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"So, you are not going to tell me what she said to you?" Mateo asked for the nth time. And for the nth time, River gave him a flat look.

"Look Mommy!" Kiara held up her colouring book, in which she had beautifully coloured a picture of Ana from The Frozen.

Based on their personalities, one would think that it was Lucas who would be good at all things but he still coloured outside the line while Kiara did her work with utmost care. It reminded River of herself – she too was super clumsy and always messed up and made a mess out of everything, but when it came to surgery, she could keep her hand in the same position for hours without shaking.

"That's so pretty baby!" River cooed.

"Ki, tell Mommy to tell Papa what's going on." Mateo said.

A 'pfft' came from Adam. He and Lucas were on the couch, Lucas on his lap as they played some game.

"Papa, Mommy will say if she wants to." Kiara said, hugging her mother while River nodded her head, giving Mateo a triumphant look.

"Yeah, no forcing Mommy." Lucas hummed.

Mateo gave his children a flat look. He had really thought that he had won his kids over but it was very evident that when all is said and done, after all that he does for them, these two midgets were Team Mommy.

Yes, he was a little jealous but it was also true that he wouldn't have it any other way.

"They don't even know what this is about." He pouted, and then turned to Adam.

"Aren't you supposed to meet the rest of the Kings with Michelia and Leonardo?"

"I bailed." Adam shrugged. "I don't see why I should be-"

There was a knock on the door.

Mateo got up from his spot and walked over to the door, opening it.

His eyes narrowed immediately.

Detective Ian Sanders gave him a smile. "Is visiting time over?"

"I don't see why you are here."

"It's a GSW case. The police have to be involved, don't you think?"

"I thought I already dealt with the formalities." Adam made Lucas sit down on the couch and got up, making his way to his brother's side.

"Oh did you?" Ian raised his brow turning to the officer next to him, "I wasn't told of this."

River was not at all happy that this man was here. He made her uncomfortable like no other. He was way too obviously suspicious.

"Can we come in?" He raised a brow.

Mateo looked over at River who sighed and nodded.

The two men moved aside so that Ian and the officer can come in.

"This is officer Martin." Ian introduced him.

Lucas moved closer to his mom and climbed onto the bed.

"Beautiful children you have. It's my first time seeing them." Ian took a seat and made himself comfortable.

"Thanks." River gave him a warm smile. This dude was irritating but she believed in killing them with kindness and that was exactly what she was going to do.

"What are your names?" He asked the kids.

As if you don't know. River blinked, hearing her inner voice after a break.

'You are back.' River thought to herself.

For the best. I was away for a while and you managed to get yourself almost killed.

"I am Lucas Johnson." Lucas said, all business like. "And this is my sister, Kiara Johnson."

"Johnson?" He asked, looking between River and Mateo. "Not Adesso?"

"First of all..." All the eyes turned to the door, and everyone was shocked.

"Zia Sia!!!!" Kiara yelled happily. It was safe to say that the little girl missed her aunt more than her brother.

"... It is none of your business whose surname the kids take and second of all, what are you asking them in the absence of a lawyer?"

"Sia!" River breathed out.

Adam's whole body went rigid. This little bitch had gone missing for almost a month, Mateo and Leonardo had circled between Chicago and New York trying to find her amidst the danger of Sergey hurting her, and she simply walks in to the hospital room like she had gone out for coffee.

"And you are?"

"Alessia Adesso, the sister." She pointed at a still shocked Mateo. "Now can you please leave?"

"Don't be rude, Sia." Mateo said though it was clear on his face that he wanted the officers to leave as much as anyone else in the room.

"Alright, we will take this up later." River did not like the tone in which the man said that before leaving.

As soon as the doors closed behind the two men, all eyes turned back to Alessia.

"I will take the kids out." Adam said, his eyes not leaving the most infuriating woman he knows as he reached his arms forward to his niece and nephew who readily went to him. He gave Alessia a lasting look before leaving the room.

"Where were you?" Mateo asked.

"None of your business." Alessia huffed and took a seat on the bed next to River.

"Sia.." River gave her a warning look but Alessia simply shrugged.

