Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 36

Arwen completed her assessment of Nate and gave him a big grin. "I am so impressed with the gains you've made this week." She needed the distraction of work to forget Addy had kissed her stupid after making them breakfast this morning. He had left not long before she had and had a hard time refusing his request, she ride into the city with him. "Thanks Arwen. I have to admit, knowing the little punk Lafarge is getting better has been motivating me. He and I have chatted a lot this week and we've been pushing each other's buttons. Half of this game is mentally screwing with the opponents and having someone to f**k with has been a dream." Nate's grin was huge as he wiped his forehead of sweat after finishing the vigorous demands of her evaluation. "He keeps telling me he's going to kick my old man a*s out on the ice. I'm going to teach the little s**t what experience gives you."

She threw her head back and laughed, "is that so?"

"It is. Little bastard even mocked me when I told him I had trouble sticking to the diet plan you suggested. I told him how you caught me out with the sub sandwich, and he laughed his head off and told me he was young enough to live off air." Arwen giggled, "he's a punk. I'll agree with you, just this once, considering I'm older than you and I'm taking offence at the age jokes."

"Who's the girl," Nate leaned his head sideways to check out a thin blonde who was just exiting from the massage room.

"None of your business," Arwen didn't even look behind her. The girl was Zoya, one of the women Cat had brought to her the week before from Addy's hotel. She was healing well with her physical injuries. The psych ones would take much longer. Sabine was working with her and charging Addy a boatload for it.

"She's gorgeous."

"She's a patient. Her privacy is as valuable as yours. You read the NDA when you entered my clinic. What you see here, stays here, including other patients. You violate the contract and you set yourself up for a wide array of legal nightmares."

He held his hands up in mock defeat, "okay, okay, I did not see the most gorgeous woman I've laid eyes in your clinic but," he pointed at her playfully, "if she looked my way and liked what she sees," he gave a shimmy over his sleeveless t-shirt, "and wants to get my number, you have my permission to hand it out." He wiggled his eyebrows playfully and Arwen smacked at him.

"You're a fool."

"Nate," Karla came to the door of her room. "I'm ready for you."

"Best part of my day," he patted Arwen's shoulder and went in the direction of Karla's massage therapy room.

Arwen made her way back towards her office when she saw Zoya hovering. She walked to her quietly, "everything okay?"

"Yes," she looked away, ice-blue eyes scanning the room as if worried. "No. I am in trouble." Her thick accent was broken as she wiped a tear.

Arwen motioned for her to walk down the hall in the direction of her office, "come, lets go chat more privately."

Arwen pulled her chair around the desk and positioned it directly in front of the seat the woman was sitting. "What kind of trouble are you?"

"My brother," she whispered looking to the floor. "He was not a good man in Russia. He was a bad man. A very bad man. He found out I ran away from home and came to America, and he is looking for me." "Your brother?"

"We share a father, not same mother," she huffed. "My mother was a prostitute. She did not want this life for me. She hid me from my father most of the time he came to the house. He was her," she flailed her hands around, "what is the word for a prostitute's boss?" "Pimp?"

"Yes, pimp." Zoya sighed, "My father did not care I was his child and in fact he had many daughters with different women in the brothel. His son from his actual wife now runs the business and it was expected when I turned eighteen, I would be put in the house my mother worked in. She hid me with my aunt, and they paid a lot of money to get me to Italy and then on the boat to America. How stupid of me?" she pursed her lips to Arwen, "I ran away from home to not be a prostitute to jump into being a prostitute." "But you are not, and you will never have to be," Arwen squeezed her fingers. "We will protect you. Mr. Cavallaro will protect you."

"My brother," she sighed, "he sold my virginity."

"He what now?" Arwen blinked furiously.

"It is why I ran. He promised a local businessman a night with a virgin for a million dollars. I do not know physical intimacy and on the ship, the girls kept me to the back of the group. They hid me and the men would leave me alone. They told me to vomit and sit in the corner when the men came near, and they would leave me alone and it worked on the ship. One girl," she sniffed, "one girl had been a prostitute in Greece and to protect me, she went with three of them at once as a distraction. She came back to the crate bleeding from her bum."

"Oh Zoya, I am very sorry you saw all of this," she reached a gentle hand and wiped a tear off the girl's cheek.

