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River sighed and stretched, groaning a bit when her back throbbed in protest. "First, I thought this was about my mom, but the way things are getting all tangled up, I think there is much more in to it. This got something to do with-"

"Me."

River scrunched up her face. What did he have to do with any of this?

"Because I saved your life a year ago or because my mom's defending your informant?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"No, it's because-"

The door was pushed open and Susan Johnson walked in, with a bag of what must have be the muffin and the small box of chocolate milkshake in her hand.

"Mr. Adesso." She smiled as she walked over, setting the food down on the coffee table.

River could already smell the muffin. Yum.

"Where's Valerie?" She asked, looking around.

"She had stuff to do." River's voice was grave. She wondered if Michael had managed to get his hands on that little shit.

"Okay, so-"

"Mommy, we both need to talk. You should go home." River cut her off, keeping her voice emotionless.

"Everything alright babe?" Susan asked, her voice dripping with concern. She didn't think she could ever forgive herself if anything more happened because of her taking up that case. Little did she know that this situation was going in a completely different tangent.

"I am not sure, mom." River said honestly. "I will ask Shane to pick me up in the evening."

She nodded and went ahead to pick her coat up.

"Take care." She kissed her daughter's cheek, her eyes filled with concern and unanswered questions. But she trusted her daughter more than anyone else in the whole wide world, and had complete faith in her; whatever it is, River would handle it. And she also knew that her daughter wasn't someone who shied away from asking for help when she was stuck, so Susan knew that there was nothing that her kid couldn't handle. But still, she was her mother and she was always concerned for her little one and her little one's little ones.

"I will." River murmured, placing a kiss back.

Susan nodded at Mateo and walked out, glancing at River one last time before closing the door behind her.

Mateo went over and locked the door, the tension increasing ten-fold.

"How are you involved?" River asked him, feeling the dread begin to consume her. It wouldn't be a surprise if she had another panic attack from all the stress again.

If it had something to do with the bad guys River ended up putting behind bars a decade ago, she had a good chance at escaping with the kids if she moved cities. She was willing to even go live in Cambridge with her mom's parents. But if it had something to do with the mafia, there was no way out. Until death. At least that's what the myth was.

"Who is the kids' father?"

"He's not in the picture." River said without missing a beat. She was habituated to saying that when asked about the twins' dad. It had become more or less a reflex.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, as emotionless as she was being. "Do you know who he is?"

River wanted to say yes and that it was none of his business. But the way he looked at her was how one who knew the truth looked at the other person, challenging them to lie.

"No. Okay? I don't know who it is, as unbelievable as that is." But then River paused, putting two and two together.

"You." His eyes widened as she said it.

"Do you know who he is?" River asked.

Mateo suddenly chuckled.

"Wait, that's it?? Their father is after my children?" She gasped, throwing her hand over her mouth. "Jesus, who the hell is he? How did he even figure it out?? And why the hell couldn't he approach me like a normal person?? Why kidnap-"

"It's me." Mateo cut her off and effectively shut her up. "I am the father of our children."

"Huh?" Is all that came out of River's mouth.

He pulled out his phone from his back pocket and tapped a few times and showed her the phone.

It was a paternity test result dated yesterday. Of Mateo Adesso and Kiara Johnson.

And her eyes scanned the page right to the end which said,

River looked up at Mateo, pursing her lips and feeling the tears well up in her eyes.

"How long have you known?"

"I had my doubts since the day they were kidnapped and I saw their photo. Lukey looks just like me. But I bribed the lab technician into doing the test yesterday and the reports came back today." He explained, slowly. He knew that River was in a delicate state after the revelation.

"Are you going to take them away from me?"

"What?? No!!!" He looked almost offended at what she asked. "Why would you think that?"

"Oh I don't know. That's the first question that came to my mind."

Mateo shook his head, not being able to control the smile – this woman was something else.

River's phone rang. She wiped her tears and picked it up to see it was Michael Jahn.

"Hey-"

"We lost her." He said before she could even greet him.

"That's okay." She said. "Thanks for the help, Mikey."

"Don't worry. We will find her for you."

With that he hung up and River turned to Mateo. "They lost her."

"It's fine. We know it's Mona Petrov." He explained. "She was after your mom at first but when she got the kids to blackmail your mom, she figured out that they were mine because Lukey looks exactly like my childhood self."

"What's their real names again?" He added.

