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

The next few hours were agonizing, both literally and figuratively.

River was rushed to the hospital and luckily, she didn't displace any of her intervertebral discs. It was just a ligament tear, though she had to walk around with a brace around her hip for a good three weeks now.

The real damage, it seemed, was from a gash on the back of her head, which Mateo discovered on their way to the hospital when he felt a slight dampness on his shirt. River bled quite a lot and had two units of blood transfused into her.

The kids and Mateo were with her initially after she got patched up. The orthopedic surgeon had ordered a full check up for her twins after her little ones told her that they went to sleep soon after those bitches fed them something.

Contrary to her paranoid conclusion, they were given totally legal and safe child sedatives. Fortunately so, because both of their parents had made separate plans to make a trip back to the dock and burn their supplies and shipments if it had been anything dangerous. Not that the kidnappers were going to have it easy.

Susan Johnson was trying to deal with everything legally and righteously now, not something that Mateo really agreed to but he didn't have any say in the matter at the moment. He had to wait till the right time to confirm if the most beautiful pair of twins he had set his eyes upon, were indeed his own blood or not.

Susan had filed the FIR, and asked Eric to not do anything when he asked her daughter, "What do you want me to do with those motherfuckers?"

And because of hospital policies, the kids couldn't stay with their mother as it was already past ten by the time all the tests and check-ups were done and kids were not allowed to stay over-night.

River didn't want anyone to stay over with her. The kids needed their Grandma and Lilith was too old to stay over at the hospital, not to forget she had her blood pressure elevated from all the stress and dread due to the kidnapping.

The kids needed as many familiar faces around after that traumatic experience. River had instructed everyone that no mention of the situation was to be made at all cost. She wanted them to forget it. Forever. She knew her kids needed time to digest the situation and get over it, but she didn't want any triggers.

Jacqueline, however, had put her foot down and said that she was staying with her best friend. It was either that or going back to her own home so River had to reluctantly agree; she knew that arguing with Jacqueline was a waste of time and energy. Nobody could ever win an argument against the great Jacqueline Meyers.

Sebastian had gone to his own home because in his hurry, he had left Mia with his housekeeper. But he had promised his best friend, in between all the commotion, that Alison and he were staying over River's place that night because "family needs to stick together when such things happen".

So there she was, on a hospital bed, her senile spine throbbing in pain because it was the longest it had sat upright in.. well, its whole existence.

Jacqueline was running late. River wondered if the poor girl was called back in before she could swipe out.

Emma, one of the nurses, was checking her BP. The tightening of the fabric around one's arm was what River liked to call a disgusting sensation. She didn't know how else to explain it.

It wasn't a painful pain. It was just irritating and uncomfortable pain.

"Did you fall down the stairs or something, doc?" She asked.

"Nope, a running vehicle." The doctor grinned at her while she just rolled her eyes.

Mateo gave her a knowing eye.

They both knew it wasn't entirely a joke.

Was it forgotten to mention that he was also staying over? Technically, he was staying with Leonardo and his wife and was just visiting River because she was stuck in VIP08 and she was in VIP07. How she ended up there was another obvious story.

Emma left after adjusting the drip.

River was put on a fast just in case her cracked skull decided to swell up and cause a disaster. In other words, in case she needed surgery.

"How did you learn to ride a bike like that?" Mateo asked him as he fixed the pillows for her.

"I used to run with the wrong crowd, back in the days." She laughed and lowered her voice though no one was around. "I was into illegal racing."

He raised a brow at her, his expression almost of pride. River wondered if she was reading his expressions wrong.

She let out a deep breath as she finally settled down.

"Now, spill." She said, point blank.

"Spill what?" He asked, acting clueless though she could clearly see a small smirk etched at the tips of his lips.

River gave him a look which said, "Really now?" but decided to play along with him.

"Oh I don't know. A lot of things actually, starting with who you are."

"Mateo Adesso." He smirked. Cheeky bastard.

"And what do you do, Mr. Adesso?"

"Mateo." He pointed out, his smirk still in place.

"Alright, what do you do Mateo?"

"I own a chain of Italian restaurants. Katrina's. Heard of them?" He grinned.

River shook her head. She didn't go out much anymore and even if she did, she was already too preoccupied to care.

"Funny because I remember taking you to one once."

She raised her eyebrow.

'Ohhhhhhh....' The inner voice hummed as soon as it clicked.

"And I am guessing all those guys with the guns must be your restaurant employees?" She asked, her tone smug.

Of course, River had tried to get information on the situation and found out that the people to kidnap her kids were part of the Russian Mafia and so it didn't take much time for her mediocre brain to figure out where an Italian man who visited the hospital twice, once with a gunshot wound and then with a pregnant woman who looked like she was caught in the middle of an ambush, would fit in all of this.