"They did all those things for me and now it is for nothing. I am in America, but I know he looks for me. He is powerful man in our city. I called home," she whispered, "and I think they found out I was in New York. I just wanted my mama to know I was alive. I made a mistake." "You made no mistake, Zoya."

"But I saw him."

"You saw who?"

"My brother's friend Pavel. He is Oleg's best friend, and he is mean and rough. He was coming out of the building across the street where they sell coffee and he saw me. I know he is waiting for me. If he is there, then there is a team and they probably have surrounded the building and are just waiting for me." The girl started vibrating in her seat as if terrified, "Even if Mr. Cavallaro sends someone to pick me up, they will wait until they get me alone and they will take me and bring me back to Russia for the rich man to take my virginity. I am telling you because Mr. Cavallaro spoke to me about my treatment here and asked how I was doing, and I told him I was worried. He said you were his friend and he trusted you with his life. I do not think he is one to trust people very much so if he trusts you, I think I can trust you. Arwen, I do not want to be a prostitute." Her voice broke now as sobs filled her chest.

"You will not be a prostitute. I promise you," Arwen smiled softly, an expression which did not mirror the feeling she had in her chest. "Addy is right. He does trust me. You can trust me. I will not let anyone take you. I promise."

She wheeled her chair behind her desk and pulled up her surveillance cameras angled at the street. "Come, tell me if you see anyone you know out there."

The girl rounded the desk cautiously as if scared whoever she looked at could see her. Arwen adjusted the angles of the camera and zoomed in on coffee shop.

"That's Pavel," she whispered as she pointed at a man sitting in a window seat watching the clinic.

Arwen pulled the camera into a panoramic mode and motioned to Zoya to check the street. Zoya bit her knuckles, "he is Pavel's brother, in the car there. I cannot see who is in the passenger seat."

She pulled her phone out, "I'm going to call in a friend who can help us. Mr. Cavallaro's cousin Jesse. You met her, right?"

"I met her," Zoya's eyes widened. "She is your friend? She is very tough."

"She is one of my best friends in the world."

She called Jesse first, "Hey Jesse. I have one of the girls under Addy's protection here in my clinic and it seems a blast from her past is waiting outside to take her back to Russia to sell her virginity for a million dollars." "Are you f*****g kidding me?" Jesse's voice carried into the quiet of the room, "over my dead f*****g body."

"It seems there is an entire brothel of women in Russia who were forced not only into the s*x-trade but many of the girls were fathered by the guy running the place. It's now being run by his son, Oleg. Oleg sent a team here to New York to get my new friend and bring her back to Russia to pay off a debt he owes."

"Can you get her to a safe house?"

"I can," Arwen nodded seriously. "I will get her to a safe house. I think Addy needs to know his rescue mission may be compromised."

"Why?" Jesse asked cautiously.

"Because I cannot imagine for the life of me the type of men to do this sort of thing would be hanging out in a coffee shop immediately across from my clinic if they didn't already know she was here. They tailed her for sure. They might not have intercepted because a Cavallaro car escorted her here, but she made eye contact as she entered the building. Someone had to have tipped this group off from inside on Zoya's location."

"Arwen, get her to a safe house. I'll call it in to HQ." She groaned, "I do not want to do a mission with my cousin. We just left his debrief. Artemis punched him in the sack."

"She what?" Arwen bolted upright in her chair, "why did I not know this was happening today?"

"She said she told you last night."

Arwen cursed, "she said it would happen soon. She didn't say today! Why did she hit him?"

"She was pushing his buttons and told him we emptied his container on his behalf. He thanked her and then asked her if she was so good at her job how did she miss one. He was smug like the cocky bastard he is, and she punched him in the dick." "F**k."

"I don't think you'll be f*****g for a bit. I'm betting he needs an ice pack, but the son of a b***h didn't even flinch when she nailed him. Took it like a pro." Jesse giggled, "you could kiss his booboos better though."

"Time and place, Chavez," she flicked a glance to see if Zoya was hearing any of the conversation and she didn't appear to be. "Are you finished the debrief?"

"Literally in the last ten minutes. She told him she'd give clearance one level less than Torben and one above Torres if she could use him as a resource. His shipping companies, two now, provide her a flotilla for our teams to use. She wants them at her disposal. They're good places to land helicopters for refueling or transferring teams."

Arwen moaned in desperation, "she did not!"

"She did. He graciously offered her the use of anything and everything in his power to provide to her if it meant getting a pervert off the street."

"Graciously?"

