Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 14

A kaleidoscope of butterflies danced in her stomach as Arwen accompanied Addy to his hotel suite. They were in the elevator accompanied by a large security agent she recognized from the night he'd been in her driveway. Her and Addy's hands were loosely intertwined, and his thumb was rubbing the top of her hand. She had lost the bet. Fabiana could never know there was a little mom and pop restaurant which put her linguine and clams to shame. She tried to argue with Addy it wasn't the food but the experience of the meal, but he'd called her on her bullshit, and she'd finally acquiesced to his victory. Her admission it was better earned her a searing kiss but yet again, while it was clear he wanted to kiss her, he was collected and in control whereas she had been melting in his arms. She found herself miffed at her inability to make him overly excited.

They exited the elevator stepping directly into the penthouse suite of the hotel at his side, following the security. Addy stepped aside as if it were routine for his agent to enter the rooms ahead of him. Arwen watched quizzically as the man moved from room to room, a small device in his hand clicking before nodding once to Addy before stepping back into the elevator and disappearing.

Addy shrugged out of his jacket and flung it over a chair before rolling his sleeves up to his elbows and turning to face her. "Do you need to call home?"

"No," she shook her head at the intimate movement of his actions and the dark hair peppering his arms. She held up her wrist. "My phone is connected to my watch and if Deidre messages me on my phone, my watch will alert me with a special tone." He gave a nod and Arwen watched him watching her. He was all business suddenly several feet away from her. It seemed he was wondering if she was telling full truths.

"Addy, she's nineteen. She has a friend. My house has state of the art security, and nobody can get into the house without alarms going off. If a fox gets near my henhouse, there is hell to pay. We have a panic room in my house she can hide in if necessary." "A panic room?" He paused at her words, his eyes widening in surprise, "why do you have such a thing?"

She considered she'd just divulged too much info but then she'd been spilling her soul since she'd met him, "Deidre used to have a lot of panic attacks following the house fire. To make her feel secure, the house is equipped with an underground and fireproofed room. Short of a nuclear bomb, nothing could get her in there."

"Why?" At her hesitation he pushed, "why would a panic room be necessary. I understand anxiety over a fire but to need a panic room?"

She looked away, "we were at Clara Draxton's house one night when she was eight or nine. Deidre was a nervous child and was scared about being in a strangers' house. Clara showed her the security room she had with all her security monitors. Clara then showed her the room she had, and Deidre wanted one. We were renovating the farmhouse back then. I took a chunk of the money we had for renovations and allocated it to making her feel safe. The safe room makes her feel better. She used to play dolls in it when she was smaller. Look, Addy, I didn't come up here to discuss home security. Deidre is a woman who knows how to take care of herself when she's home. Most girls of her age are living on campuses and partying it up. She's fine."

He nodded as she put an end to his questions. "Fair." He motioned for her to follow him into the living area of the suites and waved to the oversized black leather sofa. "Have a seat. Drink?"

"Sure," she sat in the corner of the luxuriously soft seat and watched as he moved to the bar.

"Anything special you'd like?" he waved to the expensive array of bottles. "More wine or are you ready for nightcap?"

"Nightcap," she gave a shrug with her shoulder. "Whiskey, neat."

He poured a couple of fingers of an amber liquid into a couple of tumblers and then carried them to her. He sat next to her on the sofa and passed her a glass. "Salute," he clinked glasses with her and then sipped it, watching her carefully. "You lost our bet." "I did. I believe you mentioned restraints?"

"Yes. We will get there. I think we need to go over ground rules."

"Sure."

"First and foremost, like Las Vegas, what happens in our room stays in our room. No recording devices or videography permitted."

"Well, no s**t. I don't exactly want my bits photographed." She frowned at him with her glass paused in front of her face. "Is this where you pull out a weird contract I need to sign off on?"

"No. I prefer not to have anything written down. We are both moderately intelligent people. We will make the rules clear, and we both know I won't tolerate you disrespecting our rules." "You mean your rules, not ours."

"You can add to the rules. This is an exercise in give and take, Arwen. I need you to be honest in your expectations as much as I am."

She was silent as he stared at her. She stared into her drink, "okay, go on with your rules."

"No talking to press or tabloids about our relationship." When she rolled her eyes, "Arwen?"