River smiled. "You didn't see it in the reports?" She pointed at his phone.

He pursed his lips, realizing how much of a dumbass he was.

"It's Kiara and Lucas."

"Their names are as beautiful as they are."

River nodded. There, they already had something they agreed upon about the children.

"So what's your plan?" River asked. There had to be a plan because she just saw her plan of leaving New York hit the bin when she found out the kids' dad is in the Sicilian Mafia. "Do you want to be a part of the twins' life?" She had to add that question.

"Of course I do, River." He asserted. "They are our children, and they need both of us."

River nodded. Thankfully, he didn't say that he was going to keep them to himself or anything, because then they would have had a problem.

"So first step of the plan forming in my mind: Get to the kids before someone else does." River said, nodding to herself. "We will figure everything out later."

"When can you go home?"

"Today evening."

"I will send some of my men to stay guard at your apartment until then." He said.

"Don't you want to go meet your kids?" River asked. She knew that she couldn't leave any sooner but he could go stay with them until then.

She knew that she should be terrified that the father of her children was part of the mafia. And she was. She was as scared as Chloe was when she found out that Lucifer was indeed the devil.

But also, she knew this was not something she could change or control.

River needed her kids safe. But Susan being a criminal lawyer put them at risk but that didn't mean she could just disown her own mother, now did it?

And Mateo was their own father. He had as much right on them as she did. They lived five years without him and she was absolutely glad that he came into their lives before they got old enough to ask questions, and feel his absence. And she was even more glad at the fact that unlike the fathers in the stories she read, he wasn't putting up a fight to take them away from her or denying ever being their father.

"I am terrified." He chuckled. "I am the capo of the Italian Mafia and I am terrified!"

River raised an eye brow.

"Now what's a capo?" She asked.

He stared at her face for a good two minutes before he said, "You are taking this awfully well. After your panic attack yesterday, I was worried you will lose your mind or something."

River exhaled deeply and soundly as she sat down. "Even if I was to go ballistic, the truth is not going to change; the danger is not going to disappear. What I need to figure out is how to keep my kids safe!" Her voice involuntarily rose at the end, and she probably did sound like a maniac right then.

"I know." He sat down on the bed, next to her. "I am going to protect all of you, I promise."

River let out another deep breath, a chuckle breaking out at the end. "I am not some damsel in distress Mateo, and I don't need your protection. Focus on m- our kids. Nothing should happen to them."

He stared at her for a few moments and then nodded.

"I won't let anything happen to our babies."

"Good."

"And you don't have to call Shane or whoever you were going to call. I will drop you off at your house."

She nodded.

"And we will have to move to one of our safehouses." He added. "All of us."

Wait what?

"Does that mean I can't go to work either?"

"It does."

River swore under the breath.

Of course, she couldn't go to work. There was no question about it.

And as much as she wanted to scream and protest, she couldn't. Because she wasn't stupid. There was imminent danger and there was no time to sulk or throw tantrums. It was for the best.

She would just take a long leave or maybe even resign.

River quickly picked up her phone and dialed Dr. Jamie Dewell's number.

"Hey doc?" He laughed. He was one happy guy. "You know you could just press the call button right?"

"I have a doubt."

"That is?"

"How did I manage to get a wound on the back of my head when I was wearing a helmet?"

Mateo scrunched his face up and got to thinking. No one thought about that before, now did they?

"Wait, I thought you fell down the stairs or something." Dr. Dewell sounded hella confused.

"Well I didn't. I didn't want my overprotective mom to know what happened." It was a lie. But for the best.

"Okay so what exactly happened."

And she told him. Technically, she told him what she did to get the wound but not what happened to make her do the stunt in the first place.

"Okay so the impact on the ground must have been so bad because it was from a considerable height that it broke the helmet and the shard must have pierced through. Also the injury is in the lower back of the head so the helmet could have slipped a bit up and you hit your head on some other sharp surface. Helmet doesn't completely guarantee protection from injuries now does it?" He said. "But honestly dude, I didn't know you were into these stunts."

"So what are the possibilities I could get a long leave because of it." She asked.

"River..."

"Yes?"

"Well, I could write up a PTSD with that panic attack you had, and tremors due to spinal cord damage. You will be referred to the neuro-department for treatment though."

"I am moving to Cambridge to stay with my grandparents while I recover."

"I don't know River. It's kind of illegal."

"Jamie, I know more than you think."

