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

"It's Kiara and Lucas."

"Their names are as beautiful as they are."

River nodded. There, they already had something they agreed upon about the children.

"So what's your plan?" River asked. There had to be a plan because she just saw her plan of leaving New York hit the bin when she found out the kids' dad is in the Sicilian Mafia. "Do you want to be a part of the twins' life?" She had to add that question.

"Of course I do, River." He asserted. "They are our children, and they need both of us."

River nodded. Thankfully, he didn't say that he was going to keep them to himself or anything, because then they would have had a problem.

"So first step of the plan forming in my mind: Get to the kids before someone else does." River said, nodding to herself. "We will figure everything out later."

"When can you go home?"

"Today evening."

"I will send some of my men to stay guard at your apartment until then." He said.

"Don't you want to go meet your kids?" River asked. She knew that she couldn't leave any sooner but he could go stay with them until then.

She knew that she should be terrified that the father of her children was part of the mafia. And she was. She was as scared as Chloe was when she found out that Lucifer was indeed the devil.

But also, she knew this was not something she could change or control.

River needed her kids safe. But Susan being a criminal lawyer put them at risk but that didn't mean she could just disown her own mother, now did it?

And Mateo was their own father. He had as much right on them as she did. They lived five years without him and she was absolutely glad that he came into their lives before they got old enough to ask questions, and feel his absence. And she was even more glad at the fact that unlike the fathers in the stories she read, he wasn't putting up a fight to take them away from her or denying ever being their father.

"I am terrified." He chuckled. "I am the capo of the Italian Mafia and I am terrified!"

River raised an eye brow.

"Now what's a capo?" She asked.

He stared at her face for a good two minutes before he said, "You are taking this awfully well. After your panic attack yesterday, I was worried you will lose your mind or something."

River exhaled deeply and soundly as she sat down. "Even if I was to go ballistic, the truth is not going to change; the danger is not going to disappear. What I need to figure out is how to keep my kids safe!" Her voice involuntarily rose at the end, and she probably did sound like a maniac right then.

"I know." He sat down on the bed, next to her. "I am going to protect all of you, I promise."

River let out another deep breath, a chuckle breaking out at the end. "I am not some damsel in distress Mateo, and I don't need your protection. Focus on m- our kids. Nothing should happen to them."

He stared at her for a few moments and then nodded.

"I won't let anything happen to our babies."

"Good."

"And you don't have to call Shane or whoever you were going to call. I will drop you off at your house."

She nodded.

"And we will have to move to one of our safehouses." He added. "All of us."

Wait what?

"Does that mean I can't go to work either?"

"It does."

River swore under the breath.

Of course, she couldn't go to work. There was no question about it.

And as much as she wanted to scream and protest, she couldn't. Because she wasn't stupid. There was imminent danger and there was no time to sulk or throw tantrums. It was for the best.

She would just take a long leave or maybe even resign.

River quickly picked up her phone and dialed Dr. Jamie Dewell's number.

"Hey doc?" He laughed. He was one happy guy. "You know you could just press the call button right?"

"I have a doubt."

"That is?"

"How did I manage to get a wound on the back of my head when I was wearing a helmet?"

Mateo scrunched his face up and got to thinking. No one thought about that before, now did they?

"Wait, I thought you fell down the stairs or something." Dr. Dewell sounded hella confused.

"Well I didn't. I didn't want my overprotective mom to know what happened." It was a lie. But for the best.

"Okay so what exactly happened."

And she told him. Technically, she told him what she did to get the wound but not what happened to make her do the stunt in the first place.

"Okay so the impact on the ground must have been so bad because it was from a considerable height that it broke the helmet and the shard must have pierced through. Also the injury is in the lower back of the head so the helmet could have slipped a bit up and you hit your head on some other sharp surface. Helmet doesn't completely guarantee protection from injuries now does it?" He said. "But honestly dude, I didn't know you were into these stunts."

"So what are the possibilities I could get a long leave because of it." She asked.

"River..."

"Yes?"

"Well, I could write up a PTSD with that panic attack you had, and tremors due to spinal cord damage. You will be referred to the neuro-department for treatment though."

"I am moving to Cambridge to stay with my grandparents while I recover."

"I don't know River. It's kind of illegal."

"Jamie, I know more than you think."

"Are you threatening me, doc?"

"Well, it surely isn't a request."

He laughed but said, "Honestly River, it is wrong."

"Even if I could be shot dead if I stayed?"

"Okay, that changes things." Now he sounded alarmed. "You are not joking, are you?"

"You think?"

"Fine, I will do it." He said. "I will submit that you are unfit to continue your duties for a while. You will be fine as long as they don't cross-check."