they didn't have a gun trained to her head. She knew that the Mafia was a much bigger organization but threat was a threat no matter who caused it.

Mateo took a while digesting all that she said. He had thought that the day he told the woman all of this, it would be hard for her to digest everything. But it was him who was caught off-guard.

He rubbed his temples.

"But there's something else you might not know yet." He said slowly.

"What?"

"That-" He stopped and gritted his teeth, contemplating whether to tell her or not. "That I did it all for Benjamin Gale. He's one of our informants." He finally spat out.

River felt... disappointed. She had expected him to say something else. Anything else.

"Oh." Is all she managed to let out.

"I should get back." He stood, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "You can tell your mother there is nothing to fear and she can go back to defending Gale in court. We've got her back."

And with that he left, not sparing her another glance.

'Did he wanted to say something else?' She thought.

'Or did you want to hear something else?' The bitch spoke up.

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"Hellooo my booboos!!" River sang as she watched her munchkins scramble on to her bed.

"Mommyyy!!!" Kiara squealed, her bright smile back in its rightful place.

"My little booboo bambi!" River hugged her, rocking her a bit.

Susan looked at her concerned and she just gave her a playful glare. She knew that she was kind of crippled right now but that didn't mean she wouldn't give her little fairy princess the best hug she deserves.

"Are you okay now Mommy?" Lucas asked, taking her hands in his, looking cautious.

River rolled her eyes. "Come here my little gladiator!" She hugged him tight though it strained her spine a bit.

The boy acted way beyond his years. He was scared he would hurt his mother.

"Mommy, you were so cool yesterday!" Kiara clapped, squealing.

"I know I know. But it's a secret, okay? You can't tell anyone." River looked between her darlings.

They nodded, Lucas more solemnly than Kiara.

"Mommy, we made you lemon cookies." Kiara cheered.

She looked at her, then at the bag in my mom's hand and pouted.

"I am still fasting!" She wailed.

"What's fasting?" Lucas asked. "That you are fast?"

"Like yest-" Lucas covered Kiara's mouth before she could complete and whispered. "It's a secret, remember?"

River's boy took secrets and promises very seriously, while Kiara couldn't keep it in unless she forgot about it.

River didn't think she was going to forget the moment her Mommy did some action movie level stunt any time soon.

"Fasting means Mommy can't eat, until the doctor says otherwise." Susan explained to the kids.

"But aren't you the doctor?" Kiara turned to her mother, her angelic voice dripping with curiosity.

"I am a doctor baby but Mommy has another doctor." She said.

"But why?" She asked again.

"Because Mommy is always taking care of others, she needs someone to take care of her." Lucas reasoned.

"Like a husband?"

'What were we talking about and where is this going?' The inner voice cooed.

"No no-" River tried to intervene but her children were already taking the conversation in a different tangent. She finally gave up after a few more tries and just pulled them to her lap and listened to their chatter, feeling the gravity of the situation suddenly and finally hit her.

'What would have I done? What would have I done if something had happened to them?'

"Mommy, are you crying?"

"Mommy, are you hurt?"

"Mommy, is it because we are fighting. We won't fight anymore. Promise!"

"River, baby, does it hurt? What is it, hon?"

She couldn't bring herself to answer to their questions and concerned voices.

She blinked rapidly to clear off the tears and started gasping, feeling out of breath.

All her senses started to shut down and all she could feel was the hunger for air.

And as the darkness surrounded her, all she could think was,

'I don't care what happens to me but my children NEED to be safe, at all times.'

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"Are you frigging kidding me???" Adam looked at his best friend as if he was crazy. "One look at his face and anyone who knows you from childhood would say he's your son!"

Mateo sighed. "But I don't remember meeting her and the kids are around five. I think we should get a paternity test done before jumping to conclusions."

"Or we could ask the doc who the dad is." Alessia threw her knife at Adam's dartboard, hitting bull's eye.

Adam huffed and stood up from his bean bag, pulling the knife out and taking a dart in his other hand.

"This, right here Alex, is a dart, which goes-" He pressed it to the dartboard. "In the dartboard."

Alessia rolled her eyes and threw her other knife which cut through the dart and grazed his fingers.

"Owwww..." Adam shook his hand violently, glaring at her.

"What if she doesn't want to tell me. I mean, she didn't tell me these last five years. And she knows I am in the mafia."

"You told her?" Ricardo walked in, passing everyone sandwiches he brought from Subway.

"She figured it out." Mateo sighed.

"Wait what?" Alessia sat up. "How?"

"She ran around with gangs and all."

"So?" Adam looked disbelievingly. "You think that's good enough reason?"

"She's hiding something." Ricardo stated. "Maybe she could be with the Russians."

"That's not possible." He replied, glaring at his best fighter.

"Speak English please." Adam pointed at his best friend. "Plus, how can just anyone come to that conclusion? She could have guessed up to gangster level but Mafia?"

"That's what she thought at first. That I was some gangster. But when the kids got kidnapped and her gang friends figured out it was the Russian Mafia, she must have put two and two together. I mean, we found the kids and we weren't really subtle about the offensive front."

"Wait, how did those street thugs find out where the kids were held?" Alessia asked.

Now that she asked it, Mateo wondered, 'How did they know?'

"Something doesn't add up."

They all fell silent after that.

Was this another one of Mona's grand schemes?

What was happening?

They sat there in silence, trying to come up with a plausible theory.

Mateo's phone rang a few minutes later, Leonardo's face popping up on the screen.

"Cugino." Mateo addressed as he picked up.

"Thank me later but I may have bribed the lab technician in to getting the twins' blood samples from yesterday."

"I will be there in an hour."

"What's happening?" Adam asked.

"I will tell you when I get back."

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"The reports will come back by tomorrow." Wilson, the lab technician, said.

"Okay. Send it to this email." Mateo said, giving him his business card.

Leonardo had gone back to the room as soon as he had reached the hospital and he had stayed back at the lab to give his blood samples.

Mateo made his way to the VIP floor to pay Lorenzo and maybe River a visit.

As the elevator door opened, he saw them again.

The most beautiful children out there.

But they were crying.

Susan Johnson and River's best friend Sebastian were there. While Susan tried to comfort the kids, Sebastian stood straight and emotionless. Only if you looked closely into his features could you notice the sheer panic and fear in his eyes.

Mateo hurried over to them and knelt down in front of the kids.

"What's wrong?"

"Mommy's not okay!!" The little girl cried, throwing her arms around his neck.

His heart stopped for that one moment.

Her arms around him. His daughter.

He shook off those thoughts. It wasn't proved yet.

Mateo patted her head and stood back up.

"What happened?" He asked the woman who was observing him. She definitely knew who he was. More reason to believe it wasn't so hard for River to figure out.

"She had a panic attack and fell off the bed." She stated with a sigh. "It reopened the wound on her head and strained the ligament more."

'What? A panic attack? She was fine just yesterday.'

Sebastian stared at his godchildren's tear-stained faces and sighed. "Mom, go home with the children."

"But-"

"I don't wanna go!!" Kiara wailed, hugging her grandmother.

"Ki, let's go." Lucas hugged her. "Mommy will worry if we cry."

These little ones already had Mateo's heart.

Susan sighed and said, "I think I should stay. Take the kids to Mom."

"You sure?"

She nodded.

Sebastian turned to Mateo. "Thanks for everything, Mr. Adesso."

He nodded and watched him walk away with the twins, Kiara crying into his shoulder.

Susan Johnson sat down on one of the waiting chairs, face in her palms.

And he couldn't bring himself to leave her there so he sat down there as well, only noticing then the concerned looks the men guarding Michelia's room was giving him.

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