"Yes, I agree. No talking to the press."

"If you're approached by the feds, I need to know."

"Sure." She was getting annoyed.

"You saw my friend Enrico do a sweep of my rooms. He has state of the art technology to check for wires. They are ruthless. Every so often a housekeeper or room service get bought off by them or are undercover agents. If you think you see anything, just tell me but the rooms are checked every single time I leave and come back. If you're wired, I'll know."

She kept her face neutral. If she wanted to, she could hit a single button on her watch and immobilize every aspect of his technology in the room. If she wanted to make his cell phone unusable a tiny flick of her phone would render it useless. "Are you telling me this as a warning? If I'm wired, I'll be dealt with? Duly noted."

"Arwen," he started to speak.

She held up her hand, "can we keep going with the rest of your rules please?"

"If for any reason, any of my business issues arise while we are together, you are to say and do nothing."

"Easy peasy."

"I can't have you throwing punches like Jesse."

"Not a problem."

"Our relationship is exclusive. No other men, Arwen."

"You already mentioned this."

"I'm reiterating it. You had a man approach you today outside your clinic."

She considered one of his men had reported back to him about her talking to Nate and forced herself to sip the drink instead of flinging it at him. "A client. If you're going to have spies, make sure they have their s**t accurate." She fought the fury in her chest. She had known he'd be a pain in her a*s, but this felt next level. "For the record, it works both ways. If your d**k is going to be in me, it doesn't get to be in anyone else." "Done."

"I don't want your bodyguards following me around. I have a lot of high-profile clients who value their privacy. I will not permit your goons violating the contract I've signed with them." When he opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hand, "I'll negotiate almost anything Addy, this is not one of them. Call them off."

"It goes against my better judgement."

"And yet today your goons saw my client who paid good money to keep his injury out of the press lest he lose a ten-million-dollar per year contract. If you have goons following me and they have feds following them, my clients are in their crosshairs. No goons. You know I can take care of myself."

"Fine, no goons." He threw his hands up. "If, however I feel you are in danger, we renegotiate those rules."

"I want to know before you sic them on me."

"Understood."

"What other rules do you have?"

"Birth control?"

"IUD," she met his gaze. "I'd prefer you still use condoms. I don't know where this is going and I'm not going to play fast and loose with my s****l health for a couple of o*****s."

"It will be far more than a couple, but I agree."

She smirked at his comment and sipped her drink. "Good to know."

"One other rule which is non-negotiable for me. In the bedroom, you are in control. It's not up for debate. I can be as soft or as hard as you want but you need to be honest with what you want. If I think you are hiding anything from me, I will end what we are doing. I need to trust you to be truthful."

His words struck her to the core, and she felt the respect he was offering her as real as if she could touch it. "My only request is no blood." She held his gaze straight on. "If you cut me in any way shape or form, I'm out."

"I promise you will never have that kind of pain when you are with me." He frowned at her as if wondering how rough she liked it. "If we are engaged in an activity, you are uncomfortable with, depending on situation we will have signals. If you are not gagged, then it can be a word. If you are gagged, I'll provide you a hand device tied to your wrist you can press which will emit a loud buzzing."

"Excelsior."

"What?"

"My word of choice is Excelsior."

"Why?" he chuckled

"I'm a Marvel fan."

He threw his head back and laughed, "oh my god. Arwen. You're full of surprises."

"There is one other thing," she looked back to her glass and knew she had to prepare him. "I once fainted from multiple o*****s and woke up to my partner complaining I was peeing the bed. It was not urine." She gave a hapless shrug, "it's a risk you need to be aware of. Fluid loss is a real thing and thus I need to have plenty of liquid on hand." For the first time she realized she had him quiet and she wondered what his response to this revelation would be. "You may want rubber sheets."

She had stunned him into silence. She continued sipping her whiskey as he crossed and uncrossed his foot over his knee in consideration of what she'd revealed. "Do you have any other rules for me, Adrianu or can we move the evening along?" "I will not tolerate disrespect." This time it was Arwen who became silent. "It is one thing when we are alone for you to shoot your mouth off like Jesse does, but in public and in front of my men, you do not disrespect me. There is no talking back, no arguing, no calling me names, no kicking off and no flirting with a man in the hopes of gaining my attention if you're feeling put-out. There will be no more speaking to me the way you did outside your clinic in front of my men on Monday. You obey the rules, and you show respect. Understood?"

