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

River cursed as she lost her grip on her car keys. Her hands were trembling. Her vision was blurred and unfocused by the tears clouding her eyes.

Her heart ached, beating erratically in her chest as if trying to break open the cage holding it prisoner.

She felt so helpless, useless!

She couldn't even hold the car-keys properly to insert it into the ignition. She reached for the keys that was lying next to her foot and managed to get it.

River jumped out of her skin at the sudden tap on her window.

She wiped at her tears and looked carefully to realize it was Mr. Adesso.

She quickly pushed the door open and got out, composing herself.

"Mr. Adesso-"

"Mateo." He said, an unknown emotion dripping from his voice.

"I am so sorry you had to see that-"

"Shut up River!" He glared at the surgeon. "Ou- Your children are missing. It's okay to let the pain out!"

He held her by her arms. "You are going to break if you try to bottle it in. Let it all out now and then let's go find the twins!"

Why he was so concerned about her babies, she didn't know but when he said what he did, it was like the dams behind her eyes burst open.

River crouched to the ground and cried into her hands.

This was not supposed to happen.

Something was supposed to happen to her. Not her little monkeys.

River cried for a good ten minutes on the ground and Mateo waited patiently, not trying to console her or ask her to stop. He knew that she needed to cry it and let it all out for her to function properly again.

River blew out deep breaths as she stood back up, wiping away the tears with the back of her palm.

"I'll drive." Mateo offered. But she shook her head no.

No, she was gonna drive.

He nodded and got into the passenger seat while she slid back in, starting the engine.

River didn't really know why he was helping her but his presence helped so she didn't ask for an explanation. Also, she knew that he was useful. He had contacts in the bad world.

She quickly dialed Eric's number on her car screen and started driving.

She was a fast driver when the situation called for it. Very fast.

"River?" Eric asked as soon as he picked the call, sounding confused.

"You were right. They got my kids." She said.

"We are at it." He replied and hung up while she missed a red light by a second.

"You knew this was going to happen?" Mateo sounded angry.

River glanced over at him for a millisecond before taking a side road that she knew could get them home faster.

"Yeah, my mom's Susan Johnson-"

"The lawyer?"

She nodded. "The case she has been on lately... She was threatened I think; she didn't tell me exactly what was going on but she was paranoid. And an old acquaintance of mine had warned me about the same."

"fuck!"

River pulled her car up to the apartment complex, the security guard taking the key from her telling her he will park the car for her since he had gotten to know what had happened.

"River, I am so sorry!!" Susan rose to her feet and hurried to her daughter as soon as River and Mateo dashed into the room.

Lilith looked up from where she was sitting, her face in her palms, fresh tears trickling down her face at the sight of her broken granddaughter.

River hugged her mother.

"It's not your fault." She whispered. "It's none of our faults."

"But-"

"Let's just preserve our energy to get my babies back safe, yeah?"

Susan nodded her head, a sudden determination shining in her eyes.

"Let's go Johnson!"

River turned to her best friend who looked like he was about to rip off someone's throat.

"Let's go." She blew out a deep breath and turned to Mateo.

"I will do what I can do." He said before she could thank him. He had a different, almost dangerous aura to himself.

He could help. She knew that.

He ran with the gangster crowd.

What River could not understand was why he was helping them out. Was he helping them out? Or did he have another agenda?

Maybe he was in on it?

Before River could voice her doubts and throw her many questions at him, Mateo turned on his heals and walked out.

Susan decided to do it the right way while her daughter filled Sebastian in on her little run in with our good old friend Eric Richards.

"If he's in on it-" Sebastian started but she cut him off. "He will lose more than just a tooth this time."

.
.
.

Mateo got into the car that was waiting for him.

"Who should I shoot?"

"You know who." Adam said as he drove off.

"What do you mean?" Mateo turned to him, his heart picking up pace.

No no no, she couldn't be involved in this.

"You should check this out." He said, passing his best friend the iPad he used for their business purposes. The mail was already open.

There was a mail from Mona Petrov, with an attachment.

Mateo quickly opened the mail and read through it.

[Picked up some goods today and stumbled upon these. Thought you would like these.

Call me anytime. ]

He tapped on the attachment. It was a photo. Of the twins sleeping. And the little boy had a finger-length cut on his head.

"She will pay." He gritted out.

"He really takes after you." Adam said solemnly. "One look at the photo and I was convinced that he was your son."

"And my daughter."

How he was staying so calm was beyond him. But he had to. The twins and River needed him, though they didn't know that yet.

He was going to figure this out.

"And even if it turns out that they aren't your children, you would still do this right?" Adam asked.

Mateo nodded. He was very much confident that the twins were indeed his. He just needed to get the paternity test done to confirm it. But if he was proven wrong, he still wouldn't have any regrets because he was doing this for one of the few women in his life who he valued more than himself.