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Victor groaned as he massaged his jaw. He wondered where this scrawny woman had all this strength to deliver the kind of punch that she did. It felt as though his jaw had split into two.

"What do you mean by she is missing?" Jacqueline whisper-yelled, glaring at her best friend's bodyguard. "You were supposed to make sure that she was safe. That's literally your only job!" She shrieked.

Victor glared back at her. He was only here to find out if the nurse knew anything about the whereabouts of the surgeon but she had gotten physical with him instead of being of any use. And could he do anything to her? No. Why? Stupid principles he had in life because of his Nonna.

"Look, we are trying to locate Mrs. Adesso." He wanted to keep his temper in check. He might hate this woman but she was still River's best friend and he was sure that if there was a situation where his boss Mateo had to choose between him and her, the Italian Capo would - without a doubt - choose his wife's best friend over a mere bodyguard like him, and that won't be good for him because his boss knew how to throw punches. "We are all worried for her, alright? So please, if there is anything that you know, please tell me. Or is there anyone that you know who would be able to help us track her?" The last question was pretty dumb because he knew that the best trackers were back at the mansion.

"The only thing that I know here is that you are supposed to be her bodyguard and you are supposed to make sure of her safety. So if my best friend is in any kind of danger right now, it's entirely your fault." Jacqueline hissed at him. She did not like this man from day one when he was showing attitude when she asked him to take her to see her friend. He was going on and on about safety measures and all that shit and the same guy had managed to make the mistake that now had all of them worrying about River's life.

Victor closed his eyes, wondering why even for a moment he had thought that talking to this infuriating woman was going to get him anywhere. He had to get some kind of lead on the boss wife or else he was going to be dead meat – he knew that for sure. He wished this woman was something like her best friend – Dr. River Johnson would have acted logically in situations like this instead of getting all riled up and emotional. The Capo had gotten himself a mighty woman.

"I will try to get security footages." Jacqueline was shaking as she spoke. "We will be able to find something out from that, right?"

"We already got them. She reached here. Her car's in the basement." Victor spoke. "But the footages have been tampered with so we don't know what to believe and what not to once she entered the hospital."

Jacqueline gulped. What had her best friend's life come to? She was happy that River found Mateo and the kids had their father, but the man's lifestyle was putting the lives of three of the most important people in her life, at stake. The kids' kidnapping, accident and now River's kidnapping. It was scary.

It was scary for a bystander like her. She wondered how River must feel, though yes, she agreed that River was a hundred times braver than her.

"What do we do?" She asked him. "What if something happens to her? The kids... the kids must be so scared."

"Hey hey hey..." Victor grabbed both of her shoulders. "The kids are fine. They are used to Mrs. Adesso being away, remember? They don't have to know that their Mommy is missing."

Jacqueline nodded, wiping her sweaty hands on her apron.

"I swear to god, if something happens to her, I will kill you." She said finally.

Victor closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

God give him patience.

He blamed himself enough and he did not want another human blaming him.

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River was annoyed. It was the only feeling that she felt, other than homesickness of course. She missed her kids terribly. And yes yes, she missed Mateo too.

"You are an interesting woman, River Johnson." The raspy deep voice spoke as the filthy bag was removed from her head.

River looked straight in the eyes of Sergey Petrov, Mona and Dmitri's elder brother and the Boss of the Russian Mafia. The man was older than she thought him to be, but then she realized that she wasn't that young either.

"Can't you call Mateo and blackmail him or something already?" River let out an annoyed sigh. "I miss my kids, and I am hungry."

The Russians might not be as proud and 'gentlemanly' as the Italians, but they did have their own principles, and could not torture women the way they did with men. So, what they had managed to do to her in the three days she was in their custody was to starve her – she hadn't touched water or food in three days.

"Don't you want to use the restroom?" It was one question that Sergey's arm candy, Anika, wanted to know. Wherever he went, she did. And the three of them had been in the same building for the past three days because Sergey knew that the hacker named Michelia will be able to find out his whereabouts if he made any movement. So he, his latest fling, some of his men and his hostage was in an abandoned but well kept building in the middle of nowhere. He didn't care three days had been wasted as long as his agenda had been served.