She considered setting her drink on the table and leaving. She considered it hard. As she sat there twisting the glass in her fingers back and forth, the minute amount of liquid left in the bottom sloshing around she couldn't even meet his gaze.

She was in a dilemma. Everything in her screamed to get up and walk. She was an assassin for Christ's sake who hunted and killed men who ruthlessly dominated women and abused them, treated them like possessions. Granted he wasn't talking about beating and raping her but taking her voice? She was internally and morally conflicted. While she thoroughly enjoyed a good b**m session and to be ruthlessly dominated in the bedroom, outside of the privacy of her boudoir, she was very much her own person. It felt very much like she was bowing down to a man. As much as she knew she had daddy issues and liked having a man to protect and take care of her s****l needs, which already conflicted with her work as a Bellona assassin, to cede her power to a man just to get d**k seemed absurd.

"What are you thinking, Arwen? Of all our discussion showing me respect is the thing you're getting hung up on?"

"No." She turned her head and met his gaze. "It's your lack of respect for me." At his raised eyebrows she stood up from the sofa and sighed. "I can't do this."

Clearly, he was stunned as his eyebrows knitted together in a tight knot.

"You have a choice Mr. Cavallaro. We can have s*x tonight. Once. One and done. End the night on a positive note and then go separate ways. This way we both get what we want for a night and then tomorrow you can go around treating women like dogs who must obey every command and I'll go back to fighting the patriarchy. Your last rule is not one I'm ever going to agree to. What you're asking isn't about respect. It's about you, participating in what you want, saying what you want, behaving how you see fit and having a b***h on a leash at your heel, simpering and pandering to your every whim. Respect goes both ways, and I will not have a guy who thinks he can put me in a situation where I will feel disrespected and expects, no demands he has the right to take my freedom away from me to call him out on his s**t. The truth is, if you treated me with respect, I would return it. You're implying you will put me in a situation I will feel upset over and I am supposed to suck it up. It's a no-deal for me." She folded her arms over her chest, "your choice is we f**k tonight once, and I leave, or I simply just leave. That's it."

"Then you just leave." He called her bluff.

"Then I just leave." She wished inside it didn't smart so much he wasn't willing to admit his chauvinistic attitude was Machiavellian, but it hurt. It hurt even more he didn't want to just have one night. She pushed it down. She pulled her phone out before he could stop her and pulled up her ride share app. "I'll see myself out."

"I will escort you home."

"It's not necessary. I've called a ride," she held up her phone waving it. "I'm good." She didn't look at him again and moved towards the elevator. "My ride is actually just around the corner and will be here in three minutes."

"I said I'll drive you home." He stepped in front of the call button and folded his arms.

"And I already said you won't." She looked to the balcony. She wondered if she could just scale the building.

He frowned at the direction of her gaze, "there's no need to contemplate jumping."

"Don't flatter yourself," she flicked a glance in his direction, "I'd never off myself over a guy." She waved at the steel doors, "please?"

"Not until you agree to let me take you home. It's non-negotiable. I will take you home. Cancel the rideshare. It's not safe."

She moved to the balcony slipping past him and slid the doors open. She looked around for an escape and he started laughing behind her. She looked below and noted the pool almost immediately beneath the room. "How deep is the pool?" "Not deep enough you won't hit the bottom of it from the velocity of your body from this height," he cursed furiously behind her. "Don't be daft. Come inside."

"You're holding me against my will and I'm angry. Either open the door or I," she c****d her head as she noted there was another balcony two floors down and immediately to the left. She could make the jump to the other balcony from the window in the adjoining room. The window had a wrought iron grill on the front of it, likely to keep jumpers from plunging to their death.

"Or you what?" he lounged against the door frame.

"I jump." She shrugged and looked down at her dress.

"I told you, you'll hit the bottom of the pool. You'll die. Come," he waved his hand, "I will take you home."