"No," Jesse grunted angrily. "He was a complete d**k about it."

"He asked me if he had been my target." She admitted quietly, "last night. Did she confirm the hit?"

"He didn't even bring it up. Didn't even ask who she sent to take out Luca."

"My brain hurts," Arwen looked to the girl sitting patiently back in the seat across from her desk. "Listen, I'm going to get Zoya to a safe house, but I need my clinic girls protected. Send a full team for them. Read in Artemis and see what she wants to do with the King. I'm happy doing this on our own but she's under his protection."

"I'll call you back." Jesse paused, "avoid safe house six but forty-three is good to go."

"Great." She hung up the phone. "My friend is going to call in back up. I'm going to take you somewhere safe."

"You are? How? You are just a girl, and they are big men. The minute we step outside they will take me from you." Zoya clearly had concerns about the plan.

"Zoya, I really need you to trust me. I need you to trust me as much as you trust Mr. Cavallaro. Please. I can take out the big guys if I have to, but my only goal right now, is taking you somewhere safe. We can take care of you and make sure nobody ever hurts you again." "How will you?" Zoya asked quietly.

"I do not want you to think of anything other than staying safe and doing what I instruct. Can you do this for me?"

"Yes." Zoya nodded once. "But I am scared."

"Good," Arwen stood up from her chair and pulled Zoya upright. "Being scared means you are going to be careful and listen to everything I tell you."

"Okay," she took a shaky breath. "What do I have to do?"

Arwen moved to protectively wrap her arm over her shoulder, "just stick close to me, okay?"

They walked back to the gym area and then Arwen through to reception. Arwen stopped to Norah. "Hey Norah. I have a team moving to our entrances in minutes. I'm taking Zoya out an alternate route. May need my rugs fixed."

Norah nodded understanding immediately Zoya was now under Bellona protection, "got it boss. Joy and Beth are still out back. They'll cover you." She picked up her phone and called to the back rooms.

Arwen tugged Zoya back in the direction of the gym and then through to the side door.

Zoya hesitated, "what if they are waiting outside this door for me?"

"Who says we're going out this door?" Arwen winked at her and then bent down and pulled back a carpet. Using her watch, she held it to the security system at the back door of the clinic and the metal of the floor started to pull back. "What is happening?" Zoya exclaimed in surprise as the floor moved under her feet.

"Betcha Cavallaro doesn't have this," she winked at her.

"No, or it's not what I have seen," Zoya gave a nervous giggle.

Beth appeared behind them. "I'll close up behind you."

"Thanks Beth. Zoya, you can follow me." Arwen led her down a set of stairs which illuminated as she put pressure on them. As she reached the bottom step a large section of underground lit up, clearly part of the basement of this building and the one next door. Arwen strode through the basement and then pushed a button on the wall opening up a hidden room on the other side. "Keep up Zoya. Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle?"

"No." she whispered as she raced after Arwen's long strides.

"Car it is. Probably better anyway. I can keep you hidden better in my car." She strode purposefully through the underground of the other building. She ignored the panting of the other woman as they walked to the far end of the basement and then through another secret door.

Zoya gasped at the interior of the garage on the other side. "What is this?"

"My garage. I own the entire block."

"Are you a billionaire?"

"Millionaire a few times over," she grinned, "okay many times over but many of these I stole."

"You stole?" Zoya asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Arwen pointed to a Ferrari. "Took this beautiful girl from a guy in the UK."

"Who are you?"

"Just a physio doctor," Arwen opened a cabinet on the wall by placing her finger against the handle. She didn't care Zoya was seeing all these things. The girls in psychiatrics would in all likelihood either erase her short-term memory or convince her it was a dream. "Any car speaking out to you?"

"I don't understand," Zoya spoke with confusion.

"You don't need to Zoya. You asked me for protection. I'm going to give you protection." She waved around her, "which car do you want to make a getaway in."

"I like the black one." Zoya said timidly.

"Ah, my Spyder." She gave an appreciative nod. "Nice choice. Come on." She clicked a button on her key fob and the car's lights lit up as it unlocked.

"How do we get out of here?" Zoya looked around curiously.

Arwen reached across the middle console and pulled the seatbelt over Zoya's shoulder. "Safety first." She winked at the young woman. "How old are you Zoya? You mentioned your brother sold you off at eighteen?"

"I turned eighteen three months ago," she sighed. "I had such big dreams. I'm smart you know."

