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"River?"

River felt her soul leave her body as she jolted awake, her hand already on the grip of the gun she had under her pillow.

"What the fuck, Lia!" She whisper-yelled when she figured out who it was.

"Get up." Michelia said urgently.

River was confused, but she was completely awake at this point so she she did as told, putting on her slippers and taking her gun with her.

"What's wrong?" She asked as the two of them tiptoed to the office. They were not surprised to see Adam on the chair, his eyes on the monitor. The man seemed to have forgotten how to blink.

"What up, Smith?" River spoke as the two entered the room, Michelia reaching for the light switch.

He blinked out of his reverie and stared at both of his sisters in law. "Why are you both awake?"

"The same reason why you are." Michelia said. "I mean, River was woken up by me." She turned to the doctor. "Sorry about that Riv. I know you are exhausted from work."

River shook her head, telling her it was completely fine.

"I don't understand what is going on." Adam sighed. "I wish we could just finish all of this with fists and guns once and for all."

River rolled her eyes. Violence was always the first choice, wasn't it?

But it was also true that the game was very odd, even for her.

It was like they were in an impasse. No one had any idea what was going on - no one knew what the end outcome was going to be.

It was scary and frustrating.

There were a lot of things to worry about but all of them were now concentrating on Alessia going missing because it was the only thing they knew exactly what they wanted - all of them wanted the woman back, safe and sound.

Once Alessia was back, they could worry about Sergey. Of course the Russian Mafia Boss seemed determined to take revenge the old school way - He believed that Mateo took his sister's life and he was going to avenge his sibling's death by taking Mateo's sibling's life, which put Alessia at more danger when she was out in the wild without the protection that her family could offer. But Alessia was a powerful woman and she seemed to be doing a good job keeping away from the Sicilian and Russian Mafia.

But the problem was that there was an unknown threat. The threat who killed Mona and blamed it on Mateo, escalating the tension between the Russian and Sicilian Mafia.

"I don't know why but this new character, Detective Ian Sanders... he confuses me." River sat down on the seat built onto the window, looking down to see the men walking about with flashlights. Of course the security had been quadrupled before the two Capos left in search of their sister.

"Why?" Michelia asked.

"Because he came in and we doubted on him immediately." Adam spoke, understanding what River was trying to say. "It makes me wonder if he is a person to be doubted on, because he would have tried to conceal his motive if he had something to hide."

Michelia sighed - that made sense.

"But I also can't bring myself to believe that he is harmless." River added. She did not think the man was good.

"Maybe he is just a detective trying to put Mateo behind bars." Michelia said.

Adam and River nodded.

"I just hope there is some progress somewhere, because it sucks to be stuck like this." River said.

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"Are you that incompetent?" Leonardo winced as the words left his wife's mouth. "You are the fucking Capo of the Chicago unit and you are not able to track her down?" Michelia was watching the twins play with their bodyguards and the three pups while Lorenzo was fast asleep in the crib she had in her room.

"We are trying, Lia." Leonardo sighed. It had been a week since the cousins had reached Chicago and they still had no clue where Alessia was – it was like she found out that they got to know she was in Chicago and decided to disappear into thin air.

Michelia rolled her eyes. "You are not trying enough." She whispered as she walked over to the crib, grabbed the baby monitor and left the room.

Adam was downstairs, spending his day regretting not going to Chicago when he had the chance, like he had been doing ever since the day. He tried to talk his way into going to help them search for Alessia but Michelia shot him down immediately. He needed to know that he had a price to pay for being his petty self.

"That's not fair, Lia." Leonardo said.

It was hard for him and Mateo.

The cousins reminisced the time when everything was so less complicated and they could do whatever they felt like doing. Now they were husband/boyfriend and fathers, and a fear was instilled in them because of it.

Don't get them wrong, they would never have it any other way but the two really was tired of constantly fearing.

They were tired of fear, not the cause of it.

"Life isn't fair, Leo." Michelia stated, reaching the kitchen where she was going to make some sandwiches for her niece and nephew and herself. Adam shall make his own sandwich because she was pettier than he would ever be.

And as for River, the woman was having fun popping bones back in place and saving lives and livelihood.

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It had been a week and the Capos had not managed to get any news on Alessia though it had been confirmed that she had been there in Chicago. They had managed to attain another clip of her from one of weaponries. But the girl was still AWOL.

There had not been any development in New York as well but River was getting more paranoid by the day about the safety of her darling twins. She had even started to consider taking a break from work again and putting off sending the kids to school, because the calm and inactivity was starting to scare her - as if something very big and very bad was going to happen soon.

"We have a GSW to the shoulder!" One of the second-year residents ran to her. River was down at the pit and it had been a fairly busy day.

"Send for scans and prepare the OR." River ordered while swiftly flexing the arm of the little boy who let out a yelp of pain. "Try moving your arm now." She said.

A smile appeared on the boy's face as he realized that it didn't hurt to move anymore. "I am okay now!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, but your arm will be in a cast for three weeks after which we will do some scans and determine what needs to be done next." River smiled and nodded at the mother who had accompanied her kid and now had a look of relief on her face.

