Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 33

Arwen watched as Addy ran his fingers through his hair and stared at her seated on the edge of her bed. He was pissed. She wasn't sure if he were angry at her or Agent Croft but after she'd checked to make sure Deidre was asleep and had not even noticed the kerfuffle outside, he had stood in the doorway to her bedroom and stared at her for several minutes wordlessly before entering the room and closing the door behind him.

"Addy," she opened her mouth and he held up a finger asking for her to hold her words. She needed to call it in. She knew she had to. Croft had approached her house in the middle of the night and had been antagonistic. This was a first and it would be a last. Artemis would be livid. He still stood there simply watching her and finally she got impatient, and she grabbed her phone and made a call to HQ. Noting his jaw bunched, she ignored his furious hiss to wait.

She stood with her back to him looking out over the yard through her window, "hey, it's Delta-Three. I had a situation with an FBI agent outside my house waiting for me just out of range of my surveillance. My Alpha may not be fit to take a call because I was just with her." Arwen listened to the operator on the other end and nodded, "I'm calling it in but not sure who to report to since my Alpha is likely snoring off our wild night." She paused and nodded, "yeah I'll wait."

She stood for three minutes staring out her bedroom window while she watched Addy watching her in the reflection of the glass. He was wordless and if he was questioning what she was doing, he made no movement or reaction to what she was doing. Arwen considered he was great at compartmentalization.

Artemis voice came on the line. "Are you and Dee, okay?"

"We're fine. I was coming in with the King. He had Croft fired today. Seems he felt it was my fault and I could fix it. I declined to do what he asked, and he was ugly over it."

"Did you engage?"

"You mean did I kick the ever-loving s**t out of him? That's a negative. I let him walk back to his car and drive away."

"Is the King still there?"

"He is."

"Good. It's not I think you can't keep your kid safe but back up isn't a bad idea. Alpha-Three?"

"Pretty sure Alpha-Three had to be tucked into bed. Italian soda and vodka."

Artemis gave a dry laugh, "she's not enjoying having her worlds collide. She deserves the night off. Put me on speaker. Your man can listen in. I don't want him misunderstanding my directives." She sighed and flipped the phone to speaker, casting a sideways glance to the stock-still man in her bedroom.

"You are on speaker."

"Good. This way any directive I provide won't be misinterpreted. For the record, Delta, your man will be debriefed soon."

"Yes ma'am" Arwen closed her eyes against the knowledge it could very well mean he would know she killed his father. They were going to be done before they began.

"Your Alpha will be upset you skipped her." Artemis changed topic.

"The last I saw of her Cam Torres was telling her not to puke in his sports car because they were going to drop her off."

"How was the going away party?"

"We gave him a great send off."

"Alpha-One said something about a tongue?"

Arwen knew Artemis was f*****g around but she didn't know why. "Yeah, he started screaming so Psych-Two took his tongue out of his head and silenced him."

"Can't say I blame her. I hate when they scream uselessly. It's not as if screaming is going to make it stop." Artemis sighed impatiently, "I'm waiting for the surveillance to catch up to Croft." She nodded as she realized the reason for small talk. "Of course."

"Did you leave his d**k intact?"

"It might have been stabbed."

"Good. Son of a b***h went after my girls. f**k him. He deserves to go to his afterlife with no tongue or dick."

Arwen gave a laugh meeting Addy's eyes and he was still as blank as if they were strangers. He must be incredible when he's torturing people. "It was f*****g glorious, and I won't lie. Shooting him in the head was cathartic." "You don't usually do point blank."

"No but it felt good to be up close and personal this time."

"We're tracking Croft, we have him. Please have The King pull his men away and back off. I don't want him taking blame. I see they're not many blocks back. They're probably following him to his house."

Arwen nodded as if the woman could see her and cast a glance at Addy, waiting for him to acknowledge the request but he still remained stoic and unmoving.

She sighed and looked away from his weird persona. "I wish I were in a nest dealing with this myself," she admitted to Artemis.

Artemis spoke softly, "I'll give you the opportunity if it's what you want, or we can make sure he doesn't make it home."

Arwen looked to her front yard, "Artemis he was just outside my house and knew where my cameras couldn't reach him. We forced him into the yard but it's clear he's been surveying the house. Deidre was home alone. What if she had noticed him? She hasn't used the panic room in four years. He was unhinged and I don't want him near her. He actually yelled at me about how he loved us both and would never hurt her, as if I'm supposed to believe him. Float him in the f*****g Potomac, for all I care. As much as I want to add his number to my tally, I don't want the son of a b***h reaching his front door."

