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

Mateo got up from his seat and walked around the table as River's eyes followed him. He turned her chair to face him, her legs slipping off the desk, and pulled her closer, leaning down. "What do you think you are doing?" She squeaked out, clearing her throat when he smirked down at her.

"Giving it back to you." He shrugged, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

Why did you have to go and dig your own grave? Her inner voice asked her. For once in her life, the voice had not appeared because she was stressing out. But her heart rate was definitely going up more than necessary.

"Shut up!" River pushed him back while he chuckled. "Concentrate Capo, we have shit going down!"

Mateo stood up and cleared his throat, squaring his shoulders as if going back to his mafia man self.

"You are right." He nodded. "So you don't want to stay here, I don't want you to come to Wyoming. That means, maybe I will let you go back to New York."

She was nodding away when she suddenly stopped and looked up at him dumbfounded. "I can go back to New York?"

"Yes."

"And work?"

He thought for a moment. "I guess you can, and the kids back to school as well as long as you are protected." He said finally. "Nobody is as crazy as Mona, and I don't think they want to harm you because otherwise, they would have really poisoned you."

"If they are the ones who did it, that is." She pointed out. The possibilities were endless. The danger was unknown.

But one thing, both of them had come to terms with was the fact that there was no use running from it anymore. They had a whole life in front of them and they could not spend it running away from all the problems and dangers that existed as part of the life they were fated with.

"What does your hunch say?" Mateo asked.

"That they are indeed the culprits?" She shrugged. They knew nothing about who was behind it, but her mind insisted that whoever killed Mona was the same one who poisoned her so that they would leave the ranch. There was definitely some connection.

"Then it must be true because you have really good intuition."

She smiled hearing that. Finally, this man agrees that she is awesome!

.

.

.

"But we never met Nonna and Nonno." Kiara whined as River dressed her up.

"Yeah Mommy, won't they feel bad?" Lucas said from across the room.

"I know baby, but this is an emergency." River pouted.

"But-"

"Yo, I honestly think that you guys should at least stay till tomorrow and wait for them to come before you leave. You really don't wanna anger Nonna." Alessia said. She was perched on the vanity table, surfing through her phone.

River groaned and walked over to her. "But I am terrified of meeting them in Mateo's absence."

"Yeah I know, that's why I am saying all of you should stay till tomorrow."

River dropped her voice and whisper-yelled. "But there's a dead body Alessia, and it was found in the ranch."

"Yeah, but Mateo wasn't officially summoned by the authorities or anything yet, right?"

"Won't it be sus if he acts all unbothered about finding a corpse in his property?" She asked.

"Mommy, we are going to play with Mia!" Lucas announced and turned around to see them running off. She sighed and walked over to the door, watching them take a turn and disappear from her eyesight before closing the door and turning back to her friend.

"Nothing Mateo and money can't handle." She pointed out. Well, as arrogant as that was, she did have a point!

River finally nodded, plopping down on the bed.

"So can I tell Mateo?" Alessia asked. Though it was her own idea, Alessia wasn't very enthusiastic about it either. She was just trying to avoid the drama that her grandmother would cause if things didn't go the way it was initially planned. Abrianna Costello didn't yield according to other's convenience.

River nodded and then looked over at the TV screen.

'So much shit going on! Why does this have to happen to us?' She thought as she stared at her reflection. 'Why don't we ever get a fucking break?'

She just really wished that Mateo and the kids could have more time to spend with each other without the constant danger looming around and the conspiracies that are cooked up against him.

River was eternally grateful to god for not letting anything happen to her children. And she was also glad that they almost instantly forgot about the kidnapping incident and wasn't overly affected by anything else that happened afterwards. And she was so glad that they got their papa, the happiness that outweighs all the other shit that went down these last few weeks.

But she still wished that all of this would get over fast, at least for now, so that the kids could have a normal life. Even if they go back to New York, they would still be watched and they would still have the target trained on them and that was just so unsettling and scary.

Mateo always told River that they would not hurt the kids because it was against the Mafia law but that didn't make it any less scary - they were kidnapped once, weren't they? And they were almost kidnapped again by one of Mateo's most trusted men. And they could have been the ones to be poisoned if she hadn't eaten the cookies first.

"Stop over thinking River!" Alessia's words reached her ears. "You are three thoughts away from giving yourself another panic attack!"

River looked over at Alessia and then at the mirror. Sweat beaded her forehead and she looked like she had just seen a ghost. She sighed.

"License to over think and worry comes free with being a mother." She chuckled.

Alessia gave her a small smile and hopped off the vanity table. She gave her a side hug, squeezing her shoulder in assurance as she did.