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The puppies had been named. They were Chase, Rubble and Skye, named after Kiara, Lucas and River's favourite PAW Patrol characters respectively. Mateo had a good laugh about it until George and Davis also piped in on the PAW patrol discussion.

Mateo had walked out of the room saying, "I can't believe I leave my kids to you!"

Chase was the first born of the litter of seven, Skye was the foodie and Rubble was the shy one, just like how Kiara was around strangers.

One month had passed, and nothing much had changed, except the kids went back to school, two more bodyguards – Steve and Robin – added for extra protection and River went back to the hospital though she blasted Mateo off when he suggested extra security for her.

Mateo knew that she didn't need anyone to protect her but he was a paranoid boyfriend and father, because he had seen too much of the Mafia world and did not want his family to get even a glimpse of it. He knew it was inevitable but he wanted them away and safe from it as long as possible.

River was busy going through YouTube shorts when the app stopped on its own. She didn't think much of it at first but then random things started popping up on the screen. She looked up from her phone, her eyes narrowed.

"Lia..."

"Hmmm??" The answer was right there in that extra sugary hmm...

"What do you think you are doing?" River asked, shaking her phone.

Michelia put her laptop down with the widest smile on her face. "Didn't you just see what I did? I hacked into your device without any prior info on it, just by being close to it."

"I can see that." River was impressed. "It takes me a bug to get into other devices."

"Not anymore." Michelia smiled widely. "Come here, I will teach you." She patted the spot next to her.

River shook her head laughing as she got up from her seat and walked over to her.

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"What is that supposed to mean?" Jacqueline was running out of patience as she talked to her best friend's bodyguard. "Listen Mr. Bodyguard, I am Mrs. Adesso's best friend and she gave me your number telling me that I just have to contact you whenever I feel like meeting her, so all you gotta do is come pick me up."

"I don't think that's that easy, ma'am." Victor was simply following orders but he was not particularly liking this woman either.

"Okay, make a call to River then." She said. "She will tell you what to do."

Victor rolled his eyes, realizing that there was no use talking to her – she wouldn't back off until the doctor herself told her that they could not meet up.

"Alright." He said and hung up immediately, not waiting for her reply.

Jacqueline looked at her phone disbelievingly. "I think I just talked to the rudest person on the planet! How the hell does River tolerate him?"

Victor dialled River's number as he thought how such a disciplined person like Dr. River Johnson ended up with a woman who talked less and screamed way more.

"Hey Victor, sup?" River picked up the phone on the second ring.

"Hello Mrs. Adesso, I am calling you about your friend. She said she wants to meet you." He said, his voice shifting to his usual professional as soon as he heard his boss wife's voice.

"Who? Jacqueline?" River was excited at once. They had only seen each other once in the last two weeks because they had shifts at completely different times. Michelia and River both were bored out of their wits at home, and River thought it would be great to have Jacqueline over, so that she could introduce her to Michelia as well. "Is she coming over?"

"Um... She said she wanted to, Mrs. Adesso."

"Dr. Johnson." River corrected him and then continued. "So what's the problem? Bring her over."

Victor paused for a moment before clearing his throat.

"Do you think it's a good idea ma'am?"

It was River's turn to pause. "What do you mean? Why isn't it a good idea to have my best friend over?"

"I am just asking for security sake that-"

"Okay, I get that Victor." River spoke after taking a deep breath. "I get that you are just worried about the overall security and are just following whatever protocol your stup-... Capo has come up with," Michelia let out a snort as River bit her tongue and winked at her. "- but this is my best friend and legal guardian and I am very much sure that she would not be the cause of any kind of danger on any of us."

"Alright ma'am." With that, he hung up and let out a deep breath. How the hell was he supposed to call that woman back and tell her that he was wrong and she would be taken to her best friend as she had wanted?

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Leonardo, Adam and Mateo walked in to the aroma of chicken, baked vegetables and cake.

"Is there a feast today?" Adam was the first to reach the kitchen.

"Yes!" Lucas and Kiara exclaimed in unison from their seats on the counter where they were busy helping Michelia decorate the cake. Lorenzo was in a sling and River and Jacqueline had ordered the new mother and the kids to stay far far away from the stove and the oven.

"Ugh I missed your cooking." Adam gave River a side hug.

"Hands off." Mateo mumbled, his eyes narrowed.

River rolled her eyes while Adam playfully threw his hands up in the air and stepped away from his best friend's wife.

River turned around to face her boyfriend as he approached her, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a kiss on the junction between her eyebrows.

"Papa, we are here too." Kiara scowled.

"We want kissies too, Papa." Lucas joined in as the adults laughed, Michelia in Leonardo's arms.

"Exactly Papa, how can you be so biased?" River gave him a disapproving look while Mateo rolled his eyes.

"Alright I am sorry my bambini." He walked over to his children and picked them up, one on each arm, and spun around making them squeal. "I missed you two so much today." He placed a kiss on each of their cheeks.

"Any news about Alessia?" River stepped closer to Adam and whispered. He let out a deep sigh. "Nope." River squeezed his shoulder and turned back to her work. He didn't show it but River knew that Adam was deeply affected by Alessia being missing. She was always shipping those two and she knew that though they have not confessed, both of them felt something for one another. River had decided that she would go full on cupid on the two of them when Alessia got back.