"Why are you people pretending like I stay with you guys all the time? I am a free human. I can go wherever I want." She shrugged and side hugged River. "I am sorry I left you alone. I thought they would keep you safe." She pouted at River which infuriated Mateo even more.

"Sia...." He started.

"Let her be." Mateo was surprised when his girlfriend took her side.

"You are on her side on this?" He asked, disbelief evident.

"She will always be on my side." Alessia rolled her eyes.

"So, tell me what's going on?" She said. "Sergey Petrov still after my head?"

"No." River said, giving Mateo the eye because it was clear that he was ready for another argument. "That dude and your brother finally grew brains and realized it was some third party trying to instigate a fight between the two mafias."

"Ooooh." Alessia made herself comfortable on the bed. "If someone is capable of doing that, they have to be one hell of a genius."

Mateo let out a breath of exasperation as he sat down on the chair, scratching his beard.

He wondered if his angel of a daughter will turn out like her mother and aunt, because these two were just impossible and he would have one hell of a problem to deal with.

"Yes yes, they are the geniuses. We are the idiots. I think it's time we got over that and dealt with the situation." He said. "Especially now that one of our problems is over." He pointed at his little sister. "And can you please go lie down on that couch? She is injured."

Alessia pouted and turned to River with that pout. "Do you want me to go away?"

"Why are you making it sound like you are going to disappear again?" River laughed. "Just go lie down there."

"I thought you were on my side." Alessia brushed off an invisible tear and got up.

"Go on!" She said as she sat down on the couch and flushed the throw pillow on it.

"Go on what?" River asked but was surprised when Mateo got into bed with her, taking her hand.

"Can you get off the bed? I am injured." River mimicked her boyfriend.

Mateo gave her a flat look. "Shut up."

"Whoa, he has started to show his true colours." Alessia laughed.

River raised a brow and gave her boyfriend a questioning glance.

Mateo had an annoyed look plastered on his face as he looked over at his sister. "And what exactly are my true colours?"

"Stupid alpha male-ness."

"Shut up.."

River let out a laugh, the beautiful melody cutting short when her liver protested.

"I hate my liver now." She mumbled.

Mateo rubbed her shoulder and turned back to his sister.

The truth was, there was a million things that he needed to talk to his sister about – starting with never ever disappearing out of the blue like that.

He understood and respected her, and he knew that he had once failed as a brother due to which she was acting the way that she was acting now. But he didn't want to run away from the conversation that they were bound to have, anymore.

Mateo Adesso, Capo of the New York Unit of the Sicilian Mafia and future Boss of the Sicilian Mafia – after all that had happened to himself, his girlfriend and his children – had finally come to his senses. And he had realized that there was no use running away from the problems like he had been for so long. It was not the way to deal with things and it definitely wasn't the way that someone with so much responsibilities as him was supposed to deal with the troubles and trials that were inevitable in his line of work and life.

He was an idiot, and it had taken him a mighty amount of time and incidents to finally come to this realization. But now that he had finally come to his senses, he planned to make everything right. And the first thing to do was to sit down and talk with his sister, apologize to her for being the failure he was as a brother all those years ago, and then finding whoever was behind all the bullshit that had been happening to his family. He was a fucking made man of the Mafia. It was almost embarrassing to be running in circles because of some unknown person or group. Whoever it was, needed to be taught a lesson the Mafia way. And they had to be made an example out of, for all those who was ever thinking of messing with the Sicilian Mafia.

And it was obvious that the Russian Mafia were not going to simply sit there and watch. The Boss' sister was dead. Lessons had to be taught, and revenge needed to be taken. There was no escaping for whoever started all of this.

And the most important thing in all of this was to know what exactly was the reason for this guerrilla war from their side. Clearly, it wasn't something to do with the Mafia, because between the Mafia, they always took care of these things head on. No one attacked from behind. It was clearly something personal.

"Did you let Leo and Lia know that you were back?" Mateo finally asked, thinking that the conversation between him and his sister will have to wait until they were alone. It was not something that he wanted to hide from River. He would gladly tell her every single detail of the conversation he and his sister would have, but while the conversation was underway, he thought it would be better if it was just the two of them.

