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It was five in the morning. Bloody five in the morning when the couple and their kids were woken up from their peaceful slumber by a yelling gorilla.

Adam was already fully dressed for the short vacation while River glared at him in her hoodie and leggings, yawning to herself as she slightly rocked the two babies sleeping in her arms, their heads on each of her shoulders.

Mateo tried to hold one of them but they just downright refused. Grumpy and cranky Lucas and Kiara need their Mommy. Nobody could replace her. Not even their Papa.

Though River didn't show it, the fact that the kids clung onto her made her happy. They had been spending most of their time with Mateo since they found out that he was their Papa. River did want them to forge the kind of bond the babies had with her but that didn't mean that she wasn't a teeny tiny bit jealous of all the attention her little darlings were showering their father.

She knew it was immature and stupid and senseless but she just couldn't the jealousy and feeling of triumph.

River glanced over at Mateo and quickly averted her eyes when she saw that his eyes were already on her, a ghost of a smile on his face.

Ugh.. His stupid confession last night had gotten her completely flustered and confused.

River Johnson was pretty sure that the dumbass had said that on purpose to make her feel exactly the way she was feeling right now. And also to make her blush – that seemed to be an all-time agenda of this Mafia dude.

Dumbass.

"What is taking her so long?" Mateo wondered out loud. Alessia was yet to come out. Adam had sworn that she was the first one he had woken up, way before he had even gotten ready, just for the sake of torturing her and by the time that he was ready, she had even brought out her luggage which was sitting by the door. But the assassin was nowhere in sight.

"I am not very sure that she's upstairs. She could be doing one of the security guards for all we know." Adam commented.

River mentally smacked her head while Mateo smacked Adam's. Mateo did not get mad at his best friend for saying that about his sister because one, the guy was blunt and there was no taking that away from him and two, Mateo had thought of the very possibility himself.

Alessia enjoyed sleeping around as much as she enjoyed murdering people. She even had a phase where she would kill her victims mid-sex. His sister was fucked up and he had no one to blame but himself and his family for it.

"Owww.." Adam whined like a kid, rubbing his red temple.

"Go see if she is upstairs. And if not, go find her wherever she is." Mateo said, moving closer to River as he pointed at the stairs.

"Why me?"

"Because I can't climb stairs-" Adam and River looked at him with a 'Oh really?' look. "And River's holding the kids so you go."

Adam muttered to himself as he walked away towards the stairs.

River cleared her throat, composing herself and turned to her dearest baby daddy.

"How long are we staying there?"

"A couple of weeks." He hummed. He looked very amused, enjoying himself quite well.

Not funny dude.

Why did he make things so freaking awkward? At least awkward for her because he was enjoying every teeny bit of it, while she was flustered and a stuttering mess.

"So what have you thought about what I said yesterday?" He brought it up yet again. And she had to give it to him, he had this air of confidence around him about this matter.

"I haven't thought about it actually." The surgeon countered, giving him a sarcastic smile before adjusting the kids in her arms.

"Well, you have time until this mess is over." He shrugged, his face suddenly solemn.

And the seriousness of the situation caught up to us again.

And she also realized that she hadn't told him about the whole Alfredo thing because they were so busy with the kids and then his little stunt after we got back from the hospital.

"Mateo.." River sighed. He turned her. She had his entire attention now.

"I feel like the last incident was meant to scare us and not to harm us." River voiced out her thoughts.

His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her, trying to make sense out of what she had just said.

"What makes you say that?" He asked. "The doctor clearly said you were overdosed."

"Well he could be on their side." She shrugged.

"River, you didn't see your condition when we rushed you to the hospital. You were bleeding from your nose, you couldn't breathe. We thought you were going to die." He whisper-yelled, keeping his palm on their sleeping Kiara's hair.

"Exactly. How can something that looked so life threatening be treated within a few hours? And only end up with a few ruptured capillaries? And I came home in the evening like nothing happened." She listed out, whisper-yelling back at him. "Am I the only one finding this extremely fishy?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"I don't know. This was either a warning or a distraction. I think we all need to be on our guard."

Mateo nodded though it looked like that little ape-shit wasn't going to even contemplate what she had said. "Don't worry, we are always on our guard."

This was one of his biggest problem – that he never listened to anything the other party has to say. Well, sometimes he did. But when it came to making any decisions, he completely blocked out anyone else's opinion and went solely with whatever seemed right to him. It wasn't that he was always wrong, but sometimes it was better to get a hundred opinion before doing something.