"Not to the pool. The balcony." She jutted her chin in the direction of her target. She pulled an ottoman to the glass barrier and slipped off her shoes. She sighed. She really loved these shoes. Perhaps he'd return them at a later date. She kicked them to the side and then hiked her dress up over her a*s. The hissed intake of air at her very bare bottom being exposed to the man behind her made her smirk with glee. She tucked her phone which was ensconced in a case with her credit card and identification in it, into her bra "Get a good glimpse of what you're not getting, sucker," she muttered to herself. She climbed the balcony and looked to the window. Window ledge, turn and swing to the balcony. She could either scare the hell out of the people in the room below or she could break in and simply exit their room.

She was no longer paying him any attention. Suddenly her juices were flowing with excitement and adrenaline. She might not be getting laid, but she was going to do something dangerously stupid and like every other Bellona agent, it was up her alley. The stomping of his feet quickly approaching as she climbed onto the glass railing made her grin. A*****e.

"Arwen, get the f**k down." He clearly thought she was insane, and his voice went hoarse.

His yell made her laugh as she pushed off and jumped to the window, landing on the ledge, and gripping the wrought iron. She laughed when it jiggled at the sudden weight of her body pulling on it. Addy's shriek made her laugh harder. She blew him a kiss over her shoulder after she made her turn, and he was yelling at her to stay where she was, and he'd get her down.

His screaming of her name gave her an extra rush and she shoved off hard in the direction of the balcony and landed with a thud, her hands gripping the balustrade and her feet connecting with the concrete pad. She hiked her legs over it and then wiggled her dress back down. Adrianu's scream of terror at her insanity gave her a vibe which she considered almost orgasmic.

She noted lights on in the room and she knocked on the door. A woman appeared and looked through the glass in terror. "Hi, would you mind letting me through? I got locked in a room and I just need to use your door."

The woman slid the glass open, "how did you get out here?"

"I flew like an angel," she giggled and then made her way to the door. "Thanks! I'm so glad you let me through. I hated the thought of having to break in."

She walked out the hotel room door with the incredulous woman on her heels. Hearing the ping of the elevator nearby Arwen knew exactly who it was coming down from two floors up. She raced for the stairwell and did what she did best. She made her escape. Sliding down bannisters and ignoring the yelling and heavy footsteps overhead before she slipped through a door onto the twentieth floor and then made her way to a service elevator with a room service attendant. "Shh, my boyfriend is chasing me. Do you think I can ride down with you?" "Yeah, sure," the guy ogled her overtly.

When they reached the kitchen, she leaned sideways and kissed his cheek. "Thanks love," she made her way through the kitchen, out the service entrance and down the alley of the hotel. As her ride share waited at the curb, she saw Addy coming out of the hotel his head turning in both directions looking up and down the street. When he turned his back to her to look the opposite direction, she raced for her car and jumped in. Him yelling her name made her grin while she closed the door behind her "Hey, just broke up with my guy and he's not taking it well. Can we just go?"

The woman driving nodded, "sure thing." The woman peeled away from the sidewalk and Arwen didn't even bother to look back.

She dialed out to Deidre.

"Hey Arwen."

"Hey, Dee," the adrenaline was slowly dissipating.

"What's going on? Everything okay?"

"No. Adrianu Cavallaro pretty much told me if we are in public and he pisses me off, I'm supposed to take it and say nothing, or it's considered a sign of disrespect. Basically, he gets to say and do what he wants, and I have to play simpering arm candy." "Really?" Deidre sounded disgusted, "why would he think you'd agree?"

"Who knows? I'll be damned if I let a man disrespect me and think I'm going to hold my tongue. I bailed and he was unhappy with how I exited the room. Anyway, I'm not coming home tonight. You and Miley have fun. I'm going to go blow off steam. I'll see you tomorrow."

"What do I tell him if he shows up here? I take it you ran out?"

"I did and you can tell him whatever you want. I'm not bothered."

"Okay," Deidre was unconvinced. "Are you sure you're not bothered?"

"Yes, positive."

As her ride share pulled up to a coffee shop in Manhattan she sighed, "okay. I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Night Deidre." She waited for her cousin to hang up and then entered the coffee shop. She waved to the girl working behind the counter. "Slow night?" "Dead." "Any leftover pastries out back?"

"Yeah, help yourself," the girl motioned to the swinging doors behind her.

Arwen made her way through the kitchen and then out the back door. From the back door she made her way down the alleys towards the skyscraper in central Manhattan she called her second home. Bellona HQ. Sometimes a girl just needed to go home to Mom.