"Are you threatening me, doc?"

"Well, it surely isn't a request."

He laughed but said, "Honestly River, it is wrong."

"Even if I could be shot dead if I stayed?"

"Okay, that changes things." Now he sounded alarmed. "You are not joking, are you?"

"You think?"

"Fine, I will do it." He said. "I will submit that you are unfit to continue your duties for a while. You will be fine as long as they don't cross-check."

"Thanks Jamie."

"We are going on a date as soon as you get back."

River rolled her eyes. "You wish."

She hung up and looked over at Mateo who was looking at her intensely throughout the phone call.

"I expected you to throw a fit."

"I expected you to be a bit more scary.. and authoritative."

"Do you want me to be?" He smirked.

"Nope. The last thing we need is a war to determine the alpha."

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"Mom, what are you doing?" Susan asked Lilith.

Kiara turned around on her stool to see that her GG was eating the fresh batch of cookies they had made for River after she finished the ones they made yesterday.

"GG!" Lucas and Kiara yelled in unison.

"I was just making sure my granddaughter got only the best of the best." She shrugged.

'Of course, that made sense. GG loved Mommy!' The innocent girl thought.

"Thanks GG!" She ran to her great-grandmother and hugged her waist.

"Anything for my babies!" She chuckled but Susan and Lucas were looking at her with narrowed eyes because they both knew that was utter bullshit.

Kiara quickly turned to her brother. "Let's go play Luke!!"

"Okay!" He grinned at her and turned to Lilith. "There are eleven cookies left. All for Mommy!"

He took her hand and they ran to their room.

"That boy is scary!" Lilith said, clutching her chest.

Susan gave her mother-in-law a flat look. "Who do you think he gets it from?"

The twins were preparing for welcoming their mom home.

They had already prepared a card for their Supermom. It said,

And it had lots and lots of hearts and flowers. And also a drawing of the three of them in a park.

Kiara loved it though she didn't know why Lucas was using big words like 'indepentent' in it.

They were playing with the toy cars Uncle Sebby had brought for them when the doorbell rang.

"Mommy's here!!" Lucas looked at his sister, grinning.

They dropped their cars and ran out the room, dashing towards the front door.

Mrs. Marley was already at the door.

They ran through her sides and stood in front of her, waiting as she unlocked the door.

But it wasn't River.

It was a mister.

A mister the twins remembered.

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"Who are these children, Mona?" Dmitri asked his sister. "And what did you do to the boy?"

"They are Mateo's." Mona tugged at Lucas' hair, hard. Lucas was knocked by one of her men after he threw a fit to call their mother after Valerie picked them up from the kindergarten.

"Mona, you know it's not right. You can't do this to them. They are just children."

"Oh shut up and get out of my house. You are not welcome here!"

"Fine. But let me tell you sister, you are going to pay for this. Karma is a bigger bitch than you."

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"It's you." Kiara whispered.

Mrs. Marley and Lucas looked at her.

"You know him, princess?" Mrs. Marley asked the kid.

"Ki, haven't Mommy told us not to talk to strangers?" Lucas asked her, looking angry.

"This mister's sister is the bad auntie." The little girl pointed up at him.

Mrs. Marley quickly pulled the both of them back, alarmed.

"Who is it, Mrs. Marley?" Susan walked towards them. "Rivy's not supposed to be here till evening."

"Leave or I will call 911!" Mrs. Marley yelled, looking very scared.

"What's happening?" Susan came forward, pulling Lucas and Kiara behind her.

"Please let me explain!" Dmitri said. Kiara found his and his sister's accent funny. She found Mateo's accent funny too, but it was different from them. Lucas loved Mateo's accent. He loved everything about the man. He was already his role model.

"Explain it to the cops!" Mrs. Marley yelled again as she pulled out her phone from her dress pocket.

Dmitri held her hand with the phone and Lucas held Kiara's hand at the same time. Susan held them both tighter.

"If you call the cops, you won't get a chance to hear what I have to say. And you won't know what danger lies ahead." He said.

"And why would we believe you?" Susan asked him, though her voice kept breaking.

"Because if you ask your little girl over there, she will tell you I was scolding my sister for what she did. I am on your side here." He said. "And even if you call the cops, they can't even touch me, but you will lose a powerful person on your side."

Susan didn't say anything for a while.

"Lukey, Ki, go to GG."

They didn't wait any longer as they took off to where Lilith was.

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