"Done." Artemis' tone was clipped. "I have an asset dispatched and will intercept him before he reaches his place in Jersey. The King's team needs to back off. I see them still following him. It's a problem."

"Thanks. I'll have The Kings team back off, so they aren't implicated."

"Get some sleep Delta."

"Will do."

Arwen closed her eyes in frustration as she hung up the phone and turned to face a stone-faced Addy.

"Call your men back. Our team sees them and they're taking Croft out."

"Who is Artemis?"

"The Goddess of War," Arwen stared back her facial expression equally bland. "Unless you want them implicated in the murder of an FBI agent, then pull them back."

"I don't trust the woman on the other end of the line."

"I do. She's not one to give choices to strangers, Addy. Pull them back. I know her. She won't want witnesses and it's possible she'll take them out. I'm fairly sure one of the guys who are following Croft is Santino. I don't want his blood on my hands."

She watched as he dialed out on his phone and spoke in Italian. Clearly whoever was on the other end of the line disagreed and he had to bark into the phone angrily before hanging it up.

"They're backing off, but I want him dead." Addy didn't mince words. "He went too far."

"If she says he isn't making it home, he's not making it home."

He folded his arms over his chest. "Why do you call me the King? I get the feeling it isn't a complimentary nickname."

"It's better than the one you had before it," she shrugged, keeping her face as neutral as his was.

"Which was?"

"Baby Don."

He rubbed his hand over his face, clearly annoyed with the disrespect of such a name. "Why the King?"

She fought the twist of her lips, "the Crown Royal sticker."

He grimaced as if confused and then the memory surfaced, and his eyes widened incredulously. "No." "Yes."

"Jessamine," he whispered furiously under his breath.

"Don't blame her. She wasn't alone."

"Son of a b***h," he rubbed his forehead. "I need details now, Arwen," he sighed quietly, "I never wanted them but now I need them because your business is messing with mine. Croft should have been handled by my men. This was my f*****g mess by not just taking him out instead of trying to do things legally."

"He's been my problem long before he was yours!" she spit back.

"You ignored the fact I was in the room with you and called a woman you think is the Goddess of War. Details now."

"I don't have clearance, but they will explain everything to you. I can give you a brief synopsis."

"I'll take the synopsis for now."

"I am part of a worldwide organization of female assassins. I recently made the jump to number five unknown female assassin on Interpol's most wanted list." She tried to keep the pride out of her voice at her words, but it was hard. She watched his face intently for a reaction but found none.

"My cousin?"

"I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to or am permitted to divulge." She scratched her temple. "Artemis will debrief you."

"Arwen!" he snapped suddenly, "details on my cousin now. Is she in danger?"

"She is the danger," Arwen made a face at him. "She's not only my leader on our team but she's number three in the entire global organization. Her job is to keep our leader and our psych evaluator from abusing their power. She actually holds more power than both of them because she has the authority to override them if in any situation, she feels compromises our directive."

"And what is your directive?"

She looked away and took a breath, "our organization has the sole mandate to protect victims of abuse, typically, we rescue and recover victims of s****l assault or trafficking." "Trafficking."

"Yes."

"You know the feds are investigating me for s*x trafficking, Arwen. Is your organization investigating me as well? Has Jesse been spying? Is this why you agreed to date me?"

Her head snapped up at the cold fury of his words and immediately her body responded by pushing her into the mode of being interrogated. Her face became impassive, her legs spread shoulder-width and her hands clasped loosely behind her back. Her eyes were guarded and her lips a straight line. He noted the shift in her posture and tilted his head sideways curiously.

She spoke cryptically, "I am not now, nor was I ever assigned to investigate you. I'm an assassin not a prostitute. To quote my leader, there are better ways to make a man talk than sucking his dick."

"And Jesse?"

"She wouldn't. She loves you."

He had another thought, "is this why then you didn't want to date me? You thought I was trafficking women?"

"No. I didn't want to date you because I am an assassin who literally kills men who do their best to silence the voices of the women in their lives and you were asking me to play a demure little piece of arm candy, even if you disrespected me. It goes against the grain of the fibre of who I am."

"And who are you?"

"Arwen Millicent Beddoe. Age thirty-one. Doctor of physiotherapy. Guardian to a nineteen-year-old." She took a breath, "I'm also an assassin who can kill using a multitude of weapons including knives, swords, and guns. I am trained in martial arts, fighting and gymnastics. My weapon of choice is a replica of my father's military weapon which has been adjusted. I am the eyes and ears of our team. I have equipment at my disposal the military could only dream of and when I'm not covering their asses from a vantage point, I'm doing what I do best by shooting animals of the two-legged variety. At nineteen, I was offered a position in the organization and the possibility of spending the rest of my life avenging my aunt's rape by killing rapists and it was not an opportunity I could pass up. For twelve years I have been an agent." She met his gaze directly.

