Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 49

Sometimes silence is stifling. For Arwen, the steady tones of the beeping machinery floating around her ears was far worse and far more painful than any noise she could have imagined. Scans were showing Deidre had a minor head injury, a couple of broken ribs, a bruised spleen and bumps and bruises all over. No life-threatening injuries to report. She still hadn't woken. Whatever dream she was having she was happy to remain in because the medications were dissipating in her system, but she was not surfacing.

She stroked her hand softly and then reached to brush a hair off her forehead, "Deidre, I've seen you like this one time too many. You need to wake up."

Even as she said the words, her heart mocked her. As much as she wanted her to wake up and be okay, she was going to break the woman's heart into a million pieces when she did. Miley, her best friend since grade five was gone. She was dreading telling her this. It felt as if icy fingers were wrapped tight around her heart and were squeezing it firmly. This was her fault. All her fault.

She should have been more prepared, more vigilant and she wasn't.

"Hey," a quiet voice called out from over her shoulder as light from the hall broke into the darkened room.

"Hi Clara." Arwen sat up and wiped tears off her cheeks.

"Not awake yet?"

"No," she shook her head sadly. "It's as if she knows what's waiting out here for her isn't as good as what is in there." "Miley's parents are downstairs."

"f**k," she rubbed her face sadly. "I don't even know what to say to them."

"I can't imagine what it would be like to have cops show up at my door and tell me my kid is gone," Clara spoke softly, a single tear at the corner of her eye. "Its s**t. This whole thing is shit." "What do I tell her?"

"The tire blew out. The driver over corrected. The car rolled down the embankment. Not much to tell." Clara said softly as she adjusted a blanket around Deidre's feet. "She survived. Two others didn't."

"It's not fair," Arwen whispered suddenly. "She didn't ask for this. Miley didn't ask for this. The driver, what was his name? He didn't ask for it."

"I know Arwen. It's not fair. The woman in me is dying to fix this, to replace a way to hack into something and replace a solution and I'm at a loss. I can't even imagine what you're going through."

"She's nineteen and has been through so much loss in her life. How do I protect her from anything else?"

Clara rubbed her shoulders sympathetically, "I don't know."

"I want to pack her up, move her to the middle of nowhere and lock her in a saferoom where nobody can ever hurt her again." Arwen admitted through tears. "Is she paying for my sins?" she looked over her shoulder to Clara. "Arwen, the good you do far outweigh any sin. You have fought to protect this girl from the minute she was put in your care."

"I got lax," Arwen sniffed. "I let Cavallaro in and she was put in harms way."

"Don't do that," Clara squeezed her arm before dragging a chair closer. "This isn't on him. This is on a crazy bratva brat who wanted what he couldn't have and tried to make an innocent woman his s*x slave."

"If I hadn't been with Addy, they wouldn't have known a connection."

"Let's play this out." Clara turned her to face had and held her hands out. "Zoya got into trouble. Where did she go?"

"To me. She said Addy told her she could trust me."

"He also told her she could trust Cat, Jesse, and Sabine. All the people he hired to help her heal. Even if you weren't dating then the last place Zoya would have been seen is with you at the physio clinic. Pavel still would have released the info to Oleg two of his men went missing in your clinic. Cat was the one who brought Zoya to your clinic for physio. Are you going to blame Cat?"

"No," she turned her head away in frustration. "I want to blame someone."

"The person at fault is dead. Oleg passed the info to Radomir you were the treatment provider. Even if you and Addy weren't dating, they would have found a way to get to you because you hid Zoya. Think about it."

"You're right."

"Our biggest issue is replaceing out how they made Addy's escalade. Someone tipped the Russians off about the car."

"I want to know this too. All of this because I helped a stranger."

"Don't sit there and think you shouldn't have helped Zoya either." Clara lifted her chin up. "The brothel had thirty-three women working in it. The youngest was fifteen. Zoya has four half-sisters who were going to be living a life as a s*x worker against their will. Ten children, thirty-three women, plus Zoya. This is what protecting Zoya on Friday did. You helped save forty-three people."

"I know in here," Arwen tapped her head, "what you're saying is right. In here though," she tapped her chest, "my heart is broken, and I want Miley back and I want my girl to not be in a hospital bed with a bruised and battered body and I want to go back in time and be selfish."

Movement outside the door caught her eye and she looked up to see Miley's parents standing outside the glass. She took a shaky breath and squeezed Clara's hand. "Can you sit with her while I go talk to them?"

"Of course." Clara hugged her tight. "Good luck."

