___________________________

.

.

.

River's eyes widened when she saw the figure that emerged out of the supply closet right next to the front door.

"Sia?"

Okay, so the blow from Victor changing sides did not hurt as much as the idea of being in the same room as the crazy Italian assassin did. Ian knew that Alessia Adesso did not miss, and that she was just as crazy as him. If there was someone that the ruthless Ian Sanders was scared of in the Sicilian Mafia family, it was the mad daughter of the Boss.

He did not see this coming.

"I know this is sort of an anti-climax and that it should have been Mateo or you who finished this, but you guys were taking too long!" Alessia shrugged as she walked forward, stepping on Ian's injured shoulder and making him yell out in pain. "Don't yell too much and thank me, because this is not my usual style. Usually, I just put a bullet through your brain."

"I don't understand." River took a step forward, cautiously looking between Victor and Ian. "Someone please explain the dynamics in this room."

"Jackie and the kids have nothing to do in the equation." Alessia said after taking a deep breath and smiling at her niece and nephew who were still hiding their faces against their aunt's belly.

"Victor is on our side. Ian is our bad guy. And I am the surprise element. And you were kind of a bait?" Alessia cringed when she said the last thing, not knowing how it would affect her sister in law's ego given the term she had used.

But River was too 'un-egoistical' and still too confused to even care about what Alessia had said.

"So...."

"Long story short, Matthew and Ian were a couple and he came for revenge, tried to get Victor to work for him but Victor did not relent but he inevitably did to keep an eye on Ian."

"So you are not William Morris?" River turned to Victor.

"I am." Victor scratched the back of his neck. "But I am not the bad guy who would hurt two innocent children."

"You... are a... traitor." Ian wheezed out, trying to get his hands on his gun which had fallen a few feet away.

"Don't even try." Alessia kicked him hard while Victor picked the gun up.

"And George and Davis?" River asked.

"On our side." Victor nodded.

"They will be here with Mateo any minute now." Alessia said.

"Victor, tie him up." Alessia said and then turned to River, hugging her. "Told you I will keep the kids safe."

"But why didn't you say anything? We could have ended this weeks ago."

"I was constantly worried that there might be an insider." Alessia admitted. "And we would have lost the chance of smoking them out if we had dealt with Ian from the very beginning. That's why I waited to see how he was going to approach us. When he used Dmitri, I became confident that he didn't have anyone other George and Davis, who he believed were on his side, on the inside. I was already convinced about it after all the snooping around that I did but I just couldn't take any risk."

River raised a brow, impressed. "So you weren't really wallowing away in guilt and drowning yourself in alcohol?"

Alessia grinned at her. "Nope."

She turned to her niece and nephew.

"My babies!" She knelt down and spread her arms.

"Zia!" The twins were so so happy to see their aunt again. They ran into her arms.

"This cannot be happening!" Ian yelled out loud.

"I need to hear this story properly." Jacqueline said, moving closer to her best friend. "I mean, what the hell just happened?"

"I know right."

The door swung open and Mateo entered.

"Papa!!!"

Mateo did not get a moment to take in whatever was going on because he was attacked by his two precious darlings.

"Luke, Ki!" He exclaimed as he picked them up and gave them the tightest hug that he could without hurting them, while George and Davis went over to help Victor retain Ian.

"We missed you!" They said in unison.

"I missed you too!" He chuckled and looked over at River, gesturing for her to come over.

River let out a giggle of happiness, tears springing out of her eyes, as she moved over to them, and hugging her kids and supporting their weight as Mateo engulfed them in a hug.

"I promise I will never let anyone separate us ever again." It was a promise that he was making to himself more than anyone. He was not going to let anyone separate the four of them like this again.

"Ms. Meyers." Victor approached Jacqueline.

Jacqueline gulped. She knew that Victor was not the bad guy, but man, she could never look at him the way that she used to look at him. He had freaked the living daylights out of her in the last month.

"Yes?" Her voice came out squeaky, and she mentally slapped herself when she saw the smirk on the little shit's face.

"I just want to apologize to you about the whole kidnapping fiasco." He scratched the back of his neck. "In my defense, I did what I had to do to protect the kids from Ian but still..."

Jacqueline nodded.

She understood.

And after all that happened, she was not going to start yelling at him... just yet.

.

.

.

Ian had been handled. The Mafia way.

It was only fair that he was taken care of by Mateo, Sergey and Dmitri. Mateo did enough damage for him to know the price of hurting his daughter and wife-to-be.

Sergey and Dmitri had to avenge their sister, and they did it. Mona's crazy soul might have gotten some peace now that she had the deranged cop in hell for her to play with.

Everyone was in the room. Except the twins, who were playing with their babies, who had grown up too much over the last month for their liking.