"I am a doctor. I can go days without food, water or the loo." River rolled her eyes.

Sergey let out a chuckle. He had been observing this woman and she really had piked his interest.

"We don't need to involve Mateo in this, Dr. Johnson." Sergey spoke. "We can come to an agreement between ourselves. You tell me where Alessia Adesso is, and you get to go back to your boyfriend and children."

Sergey's accent was already funny to River but when he emphasized on the word 'boyfriend', she understood what this was about – they had found out that Mateo and River were not married and that meant that the immunity wives and children of made men of the Mafia had, did not apply to her, and that was why she was kidnapped in the first place. And here she was ready to give Mateo an earful on all the lectures he gave her on Mafia principles.

"I would be the happiest person in the world if I knew where she was." River said. "We are looking for her as well. The girl disappeared out of the blue and as much as I know that she is more than capable of taking care of herself, I have no idea where she is and in what condition she must be in."

She looked around the dark room. Of course, she did not expect the Russian man to believe what she was saying. Who would believe what the woman-

"I believe you."

Huh?

River gave him a flat look. "You do?" She asked, just in case he was kidding.

"I do." Sergey let out another chuckle. It seemed to River that the man was very humorous. Somewhat like his younger brother Dmitri. River had never met Mona when she was alive so she could not attribute the characters to the sister. "I know exactly what kind of person Alessia Adesso is. And she is not one to hide."

"Then why the hell am I held hostage like this?" River was running out of patience, mainly because after three days her bladder was full and demanding release.

"I just wanted to mess with Mateo Adesso when I found out the two of you were not married."

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Three days.

It had been three days and there had not been one useful information regarding River, nor could they locate Sergey Petrov.

"I swear to god, I cannot go one more day not knowing where she is!" Mateo banged on the desk. He was losing his mind – Sergey Petrov was getting what he wanted.

"Calm down, Mateo." Michelia squeezed his shoulder. "We will find her. Calm down because the twins need you right now and you can't lose control over your emotions like this. I know that River wouldn't."

Mateo turned to Michelia. He was at the edge of losing his mind. He didn't know where River was and he did not how to face the children. He was failing again and again in his own eyes. And she was right - River would have handled it so much better, which was funny because he was the one born into this lifestyle. He had to take pointers from River on how to keep her head when something like this happened.

"Knock knock, did anyone miss me?" The duo's eyes darted to the door and sure enough, there she was, in between Leonardo and Adam, with a bright goofy smile on her face.

"What the fuck!" Mateo exclaimed as he closed the distance between them, gathering her in his arms. "Where were you? What happened? How did you get back?"

River rolled her eyes - of course he was going to bombard her with questions.

"Sergey trying to play with you. He let me off after he was convinced that I was gone long enough for you to lose your mind. And I see he is right." She smiled at him. "Are you sure he is as bad as you all say he is? He seemed like a really nice guy to me."

Mateo pulled away and gave her a look.

She shrugged.

"Get her something to eat." Mateo turned to his cousin, cousin-in-law and best friend while pulling her to him, placing her head on his chest. River let out a sigh of content as she closed her eyes. It had not been terrifying or anything but she had been kidnapped for three days. She had not understood what the agenda could have been then but seeing the condition Mateo was in, it was clear that her kidnapping was simply a harmless prank by Sergey, all at the same time reminding them that it doesn't matter where they hide, if he wants to get his hands on them, he will.

Leonardo signaled the two others to leave the couple alone. The condition Mateo had been in the last three days, it was clear that he will take a little more to calm down and normalize his heart rate.

The kids were at the kindergarten as ordered by Michelia. She knew the danger was omnipresent so the only thing she could do at the moment was at least keep the kids away from the stress, and they did not need to know that their mother had been kidnapped.

"I don't know how to react to you." Mateo said as the door to the office was closed.

"What?" River grinned at him. "I am back, aren't I?"

"Sergey was making a point."

River nodded, knowing very well that Sergey indeed was making a point. "He found out that we weren't actually married and wanted to mess with you."

Mateo's eyebrows furrowed and then realization dawned on his face.

River narrowed her eyes. "No." She said before he could even word his thoughts.

"What no?" Mateo was convinced that it had become necessary.

