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Dr. River Johnson stared at the two packages that Mateo had sent her last week. She knew it was a laptop and a phone, but she wasn't going to open it.

Yes, she was petty. Sue her!

The day after Mateo and the rest of the members of the Mafia left, River had woken up with renewed irritation. The night before she was too tired to be annoyed by the tone Mateo had used on her but after a good night of sleep, one that wasn't even interrupted by her dear daughter, she woke up, her fiercely independent ass feeling extremely miffed with the dude for his audacity.

So she waited all day for him to call and apologize but he didn't. Alessia called. Adam called. But Mateo Adesso didn't find it necessary to call.

For two days he didn't call, and then the next day she found out that the Capo was calling the housekeeper, Janet, to know the whereabouts of her and their children. That was the last straw.

River really didn't know what his problem was but if he was under the impression that he could just take off without any explanation while she was stuck in a ranch in a place, she wasn't familiar with, he was in for a shock.

She had made up her mind to go back to New York with the kids at first. But as always, her motherly concern weighed down on her reckless pig-headedness.

So with great disappointment, she was staying. And she was angry and annoyed at her baby daddy.

And hence, when the package came a week ago, she refused to open it. But with the kids back to studying and having nothing else to do from nine to three were starting to weaken the surgeon's resolve.

She could take the gadgets and have some fun with it right? Check her emails and see how the little drama at the hospital turned out. She was positive that both the gadgets must be encrypted and hence untraceable.

River had never had such a long vacation before and she was starting to hate it. Sitting idle just wasn't for her.

The doctor was perched on the seat built onto the window and just enjoying the view.

The kids and their tutor, Nancy Davidson, were sitting on a picnic mat on the spacious lawn up front. The middle-aged woman was super good at what she did. Even Lucas enjoyed the classes, and that was saying something!

"Mrs. Adesso!!" Linda, one of the young maids who believed that the doctor was actually married to Mateo, hurried in.

Thankfully, these people did not have the time to have full-blown conversations with the kids and they never brought up Mateo being their dad. She was eternally grateful for that, because when the time came, she wanted to be the one to tell them first. She didn't want them to know from any other sources. And yet, she was deterring her chances.

"Yeah?"

"Mr. Smith called. Capo was shot!"

Capo was shot!

Mr. Smith called. Capo was shot!

Shot!

River's hand flew to her mouth as she took a deep breath to prevent the tears from falling.

She looked down and rubbed her eyes and then finally said, "The kids... The kids shouldn't know. Yet."

Linda nodded with pitiful eyes, moving forward to give River a hug. Linda was a very friendly and emotional and she was around the doctor's age, a bit younger, so they had formed a friendship through these past few days. Though she did keep a lot of things from the maid. Well, it wasn't like they were best of friends and River Johnson just couldn't bring herself to trust anyone.

"I am just going to check up on him." The doctor told her and she nodded, leaving the room.

River turned around and stared at the packages. She guessed it was time to let go of the grudge.

She quickly grabbed the smaller one and opened it, turning on the rose gold iPhone.

It already had a few additional app and features added, fully charged and the kids' and her picture as wallpaper. When was this picture even taken?

River sighed as she ran her finger across the screen, tears trickling down her eyes. If it wasn't for her, there could have been a picture of all four of them in here.

What if it's too late now?

"Shut up River!" She scolded herself. "What the hell are you even saying?"

She quickly went to contacts. Adam's name stood first and then Alessia's. She went for Alessia because though she spent less time with her than Adam, River still somehow felt more comfortable around her.

She quickly dialed her number and pressed the phone to her ear, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt as she waited for the Italian to pick up her phone.

"River?" Her thick Italian accent reached her ear.

"Alessia, Mateo-" River started but was quickly cut off.

"He's stable. He is in the ICU, recovering from the surgery but he is fine, out of danger."

River let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding.

She felt relief wash over her.

He was stable. He was fine. He was out of danger.

That's all she needed to hear.

"Thanks Alessia." She said, her voice breezy.

"I will keep updating you, okay? You don't have to worry yourself so much. It's totally normal for that sloppy motherfucker to get shot or stabbed." Alessia sounded bored. River chuckled – she assumed that it was the Italian hitwoman's way of consoling herself and the doctor.

"Yeah." River sighed. She felt weak now that the fear had passed. God, the news had her heart racing too fast that now her chest ached. Why did he have to get shot of all people?

"Okay, I will call you later. I need to work out things with the men."

"Yeah, catch you later."