And yes, she was very much sure that Alessia will be back. It was not that easy to hurt that tigress.

"So what do we owe this amazing feast to?" Leonardo asked.

"Jacqueline's visit." Michelia smiled. "Apparently these two ex-roommates are used to making great feasts together."

"That we are." River walked over to her best friend.

"Aunt Jackie makes the best puddings." Kiara put in.

"That she does." River said while Lucas also nodded.

"Maybe I should learn to cook too."

"Not now." Every single adult in the room said, making Michelia roll her eyes while the kids got back to what they were doing, not really interested in their discussion anymore.

"Where are the puppies?" Mateo got back to his girlfriend, clinging on to her and taking her scent in while he can because as he saw it, it was unstable times and no one could say what would happen in the next moment.

"Being puppies." River said endearingly. Obviously, the three had become her children. Now she was the mother of six children – two human babies, three canine babies and one manchild. "The kids got back from school and proceeded to tire them out so now they are fast asleep upstairs."

"I wanna tire you out." He whispered in her ear. As aroused as that made her, River got out of his hold and rolled her eyes at him, turning to Adam. "Can you take your best friend away from here? We have work to do."

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Mateo slowly dragged his finger through her face, trying to remember every single detail. They were tangled together with him wearing only his pair of boxers and she wore his shirt which was way too big for her and hence reached just above her knees.

There was a knock on the door and River's eyes snapped open immediately, just as Mateo dropped his hand from her face and got up along with her.

"Who is it?" Mateo asked.

"Mommy..." It was Kiara, as always. It was already five in the morning.

"Coming baby." River got out of the bed, kicking her clothes on the floor to the side as she went to open the door. They always cleaned up after... doing the dirty because Kiara always woke up around this time in the morning but she had forgotten to gather up the discarded clothing today.

"Hi precious..." River cooed as she bent down; Kiara was so sluggish that she immediately wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and leaned against her chest and fell asleep immediately.

"Asleep already?" Mateo asked as he helped her settle their daughter down.

"She just needs her mother." River shrugged, knowing very that it was going to poke Mateo because he was always complaining how the kids loved their mom more than their papa.

"Wait and watch, I will be our next baby's favourite." Mateo stated it and went back to sleep, hugging their kid while River stayed in position with her eyes wide. Another child? He was actually considering having another baby with her?

River was not worried about another baby – she had mastered the art of parenting and even with the kind of hectic schedule she had, she was still one of the best mothers out there. But the idea that Mateo wanted another kid with her... it made her stomach do somersaults.

River looked over at the digital clock on the nightstand – it read 5:17.

Shit, her next shift started at six and she was still in her boyfriend's shirt. She needed to get ready as quickly as possible because the hospital was a twenty minute drive from where they lived now.

There was no time for breakfast, and she couldn't wait until any of them were up so she quickly grabbed the keys, texting Victor on the way to tell him that he should simply meet her at the hospital. River got into the car and revved the engine; she suddenly felt like something bad was going to happen. She didn't know what. But she did know that she wasn't wrong about this feeling.

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Mateo did not like the idea one bit. He spent almost thirty minutes yelling at Victor for not accompanying River. River had not let him know when her next shift started and the message that the surgeon had sent her bodyguard had not been delivered, so when Victor woke up, got dressed and walked into the living room, a worried Mateo lost his mind. River was not picking up her phone and he was just about to call Victor when he came in... alone. Where the hell was she?

"I am sure she is just fine." Adam tried to calm Mateo down. "She is a surgeon, remember? And she does not take her phone to the OR. Why are you being so paranoid when you know all of this about your girlfriend?"

Mateo looked up from his phone, where he was typing away to get River's location. "I am being paranoid?" He let out a dry chuckle. "Let me see, they targeted my children, my daughter lost hearing in one ear, my sister is missing and there has been no sign of her for the past one month, there is an unknown enemy at hand who will not let me rest until I find out who he really is. And you are asking me to calm down? You are telling me I am being paranoid?"

"Matt, you need to-"

"Got her." Michelia walked into the living room, waving her phone in the air. She showed them the video – Michelia had hacked into the hospital security system, and got hold of the camera in the OR. River was working.

Mateo let out a breath of relief, but it was short-lived when Michelia said, "Wait a minute!"

"What?" Adam and Mateo turned to her.

"It is nine in the morning now." She said, tapping at the top right of the screen where the time was displayed.

"But the clock in the OR says 3:35." She tapped on the clock.

Adam leaned in and strained his eyes, and took in a heavy breath when he realized – "The date is last week."

"Someone messed with the CCTV?" Mateo looked at Michelia.

She was scared too. "The security system of that hospital is top notch. It took me an hour to shadow what is going on. Whoever managed to tamper with it has to be a tech genius."

"I don't care what kind of genius he or she is. I want River back safe and sound, whatever it may take."

"We are on it." Michelia nodded. Her sister in law was already AWOL. She did not have the energy to deal with her future sister in law going missing as well.

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