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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."

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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.

"Mona might have kidnapped the kids because Susan Johnson was handling Benjamin Gale's case. She hit jackpot when she figured out that they are yours." Adam reasoned.

He nodded.

That made sense.

And if it was true, Mona wouldn't hurt them.

Her target would be River.

"fuck!" Mateo swore. "Turn the car around. I need to be with River."

"But capo, shouldn't we go get the kids first?" Adam asked and he realized he was parking the car in front of the Mafia House. Adam called his best friend capo only when he knew he was riled up and he needed to remind him who he was.

"Mona wouldn't hurt the babies now that she knows they are mine. But she will want the mother dead." Mateo told him his theory as he got off the car.

"Okay, I will send men to keep an eye on Dr. Johnson. We need to focus on getting your kids out of that evil witch's clutches." He said and stopped, blowing out a breath, and looked at his best friend with a small smile on his face. "You are a dad."

Mateo sighed too.

'I am a papa.' He thought.

It wouldn't be confirmed until the paternity test but his heart told him they are his. He prayed subconsciously that they are his.

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"There are activities in the old abandoned dock." Alessia said tapping on her iPad showing her brother a CCTV footage of men in the dock.

"They never use that place." Ricardo, one of Mateo's men and a great fighter, said.

"Exactly." Alessia said. "And look at this black SUV." She zoomed in on the number plate. "It's the same that was seen outside the children's school."

Mateo nodded. "Okay, so she will be expecting us for sure."

"What she doesn't know is that I have hacked into their security system."

They looked up to see Michelia grinning through the screen.

"Go Girl power!" Alessia clapped while Ricardo rolled his eyes.

"Okay so what's the strategy?"

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"There are entrances from here, here and here." Michelia pointed at the blueprint of the dockyard on the screen.

Ricardo, Alessia, Adam, Leonardo, Michelia and Mateo were in her hospital room. She had to stay there for another two weeks before Enzo was all better to be taken home. And since she could not leave her child there, they all got all the things she needed to come up with a strategy.

"This dock right here is where the old ship is and I got its security system hacked. They used thermal imaging inside." She switched to another screen. "The dockyard has twenty three functional cameras. Two are down." She explained.

She switched back to the blueprint. "Those are here and here."

One was close to an entrance.

"So if we take out the guards here, we can sneak in undetected." Alessia concluded.

Michelia nodded. "And this is the blueprint of the ship, and look here, there are thermal imprints over here at all times. I am guessing that's where the kids are."

"But we need fireworks as well." Adam said.

"What do you have in mind?" Mateo asked.

"We will present an offensive front. Keep them busy while some of us stealthily get the kids." Michelia stated, typing away on her phone, organizing everything.

"Okay so let's do this – Alessia, Adam and I will move in first and you think you can handle the working CCTV so that all the men there are not alerted?" Michelia nodded as Mateo continued. "And once we get close enough to the ship, we will signal the offensive front to cause the distraction and-"

"Everyone will be busy with the fight, they will let their guard down where the kids are." Leonardo finished for his cousin. "They will be expecting us though."

Mateo nodded. That was obvious.

"Alright, we have a plan." Alessia said. "I am going back to the family home and get everyone ready."

Ricardo and she left while Adam and Mateo stayed back.

They decided Leonardo was staying back with Michelia though he protested.

"That's my niece and nephew she messed with. You think I am gonna miss out on this?" He glared at Mateo.

"You can do as you please when we personally bring the Russian Mafia down." He reasoned. "Right now, stay with your son and wife."

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"Okay, everyone ready?" Mateo heard Michelia through the earpiece.

"Uh huh." Alessia said, attaching the suppressor to her gun.

"There are four guards at two o' clock and two at nine." Adam tip-toed back to them from where he was scanning the place.

"Take down the two." Alessia instructed him while she and Mateo moved forward, firing at the four.

"What's going on?"

Mateo shot another one of the men before he even saw him. They made quick work of moving the bodies to where they couldn't be easily spotted and scurried in.

It was after sunset and the lights were dim and the place was damp so the chances of people spotting the blood puddles were very less. Then again, they had planned to take out anyone on the way so it was even lesser chance anyone was to go there.