Alessia's words echoed in her head.

'Don't let your fear get in the way of the precious time you four could spend together. You all already lost five years of it.'

Maybe it was a sign that she shouldn't deter telling the kids the truth. What if something had actually happened to him today? Then the kids would have never been able to spend time with their father!

She was glad that he was okay, but she was also guilty that she had taken way too long, especially after the five years they had already lost together.

She was scared. Because she was just a mom.

But what would have she done if something had happened to Mateo, knowing that she didn't let him spend even a moment as their children's dad?

River slid down to the floor, placing her face on her hands, trying to breathe.

He's fine.

'I will fix everything now. Right now.' She thought to herself.

With new found determination and resolve, she made her way to where the kids were. She walked out the patio to find her darling little babies in the front lawn, playing with their toy cars. It was break time for them and they had insisted that they did not want to go inside only to come back out thirty minutes later. Their tutor, Nancy Davidson, sat next to them, reading a book while occasionally smiling at the twins in adoration.

"Hey babies!" The surgeon said cheerfully so that they nor the tutor didn't pick up on how tensed she was. She would tell the tutor of course; if not her, some other staff will. But the kids didn't need to know. They had panicked more about River being admitted in the hospital than them getting kidnapped; an incident, bless their five-year-old innocent hearts- that had been long forgotten. She did not want the kids to know that their father was in admitted in the hospital as soon as they found out who their father was.

"Mommy, I am not a baby!" Lucas pouted but ran into his mother' arms nevertheless after Kiara did.

"But you are my big baby boy!" River pouted kissing his wild curly hair – something both the twins had inherited from her - while Kiara snuggled into the crook of her mother's neck.

"No I am not!"

"Are you my baby, Ki?" River kissed the forehead of her little world as she whispered in her baby voice.

"Yes!" Kiara giggled and then looking at her brother, added. "I am your only baby."

"No you aren't." Lucas narrowed his eyes at his sister. River had to stop herself from pulling his cheeks – her baby boy looked so freaking cute when he was angry or jealous – something that he took after his dad. River didn't know about jealousy but grumpy and annoyed Mateo Adesso was engraved in her brain from the time when he was her patient. He had hated everything about the condition he was in and he used to get so mad. It was the cutest thing in the whole wide world.

"I mean, since you are not a baby anymore, I guess Ki is my only baby!" River exclaimed, playing along while Kiara giggled, snuggling into her chest, her eyes on her brother.

"No! I am your first baby, remember?" He climbed onto River's lap and hugged her. "I was born six minutes before Ki!"

River laughed as she hugged both her babies.

"Can I take a picture?"

The surgeon turned to see Nancy looking at them with her phone out.

"I think it's against Mateo's policies." River shrugged. She knew that the twins must have looked very cute at that moment and the picture was one worth taking but she did not want anything wrong to happen and as much as she trusted Nancy, she wasn't going to be blinded by that trust. She knew that every single activity on Nancy's phone was probably monitored by Mateo's people but still, River Johnson never took risks when it came to her children.

"Oh okay." She shrugged. "Maybe using your phone then?"

A weird feeling settled in her chest. Maybe she was being paranoid but something told her not to give her phone to anyone.

River cleared her throat. "I don't think it's a good idea. Can you please excuse the kids till after lunch? I have something important to tell them."

She nodded and got up, gathering her belongings.

River hugged her kids tight and watched the woman. She really hoped she was being paranoid because all of a sudden, all the trust was gone, like instantly. And River was left fearing for the twins' safety.

Nancy turned around to look at her discretely only to turn right back when she realized she was being watched.

Great.

Danger is closer than we think it is. And her inner voice was always right when it came to such things.

"Are we gonna play now Mommy?" Lucas asked, sitting up.

"No, Mommy is going to tell you guys a story." River said, internally biting her fingers because she had no idea how they were going to react.

"But Mommy, it's not even nap time." Kiara whined, trying to wriggle out of her mother's hold.

"But this is not a nap time story."

"You say that every time." Lucas narrowed his eyes as the two of them succeeded in getting out of her embrace and stood in front of her with identical pouts on their faces.

"This is an adventurous story."

"Nope!" The said in unison, shaking their head and turning away towards the mansion. They do almost everything in sync, don't they?

"This is the story of how Mommy met Dadda."

They stopped in their tracks.

River bit her lip. There was no turning back now.

They were just five and never asked their mother about their Dad but River knew that they felt the lack of fatherly affection. And she also knew that her work schedule didn't help.