"Are you?"

"Yes, when Mr. Cavallaro offered us to go to school, I was excited. I told him I'd like to become an American doctor. I bet I could do it."

"You're smart?" Arwen tossed her a sideways glance as they drove towards the hydraulic lift and revved the engine as the car lifted towards a street level. "Great! You will do well in school here."

"I won't get to go to school. I'll be dragged back to Russia and into the brothel."

"No, you won't." Arwen shook her head. The car pulled into the street and drove in the opposite direction. She shifted gears and recognized a motorcycle heading in the direction of her clinic. She knew Isabella would be able to protect the girls in the clinic if they needed back-up. "What was your favorite subject in school?" Arwen kept the conversation light as she followed GPS coordinates to the safe house.

"I was particularly good in sciences. Biology and chemistry were my best subjects. My mother was my father's favorite in the house, so he gave me a bit more freedom than the other girls, so I got to go to school. My sisters, there are four of them, he wasn't as kind. He put one of them to work as soon as she turned sixteen. Oleg hated me because I was Papa's favorite. Whenever Papa wasn't looking, he would hit me or burn me and once he even pushed me down a flight of stairs. Then my father got into trouble with the bratva. He didn't pay his dues, three million dollars worth of back payments. They killed him. They agreed Oleg could take over at their instruction so long as I was part of the negotiation. The man agreed to wipe off a million dollars of the family debt if I had s*x with him. He's a vicious man, Arwen. When he came to kill my father, he shot two of the women who screamed in fear. He let one of his men take one of the girl's home as his own pet. He led her out of the house on a leash." She swallowed and wiped a tear, "he saw me huddled with the girls and my brother saw him looking at me. He told him I was innocent, and it was surely worth something to the man to be able to have an innocent woman as pretty as me. He agreed to wipe a million dollars off. He told Oleg I needed to be delivered to his hotel suite, cleaned up, in a white dress and I had to be his servant. He was going to keep me."

Arwen could feel her blood boil at the child's words, "you're just a baby, Zoya. Too young for such horribleness."

"One of my sister's is only fourteen. If Oleg lets her stay innocent until sixteen it will be a miracle. I'm surprised he didn't offer the four of us as a package deal." "Oleg needs a bullet in his brain," Arwen said furiously as she tore through the streets.

Her cell phone rang, and she grimaced letting it connect to her car speaker system. "You are on speaker."

"Delta-three," Artemis' voice carried out, "I hear you have a package to deliver?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You'll have a full team on site. We extended a courtesy call to your boyfriend but made it clear he's not welcome to join our mission. He pissed me off today."

"Did you truly expect him not to piss you off? He's an arrogant son of a bitch."

"Yet, you love him."

"I don't recall those words ever leaving my lips." Arwen made a face at the screen display.

"They will. Give it a month."

"He took over my kitchen today," she grumbled. "He's getting too in my s**t. In my kid's life, my house and now my business."

Artemis ignored her grumbling, "How's the girl?"

Arwen looked to Zoya who was staring straight ahead, "scared. Her entire life has been a nightmare and she finally escaped it only to be nearly trafficked. Then she gets out of a shipping crate only for the thugs she was running from to come back and replace her." She paused, "she's smart though. Said she's going to be a doctor."

Arwen could hear Artemis' smile. "Is that so? Good. Brains are what will keep her alive."

"They sure will," Arwen reached out and squeezed the girl's hand. "We're almost to safehouse forty-three."

"Good. Zoya, you listen to everything Arwen says. She will keep you safe until we handle your brother and his thugs."

"Who are you?" Zoya asked again.

The line went dead, and Arwen took a sharp corner into a sparsely populated neighborhood and then pulled her car into what appeared to be a rickety car port. She motioned for Zoya to get out of the car and then quickly escorted her into the house. "Aren't you worried your car will be stolen?" Zoya asked as they entered the house, noting right away, Arwen had left the key fob in the car.

"One of my team members is across the street right now, Zoya. In about two minutes you'll hear the engine of the car, and it will drive away, leaving us here."

"On our own?"

"No." She motioned around the house. "There are cameras everywhere." She pointed to the television on the wall. "You may as well take a seat and get comfortable. You're going to be here awhile."

Just as she herself plunked down on the sofa, her phone rang, and she groaned. The last thing she needed was to answer his call. She took a breath and sighed. "Mr. Cavallaro."

"Where are you?"