The Mafia's Babies by Kaycee Romano (howl and other poems txt) 📗

I Believe You

River was not lucky. The bullet had pierced straight into her liver, a huge portion of which was now being removed.

What started out as a lazy afternoon had taken a turn for the worst when little Mia ran out into the yard and following her, River stepped out. Her first instinct when the first bullet hit the window a storey above was to sprint to where the petrified child was, throwing herself at the kid while making sure that the least of her weight were on the little one.

But the dull pain hit her the next second and when her arms suddenly buckled due to weakness, she knew that she was in trouble.

Of course the security and the rest of the residents had sprung to action immediately.

Between losing her consciousness, she remembered two of the guards hauling her off the ground and taking her to the car while another followed with a crying Mia in her arms. And all the doctor could think about was the other three children in the house, her own little ones and the baby who was only a couple of months old.

"The kids? Are they safe?" Those were the words that came out of her lips when she regained her consciousness for some fleeting moments, while being wheeled into the ER. She had asked her best friend this question, grabbing his hand while he yelled for a doctor.

"They are fine." Sebastian said and added. "All four of them. They are all fine. And all the rest of us are fine too." He knew his best friend way too well, and he knew that even the most critical moments, his best friend would not just care for her own kids, she would be worried about them all.

His words were a source of relief to her, a promise that she could embrace the darkness for a while and they all would be able to get by without her.

.

.

.

Fifteen minutes into River's surgery... Fifteen minutes into her surgery, the Boss of the Russian Mafia was at the waiting room.

"Petrov." Michelia stood up from her seat, turning to Victor to hand him her son while Adam spun on his heels, from where he stood near the window, his grip on his phone strong enough that if he put any more strength into it, the gadget would crack.

"Who are these?" Sebastian asked, rocking a sleeping Kiara in his arms – the little girl had cried herself to sleep, exhausted from the scary events and then the sight of her mother drenched in blood.

"There are children in this room, Petrov." Michelia stated.

"He doesn't seem to care." Adam growled out as he charged at him, two of Sergey's henchmen blocking him immediately.

"Calm down, Smith." Sergey spoke, his voice as deep and authoritative as ever. "We had no part in this."

"Then why are you here?" Michelia asked. "How did you know we are here?"

"I have been keeping an eye on the house." Sergey confessed. Adam struggled in their grip as soon as he heard that. He knew from the beginning that with River going to work, and the children to school, there was no way that their location could be discreet but his brain was not ready for reason, his friend and the mother of his niece and nephew was being operated on, a house with women and children in it had been attacked. There was no way he could stay calm.

Adam grabbed one of the men by the neck and raised him up in the air.

"Uncle Adam!" Lucas exclaimed in shock, jumping to his feet from where he sat next to Jacqueline, who had a sleeping Mia in her arms. Jacqueline grabbed Lucas by the back of his head and pulled him to her side so that he did not have to see what was going on.

George and Davis sprung to action – River had always told them that if some fight was ever to break out, take the children away from there. She did not want the kids to ever have to watch fights. George and Davis went for the twins while signaling Steve and Robin, the newbies, to grab Mia and Lorenzo.

The other men also jumped in to fight Sergey's men.

"Stop it!" Michelia yelled and turned to Sebastian and Jacqueline. "Go with the kids."

Sebastian and Jacqueline didn't know what exactly was going on, but they did know that they didn't want themselves or the kids to be part of it so they followed the bodyguards out of the waiting room. Somehow Mia and Kiara had slept through it all, but Lorenzo was getting cranky and Lucas was scared, having witnessed it all.

"Will they hurt them?" He asked his Uncle George.

"Nah." He said though he did not know himself what was going to happen. "They will probably talk it out."

"I think we will go to River's cabin." Jacqueline said. It was the most private space she could think of at the hospital.

"Can we sit down and talk?" Sergey asked Michelia. "For old times' sake?"

"Yes." Michelia didn't think for even a second. She knew that she wanted to hear what Sergey had to say, that there was something fishy in all of what was happening and it could be dealt with if they simply sat down and talked.

She looked over at Adam, who looked red with anger, and nodded at him, urging him to keep his anger under control and see this conversation through.

"Fine." He huffed out and sat down. "You go talk to him. I will wait here for River." Of course it was dangerous, but he knew that Sergey wouldn't hurt Michelia, 'for old times' sake'.

Michelia and Sergey made their way to the cafeteria and on their way, Michelia saw Detective Sanders and a few officers but she did not make much of it because she didn't know the face of the detective everyone in the family were so suspicious of, but he noticed the woman with the brother of Dmitri Petrov, and he wondered what was going on.

"I believe you." Sergey said as he sat down.

Michelia raised a brow. "Shouldn't I be the one doing the believing or doubting? Considering it is my sister in law who is on the operating table right now?"

Sergey shook his head. "About Mona. I believe that Mateo didn't kill her.

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