The next vacation for example. They had moved from New York to Wyoming because Mona Petrov was after them. And she had managed to reach them there, so now Mateo had decided that they were moving to Amalfi, Italy. It was his own decision which he just imposed on River. And she was just going along with it because she thought that maybe nobody can hurt them in Mateo's hometown and also Mateo needed to rest.

But it didn't mean that she was satisfied with Mateo's decision to run away from problems. She realized he tended to do that a lot – at least when it came to his children and her. He moved them at the whiff of danger and he left them as soon as there was a disagreement with River. He was flawed like that.

"What's taking them so long?" River wondered out loud.

"Oh nothing." Adam walked down the stairs. "Alessia didn't pack her 'most important stuff' yesterday though she had packed yours, which are in those bags over there and she went back to sleep right after leaving them at the door." He let out a dramatic sigh. "Now she is turning the whole room upside down packing all of her 'stuff'."

River rolled her eyes as she walked over to the couch and sat down, making sure the kids were comfortable. "You could have helped her you know?"

"And have my hands cut off for touching her precious things? No thanks." Adam said dramatically and then asked, "You okay doc?"

River turned to look at the two men who looked concerned. "You look like you are going to break down any second now."

What?

"I will be in the car." Adam announced and walked out.

'Please no. I don't want to have a conversation right now.' River prayed to herself.

She looked up at Mateo as he walked closer to her.

"I am scared. That's it. The kids could have eaten those cookies." River said. "I have this gut feeling that maybe we shouldn't go anywhere right now."

"I am doing this for you three." He sighed and crouched down in front of her. "The enemies managed to get our people on their side. The safest place right now is Amalfi. Nobody is going to attack us in the Boss' territory."

River nodded though she didn't think the next one would be an attack.

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Amalfi was beautiful, even in the middle of the night. Though it was a nineteen-hour flight and she was exhausted beyond description, River kept her eyes wide open to stare at the coastal town.

"Mommy, let's go to the beach!!!" Kiara jumped in her lap. She had refused to sit on her car seat and Lucas had followed. So now she was on her lap and Lucas on Mateo's.

"Yeah Papa, let's go!" Lucas exclaimed from the passenger's seat.

"After we settle down and after the sun comes up." River stated and the kids let out collective groans.

She yawned. It was one or two in the morning and the kids were wide awake because they had slept through most of the flight.

She had already decided that she was leaving Mateo in charge so that she could get some shut eye.

River had realized how great it was for both the parents to be present. Though they were family, she always felt bad for burdening them with taking care of the kids when River couldn't. But there was no such guilt when it came to asking Mateo, because he had equal responsibility.

Now, she could ask Mateo to watch the kids while she slept in a bathtub. It felt good.

Since River had decided to get lost in her thoughts, she decided she will deal with the situations at hand.

One, Mateo had a crazy bitch obsessed with him, probably his ex or something but she didn't know. And though Mateo had never mentioned it, River was smart enough to figure out that the target was on her head.

Two, Mateo and his family's background. Of course, she was scared of the situation but she guessed the kids were safer close to him than away, because gangsters didn't rest until they got what they wanted, She didn't even want to know what the Mafia did.

Three, what Mateo said the other night. River had decided on not committing to a relationship, at least not until the kids were teens or something, because she knew she was a difficult woman to be with who spent most of her time in the hospital and she had kids so the chances of having a good old happy ending was lil to nil. She didn't want her kids to get attached to someone and then lose them. But now with Mateo, she knew that even if he was to leave her at some point, he wouldn't leave the kids because they were his kids.

Sure. Like he didn't leave after that misunderstanding.

Her mood changed drastically in a blink of an eye.

'Why is my inner voice a killjoy?'

I think realist is the word you are looking for.

River sighed, and looked up at the rear-view mirror where her eyes met his caramel orbs. She forced a smile but his face contorted in concern as she did.

Great.

She pretended to yawn and his eyes softened as he let out a chuckle.

"What are you laughing at, Papa?" Lucas turned around to look at him.

"Nothing." He mumbled, his smile staying in its place.

'Honestly, this man was nothing like the Mafia men in the books. He was sweet, considerate, level-headed and innocent. Yes, he was impulsive and sometimes childish, but he never did anything to hurt me or my children.' River thought to herself, a soft smile forming on her own face. 'And yeah, he did leave that night, but wasn't that just a normal reaction from a person who had heard some real mean stuff said against them? How was any of this his fault? He couldn't choose where to be born right?'