"Deal with the rest." River told the nurse before speed-walking to where the new patient was. She pushed the door opened and stopped in her tracks.

"Dmitri?"

The man writhing in pain on the table stopped moving and looked over to the source of the voice.

"River." He let out a sigh of relief. Though the two Mafias were at loggerheads, Dmitri and River had a good relation - he had helped River after all. And he trusted the doctor, knowing very well how capable she was.

"What happened to you?" She didn't know much of what was happening inside the Mafia right now but she knew that Adam was growing restless and could act out at any moment. Did he do something? Was there a fight between the Mafias? If that was the case, then things could get real messy.

"There is something very fishy going on." He wheezed out. "And I was trying to get to the bottom of it when I ended up getting shot."

River looked up at the nurses and interns looking at her curiously. She decided that this was not the time or place to have this conversation.

"Brief me." She nodded to one of the interns.

The bullet lodged itself onto the scapula but it didn't damage any major nerves or vessels, so the patient was sent to the OR.

River wondered if Dmitri had been lucky or if the shooter just wanted to scare him off, but she didn't have time to worry about that. She needed to quickly get to work.

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River stood rooted to her spot, taking deep breaths.

Detective Ian Sanders and a few other officers stood outside the Dmitri's room. The guy had not regained consciousness after the surgery but the police had decided to wait to take his statement.

The man looked up and a smile immediately appeared on his face when he saw River.

"Hey Doc." He waved as he walked over.

River really wanted to scoot at that moment. She thought it was weird that while she faced most things head on, this dude made her want to run away. She wished Mateo was here.

The cynical part of her raised a brow at herself. When had Dr. River Johnson ever wanted to run and hide behind someone else? Was this Mateo Adesso making her weak?

"Detective." Her voice came out breezy.

"Things really are complicated around here, isn't it?" He chuckled. "The brother of the woman, for whose murder your boyfriend is a suspect, was brought here with a GSW and you were the one to perform the surgery and we have received statements that you and he seemed like good friends."

River bit her lip, taking a deep breath before giving him a tight smile. "Dmitri and I are acquaintances and unlike the police, he does not believe that Mateo had anything to do with Mona's death, because he was busy with me and our kids at the time."

"Right." Ian had the sick smile still in place. "So, what is Mateo saying these days? Which reminds me, what does he do again?"

"I think you should go ask him all that." River was getting more and more restless. "I have work to do and places to be."

"What are you hiding, Dr. Johnson?" He asked.

"Not something punishable by law." She smiled and turned on her heels – her shift ended in an hour and she just wanted to get back to her kids at this point even though she did want to hear what Dmitri had to say.

"But you are hiding something." The detective hummed. "And I plan to find out what."

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Victor cursed when he saw the woman he least wanted to see.

"Oh great, my day is ruined." Jacqueline whined when she spotted her best friend's bodyguard.

River looked up from her phone and let out an unladylike snort. These two were like cat and mouse and it was kind of entertaining to watch for River.

"Cut the guy some slack." River chuckled. "I am pretty sure Mateo is giving him and the kids' bodyguards hell because he is not here. They have to deal with a paranoid father and boyfriend, don't give Victor any more trouble."

"Why are you taking his side?" Jacqueline rolled her eyes, though she wanted to also point out to River how smoothly the words 'father' and 'boyfriend' rolled out of her tongue and how happy she was that her once commitment-phobic friend was now giving this relationship a serious try.

"I am not." River said and then waved at Victor, passing her duffel bag to his outstretched hand. "The kids home yet?"

"Yes, and Mr. Shane is sitting with his kid."

River and Jacqueline's mood elevated at once. It had been long since the three best friends had been under the same roof and they did have a lot of catching up to do.

"Alright, take us there." River said, looking between the two characters and weighing the tension between them. Was she crazy or could she see sparks?

River raised a brow. She knew Jacqueline would kill her if she ever brought it up but Victor and she had something going.

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"What is the use of being the Capo if I can't even control the city?" Leonardo sighed as he crumbled the cigarette and let out the smoke he had inhaled.

"Shut up Leo, our sister is a smartass and she is able to conceal herself. It doesn't mean you fail as a Capo." Mateo did not want his brother to feel like shit because of the lack of progress since they got here. "At least we know she is safe and doing things on her own accord."

The two men were going to get back to New York that night. Everything was at a standstill and it didn't look like anything could happen from where there were. It was better to be back with their family and hope that Alessia stay safe. Of course the assassin would know how to keep herself safe but she was their younger sister and it was only in their nature to worry for her.

Mateo's phone rang just then.

He saw it was Adam calling.

"Hey." He sighed as he took the call.

"The house was attacked." The words felt like a bucket of ice cold water to the Capo.

"What?"

"You need to come back quick."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Just come back quick." Adam said.

"Adam, was anyone hurt?" Mateo said evenly, his hands shaking as Leonardo watched with his eyes wide, not knowing what had happened.

"River's being operated on."

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