George and Davis had gotten rebuked by River for not telling her about what was happening - she had thought that they were her friends, but she knew that they were only doing what Alessia asked them to do, and at the end of the day wanted only the best for her children. It was such a relief knowing that her children were in such capable hands.

Everyone had gotten an idea of what had happened in the last few weeks, but they still had not gotten the whole story. And Alessia had gathered everyone around and asked Victor to narrate the tale.

"I had been looking for Matthew for a while, and when I did find out who he was, I was a little hesitant at first, because I worked for the Italians and him for the Russians."

"I think there will not be such a disparity ever again." Dmitri chuckled.

Mateo took in a deep exasperated breath as he pulled River close to him. "Did you really have to invite him?"

"This is the last time. One more moment of peace and solidarity before the two Mafia families go back to being rivals." She said. She was enjoying the moment. The peace and calm and the knowledge of no known enemies lurking in the shadows. Yes, enemies were inevitable in the life that she had chosen for herself and the kids, but she believed that it was all worth it.

She was, after all, with the man she loved.

"Anyway, I finally gathered the courage and visited him." Victor said. "He was not unhappy to see me, but he wanted me to become a spy for the Russians."

Adam narrowed his eyes at Dmitri, who shrugged. "What? It was not my idea!"

"I didn't want to. And he decided he didn't want a brother." Victor shrugged.

"And Ian comes in where?" Adam asked.

"Ian was Matthew's boyfriend of seven years. It was some sort of police-criminal romance." Victor said. "When Matthew died, Ian approached me saying that I should help him take revenge. I didn't relent and I thought that he wouldn't be able to do anything against the Mafia."

"It was the day that the car accident happened that I realized that Ian was not going to stop at nothing." Victor exhaled. "I realized that whether I joined him or not, he was going to go ahead with whatever he was planning and he was not going to think twice before hurting anyone."

"And then he let me know of what was happening, and I hatched a whole plan." Alessia smiled. "I went under cover and tried to figure out everything, and when I realized that there needs to be another trigger for some improvement in the condition, I manipulated Ian through Victor into kidnapping the kids and keeping them safe while I combed through our system for a rat. And when I found none, I decided to take him down."

"You could have let us in on it." Michelia smiled, proud of her sister in law.

"The only thing that mattered to me was the kids' safety. That being secured, I didn't care about anything else."

.

.

.

"Who's the architect here? That's right, I am. So step back!" River watched her best friend yell at her boyfriend and his best friend who were trying to nail in a wooden plank to the tree house that Sebastian was building for the kids.

Sebastian looked down at his best friend who was sipping on her milkshake and munching on her lemon cookies - yes, that's right; The lemon cookies were back - as she watched the commotion.

"Johnson, ask these idiots to back off!"

She threw her hands up and shook her head. "Hey, this is between you three!"

"Did you just call us idiots?" Adam narrowed his eyes at him.

"What else am I supposed to call you? Stupid?" Sebastian retorted.

Adam was ready to get his gun out but River beat him to it. "Adam, threaten my brother and I will pluck your fingernails off."

"I knew it! I knew it!" Adam stomped on the ground like a child. "You love him more!"

"Of course she loves me more, dumbo. We go back thirty years!"

River decided she was going to enjoy her snacks somewhere else. She wanted some peace. But the front yard had the kids and the puppies running about. And the backyard had these annoying idiots. She decided that the indoors were the best place to be.

"There you are!" River looked over at the sliding doors to the patio. Alessia stood there all sweaty and red.

"What's up?" River got up, grabbing the plate and glass.

Alessia looked over at the boys and then back. "Come with me!"

"You are pregnant!" River blurted out, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, I am not!" Alessia's shushed reply told River that she too doubted it.

"Do you have any pregnancy tests with you?" River followed her into the kitchen.

"That's what I wanted to ask you." Alessia was clearly nervous.

"Wait, I will ask Jacqueline to get some." Jacqueline was coming over after her shift in the hospital ended.

Alessia nodded anxiously and took a seat on the counter stools.

She did not want to be pregnant. She could not be pregnant. She still had to kill Antonio. How could she get pregnant before killing Antonio?

"She will be here in an hour." River said, putting her phone back in her back pocket and picking up her food.

"Come with me!" Alessia dragged River all the way to her bedroom. Banging the door shut, Alessia plopped down on her bed face down.

"Sia..." River sat down on the edge of the bed.

"How did you know?"

"Know what? That I am ready for motherhood?" River asked.

"No, that I think I am pregnant."

"There's only a few things that can shake a woman like you." River chuckled.

Alessia turned her head to face her sister in law, and narrowed her eyes.

"Sometimes, I hate that smart ass mouth of yours." She confessed.

River let out her angelic laugh and then wiggled her eyebrows as she said, "Oh yeah? Your brother happen to love it!"

Alessia raised her brows for a moment before it hit her and she scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Ewww... gross woman!"

.

.

.

_______________________________