"Yes." Alessia shrugged. "It was Michelia who told me where all of you were."

"Great." Mateo commented. "You really not going to tell me what you were up to these days?"

"Nope."

"Ugh, I give up." He mumbled.

But Alessia and River knew very well that this dude had not given up.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for another twenty minutes before Adam walked in with both kids on each of his arms.

"Zia Sia!" The two exclaimed happily as Adam helped to the floor.

"I am going home." Adam said, totally ignoring Alessia. "Tell me what the result of the meeting with the Kings is."

Without sparing the woman he was worried sick of just a few hours ago, he walked out of the room.

"I think you should go after him." River said.

"Why?" Alessia rolled her eyes, hugging her niece and nephew. "Oh, Zia missed you both so so very much."

"We missed you too!" Lucas grinned.

"Where did you go?" Kiara climbed onto her lap.

"I went on a secret mission." Alessia made a gun with her fingers. "You know Zia Sia is a warrior princess, right?"

Kiara nodded, giggling.

"Sia." Mateo called out to her.

"What?" She knew exactly what.

"Go." River said, gesturing to the door.

Alessia let out a breath of exasperation. "Fine."

She helped Kiara off her lap and hopped to her feet and walked out the door, hating that she has to catch up to and talk some sense into that idiot frenemy of hers.

"They are going to be one complicated couple when they get together." River sighed as the children ran to her bedside and Mateo got up from his lying position.

"Though I used to ship them a little a while ago, now I think it would be disastrous if they ever ended up together." He said, helping Kiara to the bed.

"Mommy, why are your hands yellow?" Lucas asked innocently and River's eyes went to her hands and Mateo's to her face.

"You are turning yellow!" He exclaimed, seeing the change in her color.

River let out a sign and pointed at the call button.

"It's a post-operative complication. Nothing to be scared of. Get the nurses." She said calmly.

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"Adam!" Alessia rolled her eyes as she jogged to catch up with him in the parking lot.

"Really dude?" She yelled. "You are going to be all petty and grumpy about this?"

"Just fuck off, Alessia." Adam said, slowing down just for a moment to locate his car.

"Adam!" She fastened her pace and caught up to him.

"What?" He stopped, turning to face her but not looking at her. He was looking over her, which Alessia roll her eyes wondering why she had not worn her high heel boots. Those would have given her the extra inches she needed to be in eye to eye height with Adam and Mateo.

"I get it. You are mad about me disappear. But isn't that what I always do? Why are you all reacting like I have done this for the first time?"

"Maybe because this is the first time you ran away when there was a target on your head." He said, looking sideways.

Alessia was offended at his immature behavior, even more at the fact that he said that she had 'ran away'.

"Oh please. This is not the first time there was a target on my head. Yes, this is the first time you people knew that there was one..." Adam gave her a disbelieving look. Things like that had happened before and she never told them.

"Why weren't we ever informed of this?" He asked. "And don't tell me it's because of what happened with Antonio because you have been using that forever even though it is very obvious that you are over what happened. I get that you are a survivor. I get that what happened was not something that could be easily brushed off. But you are an extremely strong woman, who just harbors resentment and anger from that incident, not fear or sorrow."

Alessia was stunned for a moment. She didn't know that Adam thought of it like that. She thought that he too, like her brothers, saw her as some fragile disturbed doll, whose whole life was destroyed by the asshole named Antonio de Pedis.

"Because I am strong." She finally found her voice. "I am capable of protecting myself."

Adam closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "You will never understand what I am trying to say."

"Try me." She rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure that he was going to start with some kind of sermon like her brothers would do, like the whole of her family would do.

But she didn't want a fight at the moment. There was so much going on at the moment and she would give in just a teeny tiny bit to maintain peace.

"You-" He started but then closed his mind, clutching his head with his hands.

"I what?" Now, Alessia wanted to punch him. Patience was not exactly her strong suit. She wanted the idiot to get the sermon over with so that she could go back inside and be with her niece, nephew, the woman who was the closest to being her best friend and the idiot brother that came in the package.

"You will never understand how much I want to protect you!" He yelled.

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