"No Mateo, I will not marry you." River rolled her eyes. She knew that it was exactly what Mateo must be thinking. He needed to get the threat out of the way – the guy acted like a paranoid parent when it came to the safety of the twins and her (as he should) but River was not like that – she didn't have any other objection against marrying this dude but she was going to do it when the time was right and when she knew it was right and because she wanted to, not because she was afraid of being abducted by some humorous Russian Mafia Boss.

Mateo gave her a long look – he loved this woman and he loved her for the stubborn woman that she was but right now, he had half a mind to force her into marrying him. Half a mind because the other half was busy calculating the damage such a dumb move would cause their relationship and his physical health - the woman knew to throw punches.

He let out a sigh, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "Want me to ask George and Davis to bring the kids back? They miss you."

River shook her head. She needed her kids to learn to live like this because this was their life now.

Suddenly the thought occurred to her, and a smile appeared on her face. "What did you do to Victor?"

"I didn't do anything." Mateo had been tough on him but he really didn't do anything that he would have done back in the days. "But Ms. Meyers, on the other hand, must have punched him at least ten times in the last three days. And the poor boy is so guilt-ridden than he took all the blows without complaint."

River raised a brow, impressed. She didn't know her best friend could do that. She knew very well that the real pussy was her other best friend, Sebastian Shane – she hadn't heard from him in days – who was all talk and would not be able to raise his hand on someone half his size. But still, Jacqueline was a follower of ahimsa. If she took the route of violence, then River didn't know if there was much hope left for humanity.

"I need to take a bath because I stink." She finally stated. "And eat. And sleep."

"And brush. I was wondering how to tell you that your breath stinks." Mateo stated seriously.

River narrowed her eyes at him and punched him in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. "Oomph." She let out a chuckle as she pulled away from her boyfriend. "I want lots of food." She stated before leaving the office and going to their bedroom.

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"I missed you so much." Kiara was muttering to herself as she played with River's hair while River rocked her in her arms.

"I missed you even more, precious." River placed a kiss on the hair of her daughter, which was identical to hers. Both the kids had her hair. "I missed you so much and wanted to come meet you guys but was so busy at the hospital." She lied.

"You used to call even when you were busy." Lucas scowled. He was on the ground, playing with Chase and Skye. Rubble was passed out on the couch.

River bit her lip. Of course, she could get away with whatever excuses with Kiara because she never thought much into it, but that was not the case with her elder child – he scrutinized everything, something that he had gotten from none other than his mother herself, and he would continuously ask questions until he was sure that there was nothing fishy about it.

"I would have called you guys if I wasn't so busy, right? When I was free, it was past your bed time and I didn't want to wake you up." She continued to speak. "Besides, Papa was here with you right?"

"Papa being here doesn't mean that we won't miss you, does it?" Lucas sounded pissed.

River looked at Michelia, who had the cutest smile on her face as she looked between the mother and son and then at her Lorenzo. She couldn't wait for when her baby boy grew up to be grumpy because he missed her so much.

"You are right." River lifted Kiara up and sat down next to her angry little man, wrapping her free arm around him and pulling him onto her lap as well. "I am sorry I didn't call." She placed kisses on both their head.

"It's okay, Mommy." Kiara said, placing a kiss on her mother's cheek and then turning to her brother, "Forgive her this once, Lukey."

"Yeah Lukey, I promise I will make sure Mommy never does that ever again." Michelia also urged him.

Lucas looked up at his mom who made a sad face at him.

He let out an exasperated sigh, the kind that he was used to seeing his father do when he was annoyed with his mother, and then wrapped his tiny arms around her neck. "Fine, but this is the last time."

"Yes, sir." She hugged him and Kiara and the two kids returned the hug.

"All the love only for Mommy huh?" Mateo asked as he walked in with Adam.

"For today, yes." Kiara was blunt as always. Adam and Michelia burst out laughing.

Mateo pouted but that had no effect on his children or girlfriend, probably because he lacked the cuteness the trio had when they did that. He just looked like a donkey. So he gave that up and decided to join the hug party, wrapping his arms around the three humans who had become his own little world.

And while the family shared that moment, Michelia made it a point to sneak a picture because... THEY ARE SO FREAKING CUTE, why else?

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