"You've been an assassin since you were nineteen?"

"Yes."

"Deidre?"

"Everything I do is in honor of her mother, her father and her. Everything. Every kill. Every punch. Every bullet is for Charlotte, Deidre, and Zed. She thinks I travel for work. I just have never clarified which job." "She doesn't know?"

"No. She doesn't know."

"When you shot my father were you intending to shoot me as well?"

The question came out of left field but if it surprised her, he'd never know. She was too well-trained. She knew he was waiting for her to react, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "You're being a bit presumptuous."

He stepped toward her until he was only a few inches away. "I asked a question."

"Not one which warrants an answer."

"Were you intending to put a bullet in my head?"

"I have never received a directive to kill you."

"Answer my question."

"I have no need to answer a question which does not deserve a response."

"When you put a bullet in my father's head and his bodyguard, did you intend to kill me as well?" He repeated his question, his voice hard and cold.

"I told you already, I have never received a directive where you were a target."

"Arwen."

She watched the tic at his temple came back at her refusal to admit she had murdered his father, "Mr. Cavallaro, you are dangerously close to making an accusation which I replace insulting." She looked him up and down, "if you were a target, you would be dead. I don't miss." Her words had the desired effect, and he c****d an eyebrow. She stared back smugly.

"Then, you meant to put a bullet just past my ear."

She mentally completed the exercises to keep her from losing her cool and simply stared back at him. His eyes never wavered from hers as he stared down at her. Her phone rang in her hand, and she lifted it to her chin and put it on speaker. "Delta-Three." She identified herself.

"Delta-Three, this is HQ. We were asked to pass along to you, Agent Croft of the FBI had a motor vehicle accident moments ago and slammed his car into a telephone pole. It seems he had a heart attack while driving and authorities on site are expected to pronounce him deceased momentarily."

She gave a half smile, "thank you for the update."

The phone went dead.

"How could he have a heart attack?" Addy questioned the call.

"A tiny projectile which would look like nothing more than a bug bite would deliver a toxin to put his heart into fibrillation. The medication metabolizes quickly and would be dissipated before he even hits the coroner's desk. He's overweight, old and has unhealthy habits. They'll see the damage to his heart and call a heart attack."

"You have access to this kind of toxin?"

"We have access to all kinds of things," she held his gaze. "It's time for you to leave."

He made a face at her, "why?"

She was stunned by the question, "what do you mean why? You just accused me of trying to murder you."

"Arwen, I already knew you and Jesse were part of something. I assumed it was a little group of vigilante women patrolling the streets of New York. Did I imagine for a single minute it was as big as you're alleging? No. Do I believe you're the person who shot my father? Yes. Am I annoyed you won't just admit it? A bit but as I said the other day, I am happy to play pretend with you." He leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "I don't care if you shot him. You saved me a bullet." He stood upright and tapped her nose with his forefinger, "next time you do such things though, please not so close to my ear. I was still hearing it whistle during Dylan's wedding."

She stayed completely still as he turned away from her and shrugged out of his jacket and flung it on the back of a chair. "What are you doing?" "Getting ready for bed," he frowned at her as he began unbuttoning his shirt. "What does it look like?"

"You're really staying?"

"Was there any doubt?"

She'd had plenty of doubt. Her heart, if not for her mental exercises which trained her to be unresponsive during interrogation, would have been hammering out of control at the knowledge he knew she'd offed Luca Cavallaro. Shouldn't he be angry? She watched as he lay his shirt over his jacket, standing in only his white undershirt before disappearing into the bathroom. She'd murdered the head of his Famiglia. She looked at the dress shirt, in confusion. What was happening? He was staying.

He came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth and looked at her still standing where he'd left her, "found this in the linen closet. Not sure why you have so many toothbrushes in their packaging but I'm taking it. Get undressed and get into bed." He turned on his heel and went back to the bathroom.

She noted his feet had been barefoot. When had his shoes and socks disappeared?

"Arwen!" his voice was commanding from the bathroom. "Bed. Now."

Instantly her body responded to the direction he was giving her but her mind was running too fast and so she stayed fixed in her spot, confused about everything. Psych-One and Artemis had both said he wouldn't care she'd killed his father. Jesse hadn't been as certain. Arwen herself had considered this information would have put her in his crosshairs.