"Alright, the coast is clear to the left and I meddled with the cameras so the stage is all yours." Michelia stated.

They did not say anything but moved forward cautiously, and they did this for some good half an hour until the three of them got to where the ship was anchored.

Men walked out of it with containers.

"This is the part where we request for some fireworks." Adam muttered.

"Alright." Michelia whispered. "All set?... Breach."

The revs of the engines resonated through the dock.

"They are here!" Someone yelled, throwing aside the box in his hand and equipping himself with his gun.

"We already are, you idiots." Alessia chuckled under her breath.

"Can I blow a few heads?" Adam asked.

"And give away our position?" Mateo narrowed his eyes at his best friend but he had to agree, even he was tempted to kill these motherfuckers. They had the audacity to kidnap his kids.

The three stayed hidden for another few minutes before Michelia said, "Okay there are two other bodies where the kids are supposed to be and seven others still on the other side of the ship. Everything else is clear."

They quickly darted across the path and jumped onto the ship, and made quite a ruckus falling on steel plates.

"Shit, they heard you. They are taking the kids." Michelia said urgently as they ran down the stairs but they were too late in reaching the place.

"Where?" Alessia asked.

"The other end of the ship."

"I got a view from a dock cam." Leonardo said in the background.

"What the hell are they doing?" Michelia asked to herself as they ran to find the doors to the other end, shooting the locked ones open.

"They are hanging the kids to a rope or something."

"Crane. They are hanging them to a crane!" Leonardo said.

"WHAT?" Mateo didn't know his heart could beat any faster but it did. He ran faster, broke down doors faster but it was like they were stuck in a maze. They couldn't find the way out.

"All of you stop!" Michelia said firmly and they did unwillingly. "You guys are running in circles. Take the door to your right."

And they followed her instructions.

"Now that's the final door."

"Bikers incoming." Leonardo yelled.

"fuck! They got bikers!" Michelia said.

They blew up the door and ran out.

Before Mateo could even apprehend what was going on, they were raining bullets at each other. He fell back when a bullet hit the vest where his heart was. If Alessia hadn't insisted on bullet proof vests, he would have been dead by now. Dead without having a good look at his children.

Mateo ignored the throbbing on his chest and bounced back to his feet, raining more bullets on them.

But one bullet found the rope from which the children were hanging, above the waters.

"NO!!"

Mateo felt as if his life had left his body.

He hadn't even properly seen them yet.

And right before his eyes, as they fell, a biker sprang out of the dock and caught them, landing on the ship, skidding and tumbling over. He hit the ground with a thud but he held the kids to his chest and took the whole impact on his own back.

"The bikers are on our side?" Michelia asked through the earpiece but Mateo didn't waste time to reply as he lunged forward, scrambling to where the three had fallen.

The children were wailing while the man groaned, taking off his helmet.

Her helmet.

"River?"

"MOMMY!!!!" My babies cried in recognition, launching themselves at her. She let out an agonizing moan but held onto them nevertheless.

"Johnson!" Sebastian rushed over, throwing his helmet aside.

'How did he get over here so fast?'

"Uncle Sebby." Lucas acknowledged him, still resting his head on his mother's chest.

"Let's get you all out of here." Mateo said.

River acknowledged his presence for the first time.

She smiled weakly at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"Thank you Mateo." She wheezed out. She tried to get up with the kids on her, but she fell back with a groan.

"Mommy, are you in pain?" Little Kiara asked, her sweet voice dripping with concern. Mateo felt his eyes well up with tears. She had the most angelic voice in the whole wide world.

"Nope, just a little squeezy."

The kids scrambled off of her and got up. She tried to follow but she fell back again moaning.

"I think I displaced a disk or something." She murmured, pulling the kids back to her.

Mateo didn't ask or wait for permission. He picked her up, the children on top of her and walked back to where the exit was.

"What are you doing?" She hissed.

"Getting you to a hospital." He replied.

"Alright capo, walk out with no worries. Everything's taken care of." Michelia chuckled into the earpiece. "Over and out."

"Wow mister, you are so strong!" Lucas exclaimed looking awed. As much as he wanted to correct him that he was his papa and not mister, Mateo didn't. This wasn't the right time.

"Thanks little man."

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