This was a conversation she had always pretended they didn't need. But now, she had to. Because their father was present in their lives and in a fucking hospital bed right now.

"Come here you two." River whispered as she held her arms out for them to climb back into her lap.

"Okay so once upon a time, there was a girl with loving mom and grandmother."

"Grandma and GG?" Kiara asked.

"Ki, no questions!" Lucas shushed her while River smiled at her little babies.

"Yeah and she had this amazing life. But she got into fights and became friends with bad people."

"And they took us?" Lucas asked while Kiara let out an annoyed squeak. "Now who's asking questions?"

"No no.. These people were bad. They are good people now."

"Okay." They mumbled in unison.

River kissed each of their foreheads and continued. "But then she decided this was not the life she wanted to live and she studied very very hard to become a doctor."

"And then one night, after spending all day working, she went to a club."

"What's a club?" Lucas asked.

"It's a place where adults go to drink and dance."

"We are not allowed there?"

"Nope." She popped the 'p'. "But you will be when you are an adult."

"Okay."

"And there she met a man with a very weird accent." River chuckled. She didn't want to describe their father to them as a 'hot, sexy, handsome Mafia man'.

"It's Mr. Adesso?" Lucas asked.

"Or the other Mister. Bad auntie's brother." Kiara nodded to herself.

"It was Mr. Adesso." River laughed as she watched Lucas beam at the fact that he guessed it right.

"And he was your Prince Charming?" Kiara asked.

"Mm.. Well, I wouldn't put it that way."

"Did you kiss?" Lucas asked.

"How old are you, young man?" River narrowed her eyes at her little rascal.

"Five." He replied, looking clueless. River closed her eyes and took a deep breath to stop herself from pulling his cheeks again. Her babies were just too cute!

"Anyway the two of them met that night, spent time together but they forgot about each other the next day."

"How is that possible?" Lucas scrunched up his face.

"Were you cursed?" Kiara asked.

"No no. And then she continued living her life until she found out that she was having his two beautiful babies!!!" River exclaimed the last part hugging them as they giggled.

"Wait." Lucas sat up and looked at her. "Does that mean.."

"Mateo Adesso is your father."

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"They are fine." Adam glared at his best friend. "Can you concentrate on your health now?"

Mateo was sitting on the hospital bed, yet again. It had been two weeks since he was shot, two weeks since he was in the ICU. He was moved to the room only that morning and he really couldn't do much.

He was in pain. He was fine as long as he was given the painkiller but it hurt like a bitch every time it wore off.

But what he was most worried about was the fact that he didn't know what was happening in Wyoming.

Were they okay?

Did something happen to them while he was out?

Obviously, Adam's words of assurance fell up on deaf ears. He was not going to believe anyone. He had to see for himself that everything was fine.

"Oh look who's up!" Alessia walked in, a cup of coffee in one hand and her phone in the other as my bodyguard opened the door for her.

She turned her phone and Mateo was surprised to see it was River who she was facetiming.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked as Alessia passed him the phone.

"Like I was shot in the fucking gut." Mateo said remembering the first time they had met after the kids. River let out her angelic laughter, getting the reference.

'Fuck, that laugh!'

"Classic." She said as she sat down on a chair. "The bullet got your appendix. Nothing to worry about."

"How do you know that?" Alessia asked as she shoved her head next to her brother.

"I worked there. I have my sources." She shrugged.

"Did you contact your family?" Mateo asked. 'Please say no.'

"Nope." She rolled her eyes. "I am not that dumb."

'That's my girl.'

"But hey, can't you just get them an encrypted phone as well? Only to call me?"

"I had thought about that but it's better for them to have as less contact with you as possible." The Capo gave her an apologetic look and she nodded.

He was glad that his little stunt from almost a month ago had been forgotten. Thanks to the bullet from Matthew Morris. He wondered what was the progress with that little situation.

"And Mateo, I want to tell you something."

River had his complete attention.

"Yeah?"

"It's just that-"

"WE WANNA VISIT YOU!!" The kids jumped in front of the phone and grabbed it from their mother's hand.

"Babies!" River groaned.

"I am not a baby, Mommy!!" Lucas groaned.

"I thought we had decided otherwise?" River looked at her son.

By the time, Kiara had the phone to herself. "Why can't we come visit?"

"Because it's dangerous out here. You have to stay safe."

"That's what I am trying to say-" River started but was again cut off.

"But Dadda-"

"No buts-" Mateo stopped. "Wait WHAT?"

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