Well, he could choose what he wanted to be in life.

'I am sure that he didn't see it coming. He was probably living a bachelor life, no strings attached, when this happened.'

Ugh, her thoughts were a mess.

"Wow!!" River looked up and out the window when the kids let out collective gasps.

And they were so right. Wow.

River had thought that the mansion in Wyoming was out of the world, but this was the next level.

They were entering a house, no, a contemporary mansion facing the ocean. Why was she not surprised that they had a private beach? The grounds were filled with guards everywhere. Armed guards and guard dogs.

There was no way in hell anyone could get past these many people.

Damn, I am in a movie!

The mansion was probably white with other darker shades. River couldn't make it out properly in the dark but she knew it was huge and the whole place looked like a seven-star hotel in heaven.

"Home sweet home." Mateo breathed out as we got off the car.

River gulped. She didn't think that she would ever feel at home in this place. She was afraid that she would misplace things and disturb the expensive stuff in there. And she wasn't even inside the mansion yet.

"Come on." He turned to her, holding out his hand, Lucas in his other arm.

River adjusted Kiara to her other hip before she took his hand and walked up the dark grand stairs. She would have to see all of this in broad daylight to be more awestruck.

There was no grand welcome or anything. Alessia was already at the door, just staring at the entrance without making any attempt to enter.

"Adam already went up to his room." She shrugged, still facing forward.

"Idiot." Mateo muttered as River chuckled.

"You all get some rest." Alessia turned to River, giving her a cheeky but forced grin, making her narrow her eyes at her. "After all, you have to meet the Boss and the Boss wife."

River's eyes widened and she visibly gulped.

Why the hell was she so terrified all of a sudden?

"You mean, our Mama and Papa?" Mateo raised a brow.

Alessia rolled her eye. "Good night!!!" She sang and kissed the kids' cheeks which they returned before walking away towards the car.

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River had no recollection of the previous night. But it felt like morning came in the blink of an eye.

She checked her phone to see it was eight in the morning. Lucas had his head on her tummy and Kiara had her foot on Mateo's face.

'Well, what can I say? I think I can get used to this.' She chuckled into her hand at the sight beside her.

Though she wanted to stay and watch the masterpiece of a man and the beautiful children they had made together some more, she had to get out of bed.

She kept a throw pillow under Lucas' head as she did. She quickly fished out the duffel bag in which all the toiletries were packed, thanking Alessia in her mind for being so organized and walked into the bathroom, to do her morning business.

River decided to take a shower in the morning. So, after using the toilet, she walked out to get her clothes because she was never ever forgetting them ever again.

She got her toothbrush and hopped into the shower.

After slapping on her lotions and creams and making sure none of her babies were up, she made her way out of the room.

It was beautiful. It wasn't some royal style place. It was modern, made of concrete, wood and glass. The theme was grey and white but prominently white. Though the place was huge and overwhelming, what with the immaculate selection of furniture, decorations and wallpapers, this place still felt homey. She didn't feel the hotel kind of feeling anymore.

And numerous photos adorned the walls, all with a dark brown wooden frame and then she came across little Mateo.

River's eyes welled up. Whoever she had come across from Mateo's side had told her that Lucas was the carbon copy of Mateo. Now she got to see it herself. Except Mateo had wavy short hair while Lucas' was slightly long and curly and unruly. Lucas was cuter.

"RIVER!!!" Suddenly she found herself in a headlock and with a throbbing ear. She looked up and saw her assailant.

"Alessia!" River whined as she tried the method she had learnt to get out of it but to no avail.

"LOL, you can't try that with me." She chuckled as she let her go. "Let's go by the gym today evening. I will teach you a few tricks."

River nodded, massaging the back of her neck.

"Let's eat! I am starving." She announced, pulling the doctor by her arm and taking her downstairs.

If she could turn her head 360 degree, she would have. Because that's how much there was to see in this house. This was an architectural masterpiece. If River could just send Sebastian pictures of this mansion, she would do that so that he could design a Lite version of this for her. There was no way in hell she would be able to afford this heaven. Neither did she want a place so big to herself.

They finally reached the dining room and River stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, all of you are already here!" Alessia's voice reached her ears.

River's eyes widened.

"Mom, Nanna?" She breathed out.

"And Shane, Mia, Alison, Meyers." Sebastian walked in through the glass doors with Mia in his arms, followed by Alison and Jacqueline.

And River broke down.

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