He came out of the bathroom and sighed with irritation, "mia cara, as much as I would love to punish you for ignoring me when I tell you to do something in our bedroom, your cousin is going to be up in about two hours for school and having her knock on the door while I use my belt on your a*s would ruin the vibe. Let's try to get a couple of hours sleep. It is her birthday tomorrow, no?"

"Yeah," Arwen spoke slowly as he moved in front of her and yanked her t-shirt over her head.

"Are you doing anything special with her?"

"She always wants is to have a quiet dinner at home. She doesn't enjoy going out much. She thinks people stare." She lifted a leg as he tugged her jeans down and off, resting her hand on his shoulder. Her head was strangely fuzzy. "Are you really staying?" He shook his head with a laugh, "Santino said you'd be confused how much I don't care you killed my father."

"I never said I killed your father," she started to deny it weakly.

"You never said you didn't either. I admit, for a moment a few minutes ago, I had a brief concern you were supposed to take me out too, but you made it clear you don't miss so I'm satisfied."

"No, I don't ever miss."

"What is debrief?"

Her eyes finally flicked to his in surprise and then she exhaled slowly, "that's when our team will meet with you and interrogate you and then provide you information based on what they determine will be your intelligence rating and how much you'll be allowed to know."

"I see."

"Clara's husband has full clearance. Cam Torres and his friend Gideon have some clearance but not as much as Elian. Torben has full clearance."

"Torben?" Addy's head pulled back in stunned horror.

Arwen laughed as she finally got an unexpected reaction from him.

"He replaces it very sexy his girlfriend could kill him with her eyes closed yet she lets him do all kinds of depraved stuff to her. He watches missions with her, I guess. He replaces the violence sexy somehow."

Addy slid into the other side of the bed and stared at her perplexed, "my friend Torben. Tall guy. Six seven? Looks like a Viking without a beard but could never be such a thing because he wants to save the world from pain and trauma. Nicest man on the planet. He knows Jesse -"

She giggled now, "oh, he knows. Apparently after his debrief he totally dominated the hell out of her. We had to put make-up on her entire back to cover up the bite marks and hickeys."

Addy's lips pulled back in disgust, "too far, Arwen. Too far. I don't need to know those details. It's my cousin."

"Your cousin is so lethal she makes the things your men do look like kids playing cops and robbers in a school yard. The fact she lets him bite her is nothing short of insanity."

He reached out a hand and covered her mouth, "enough. I do not want to know he bites my little cousin. She is la Principessa." He paused, "though I am impressed she has such skills."

"Are you kidding?" Arwen pulled away from his hand and snuggled into her pillow. She gave a pause, "hey, I have a question."

He slid his hand under her pillow and yanked the whole thing towards him, flinging his leg over her hip and pulling her close. "What is your question?"

"Jesse's favorite way to kill a mark is to shove a blade into a thigh, nick the femoral artery and watch them bleed out." Arwen felt his arm tense under her shoulders as he was rolling her towards him. "She saw the scar on Trace's leg and wondered if you shared an affinity for leg wounds." She met his wide-eyed gaze, "she reopened the wound you made."

"No," he shook his head, "I purposefully avoid the femoral artery. It ends things too quickly and typically if I'm engaging in such things, I need someone alive until I get the information. I can't have them passing out or dying before I get what I need."

"So, you knew you missed his artery."

"Yes."

"She knew it!" Arwen grinned at him, excitedly. "She pegged you. She's so f*****g good at her job."

"Can we go to sleep now? I feel we're sharing weird secrets and it's due to exhaustion."

“Sure, um, just one more thing." Arwen said as he nestled his chin against her hair.

"What is it, mia cara?" his voice was whispery quiet.

"I've never done this."

"Done what?"

"Slept with someone."

"What do you mean?" now his head popped back up. "You were with Trace three months."

"Never spent the entire night at his place and never once slept with anyone. Passed out? Yes. Slept with someone? Not ever. I never bring guys here and I have a few specially appointed drivers for when I go on dates to get me home safely as soon as the fun is done. I just use my ride share app and they collect me and drop me off home. The girls and I had conversations recently how none of us have done sleepovers with boys. It's weird."

"Huh," he was smiling at her as he tucked her back into his embrace. "Well, get used to it. I'm not going anywhere."

Arwen smiled as his arm fell over her shoulder and kept her close to him. The sound of his even breathing telling her he had fallen asleep in seconds making her grin broadly. If he were comfortable enough to sleep even knowing she'd killed Luca, then maybe, things could work out.