The Mafia's Babies by Kaycee Romano (rocket ebook reader txt) 📖

"Though I used to ship them a little a while ago, now I think it would be disastrous if they ever ended up together." He said, helping Kiara to the bed.

"Mommy, why are your hands yellow?" Lucas asked innocently and River's eyes went to her hands and Mateo's to her face.

"You are turning yellow!" He exclaimed, seeing the change in her color.

River let out a sign and pointed at the call button.

"It's a post-operative complication. Nothing to be scared of. Get the nurses." She said calmly.

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"Adam!" Alessia rolled her eyes as she jogged to catch up with him in the parking lot.

"Really dude?" She yelled. "You are going to be all petty and grumpy about this?"

"Just fuck off, Alessia." Adam said, slowing down just for a moment to locate his car.

"Adam!" She fastened her pace and caught up to him.

"What?" He stopped, turning to face her but not looking at her. He was looking over her, which Alessia roll her eyes wondering why she had not worn her high heel boots. Those would have given her the extra inches she needed to be in eye to eye height with Adam and Mateo.

"I get it. You are mad about me disappear. But isn't that what I always do? Why are you all reacting like I have done this for the first time?"

"Maybe because this is the first time you ran away when there was a target on your head." He said, looking sideways.

Alessia was offended at his immature behavior, even more at the fact that he said that she had 'ran away'.

"Oh please. This is not the first time there was a target on my head. Yes, this is the first time you people knew that there was one..." Adam gave her a disbelieving look. Things like that had happened before and she never told them.

"Why weren't we ever informed of this?" He asked. "And don't tell me it's because of what happened with Antonio because you have been using that forever even though it is very obvious that you are over what happened. I get that you are a survivor. I get that what happened was not something that could be easily brushed off. But you are an extremely strong woman, who just harbors resentment and anger from that incident, not fear or sorrow."

Alessia was stunned for a moment. She didn't know that Adam thought of it like that. She thought that he too, like her brothers, saw her as some fragile disturbed doll, whose whole life was destroyed by the asshole named Antonio de Pedis.

"Because I am strong." She finally found her voice. "I am capable of protecting myself."

Adam closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "You will never understand what I am trying to say."

"Try me." She rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure that he was going to start with some kind of sermon like her brothers would do, like the whole of her family would do.

But she didn't want a fight at the moment. There was so much going on at the moment and she would give in just a teeny tiny bit to maintain peace.

"You-" He started but then closed his mind, clutching his head with his hands.

"I what?" Now, Alessia wanted to punch him. Patience was not exactly her strong suit. She wanted the idiot to get the sermon over with so that she could go back inside and be with her niece, nephew, the woman who was the closest to being her best friend and the idiot brother that came in the package.

"You will never understand how much I want to protect you!" He yelled.