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"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.
"Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day." She said.
"Hopefully."
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"Papa, she should be listening to me right?"
"Why should I, Papa?"
"Because I am older than you. By four minutes."
"So? Papa's older than Mommy but she never listens to him!"
River turned from where she was, putting the kids' things back in the bag and raised her brow at her daughter.
"I know right." Mateo played along, giving her a stupid smug look. "Mommy never listens to me. And Papa is two years older than her. Look what you are teaching our children, River!"
"I would have listened to Papa if anything he said made sense." She scowled at him making him chuckle.
"And Ki, you don't have to listen to your brother if you think what he say isn't fair or right." She turned to her little girl.
"Mommy-" Lucas whined but she shut him up with her 'You know you aren't winning this argument, young man!' look.
"You are such a tyrant, River!" Mateo said, looking all amused and stupid in between the two kids, hundred toys and pillow fort.
'It would be nice if his hair was tied to pigtails and he had kiddie pajamas on.' River cringed at her own crazy imagination. But she couldn't stop herself from visualizing it. She bit her lower lip as she tried to keep the laughter in!
The three kids..., two kids and one Papa, gave her weird looks while she turned around and shook her head to shake off the image.
Focus River, he is the capo of the Italian mafia who freaking killed the person who you hung out with in Wyoming.
River's mood changed instantly when she heard what her inner voice had to say.
But it was not because Mateo had killed Alfredo.
It was because Mateo and she had trusted Alfredo. More than most of the others in the ranch. And he was the one to poison her. And he kept the identity of the assailant hidden till his death. Alfredo was supposed to be loyal to the Sicilian Mafia but ironically, he stayed loyal to the enemy till the end.
She thought about what could have happened to her children if they hadn't accidentally ate the cookies. She tried to shake off her thoughts. Alfredo was the past now. But she really couldn't wait to die and go to hell so that she could make his afterlife hell!
"Mommy?" Kiara called out.
River blinked, breaking out of her negative thoughts and took deep breaths, plastering a crazy smile on her face before turning to face her little family.
"Yep?"
The kids face brightened as soon as they saw she had a smile on hers. Bless their baby souls for not understanding complex emotions and lies.
But Mateo had a worried expression on his face. Poor guy was worried about what she must be over thinking right then.
She gave him a reassuring smile and he nodded, his expression indicating that though he did not buy it, he was going to drop it. For now.
River kissed her little babies good night and left them with their Papa. She had given Mateo the duty of putting them to bed, mostly because she wanted him to spend more time with them.
River decided to just get into bed.
She quickly walked into the room she shared with Mateo and changed into her nightwear and did her night time routine before climbing on to the bed and throwing the woolen duvet over her.
A lot of things were happening.
And between all of it, she had completely forgotten about the new emotions between Mateo and her.
She liked it. She felt weird about it, but she liked it. She felt weird because she knew that this was one relationship which couldn't be just a fling - they shared two children. But what if something happened and they split apart? Wouldn't that be horrible? Especially for the children?
Honestly, this is not something you should be worried about right now. Her inner voice wasted no time in speaking up. With all that's going on, this should be the last thing on your mind right now.
And this was one of the rare occasions when she completely agreed with what her inner voice had to say.
Emotions and relationships and everything else could wait. Everything was going to be put on pause until the whole situation was completely figured out and settled.
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