The Mafia's Babies by Kaycee Romano (little readers TXT) 📕

"Any news about Alessia?" River stepped closer to Adam and whispered. He let out a deep sigh. "Nope." River squeezed his shoulder and turned back to her work. He didn't show it but River knew that Adam was deeply affected by Alessia being missing. She was always shipping those two and she knew that though they have not confessed, both of them felt something for one another. River had decided that she would go full on cupid on the two of them when Alessia got back.

And yes, she was very much sure that Alessia will be back. It was not that easy to hurt that tigress.

"So what do we owe this amazing feast to?" Leonardo asked.

"Jacqueline's visit." Michelia smiled. "Apparently these two ex-roommates are used to making great feasts together."

"That we are." River walked over to her best friend.

"Aunt Jackie makes the best puddings." Kiara put in.

"That she does." River said while Lucas also nodded.

"Maybe I should learn to cook too."

"Not now." Every single adult in the room said, making Michelia roll her eyes while the kids got back to what they were doing, not really interested in their discussion anymore.

"Where are the puppies?" Mateo got back to his girlfriend, clinging on to her and taking her scent in while he can because as he saw it, it was unstable times and no one could say what would happen in the next moment.

"Being puppies." River said endearingly. Obviously, the three had become her children. Now she was the mother of six children – two human babies, three canine babies and one manchild. "The kids got back from school and proceeded to tire them out so now they are fast asleep upstairs."

"I wanna tire you out." He whispered in her ear. As aroused as that made her, River got out of his hold and rolled her eyes at him, turning to Adam. "Can you take your best friend away from here? We have work to do."

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Mateo slowly dragged his finger through her face, trying to remember every single detail. They were tangled together with him wearing only his pair of boxers and she wore his shirt which was way too big for her and hence reached just above her knees.

There was a knock on the door and River's eyes snapped open immediately, just as Mateo dropped his hand from her face and got up along with her.

"Who is it?" Mateo asked.

"Mommy..." It was Kiara, as always. It was already five in the morning.

"Coming baby." River got out of the bed, kicking her clothes on the floor to the side as she went to open the door. They always cleaned up after... doing the dirty because Kiara always woke up around this time in the morning but she had forgotten to gather up the discarded clothing today.

"Hi precious..." River cooed as she bent down; Kiara was so sluggish that she immediately wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and leaned against her chest and fell asleep immediately.

"Asleep already?" Mateo asked as he helped her settle their daughter down.

"She just needs her mother." River shrugged, knowing very that it was going to poke Mateo because he was always complaining how the kids loved their mom more than their papa.

"Wait and watch, I will be our next baby's favourite." Mateo stated it and went back to sleep, hugging their kid while River stayed in position with her eyes wide. Another child? He was actually considering having another baby with her?

River was not worried about another baby – she had mastered the art of parenting and even with the kind of hectic schedule she had, she was still one of the best mothers out there. But the idea that Mateo wanted another kid with her... it made her stomach do somersaults.

River looked over at the digital clock on the nightstand – it read 5:17.

Shit, her next shift started at six and she was still in her boyfriend's shirt. She needed to get ready as quickly as possible because the hospital was a twenty minute drive from where they lived now.

There was no time for breakfast, and she couldn't wait until any of them were up so she quickly grabbed the keys, texting Victor on the way to tell him that he should simply meet her at the hospital. River got into the car and revved the engine; she suddenly felt like something bad was going to happen. She didn't know what. But she did know that she wasn't wrong about this feeling.

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Mateo did not like the idea one bit. He spent almost thirty minutes yelling at Victor for not accompanying River. River had not let him know when her next shift started and the message that the surgeon had sent her bodyguard had not been delivered, so when Victor woke up, got dressed and walked into the living room, a worried Mateo lost his mind. River was not picking up her phone and he was just about to call Victor when he came in... alone. Where the hell was she?

"I am sure she is just fine." Adam tried to calm Mateo down. "She is a surgeon, remember? And she does not take her phone to the OR. Why are you being so paranoid when you know all of this about your girlfriend?"

Mateo looked up from his phone, where he was typing away to get River's location. "I am being paranoid?" He let out a dry chuckle. "Let me see, they targeted my children, my daughter lost hearing in one ear, my sister is missing and there has been no sign of her for the past one month, there is an unknown enemy at hand who will not let me rest until I find out who he really is. And you are asking me to calm down? You are telling me I am being paranoid?"

"Matt, you need to-"

"Got her." Michelia walked into the living room, waving her phone in the air. She showed them the video – Michelia had hacked into the hospital security system, and got hold of the camera in the OR. River was working.

Mateo let out a breath of relief, but it was short-lived when Michelia said, "Wait a minute!"