Arwen stepped away with one last look at the sleeping girl in the bed and then moved out of the room. Her hand felt icy as she turned the handle and stepped into the hall. The fluorescent light overhead crackled and flickered and Arwen felt it was mocking her. "Mandy, Devlin, I'm so sorry..." her voice trailed off as tears clogged her throat when Devlin reached out and pulled her into a hug with them.

The three of them sobbed as grief consumed them and Arwen wasn't sure how long she cried with them before she stepped backwards and grabbed a box of tissues from the nurse's station. Devlin led Mandy to sit in a chair.

"Arwen, what happened?" Mandy's voice was hoarse. "I asked the officer, and he said details were scarce."

"All I know is they were on their way back to my place after visiting Portia, their new friend. The car rolled multiple times down an embankment."

"They were in an escalade." Devlin made a face. "Why such a fancy car?"

"Deidre was really upset about a guy from school committing suicide this weekend. A friend of mind offered the use of his car and his driver, so she wasn't worried about trying to replace rides."

"That Warrick guy." Devlin spoke angrily, "the rumors are the police found out he was some kind of pervert and couldn't live with the guilt of it anymore. My son heard it from one of his classmates. He said he had texted Miley and never heard back." Arwen cupped her mouth in feigned surprise, "oh my god. Deidre had coffee with him Friday night. She's been crushing on him for months."

"She dodged a bullet," Mandy whispered, "only to jump in front of another one. No wonder Miley said she wanted to stay with her tonight." Her voice broke. "Miley wasn't wearing her seatbelt. We fought about it so many times, Arwen." She ran a shaky hand down her face. "Prom night in the limo she refused to put it on. I'm not surprised she had it off. I just wish I had her back so I could yell at her and hug her and ..." Mandy's voice gave out completely as sobs began to rock her body again. Arwen looked away and blinked her own tears away.

"Arwen," Clara's voice called from the doorway of Deidre's room. "She's stirring a bit. You may want to be here if she wakes up." Devlin squeezed her hand. "I'm going to take Mandy home. Give her a hug from us?" tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Okay." Arwen rose from the seat she was in and moved back into the room with Clara. Clara's arm around her waist was comforting. She watched as Deidre's leg kicked in her sleep and then the girl gave a scream and then said Addy's name as clear as a bell. "f**k," Clara whispered. "She remembers."

"No, no, no." Arwen put shaky fingers to her lips. "I knew she was fidgeting on the floor. Please tell me she wasn't fully awake."

"Don't hit him," Deidre mumbled in her sleep and thrashed her leg again.

"We tell her it was only a dream?" Clara suggested with a frown marring her face.

"And when she sees Addy's beaten face? She's going to want to see him. His eye was swollen shut and his mouth was split wide open. Fairly sure his nose got broke." Arwen groaned.

"I just had a worse thought," Clara whispered to Arwen. "What if they didn't wait to get her out of the car before snapping necks?"

"You think she witnessed her friend be murdered," Arwen hissed back furiously. "Oh god. No."

"We need debrief in here."

"Arwen!" Deidre screamed her name and sat upright in the bed.

"Baby, I'm right here. I'm right here." Arwen shoved the chairs out of the way and crawled right up on the bed, wrapping her arms around her. "Shh, I'm right here, Dee. I'm right here." Deidre struggled in her grip as if wanting to get out of the bed, "Addy, he's in trouble Arwen. He's in trouble. They were beating him up. We have to go help him."

"No honey, you were in a car accident. You rolled down an embankment. The car is totalled, and you got hurt. You've been unconscious."

Deidre started shaking and shoving Arwen away, "no, I know. I remember everything." She tried to move off the bed but screamed as pain ravaged her body. "Why does it hurt so much?"

"You have a couple broken ribs and a bit of internal bruising," Arwen gave her some space. "The pain medication is probably wearing off. I'll ring for more."

"I don't want the pain medication," she gripped the mattress angrily. "It makes my brain foggy."

Arwen comforted her and tried to get her to lay back in the bed whispering soothing noises and gently touching her. "Shh."

"Arwen, he's in danger. You have to help him. If you won't, then call Santino. He went to save me, and he got hurt."

"What do you remember, love?" Clara's voice was soft as she moved to the other side of the bed, careful to not bump her arm with the IV in it. "Start at the beginning when you left Portia's." She held up a phone behind Deidre's back for Arwen to see. They were calling this in, and Clara had them already linked into HQ.

She looked to Clara and Arwen and screwed her face up as if she were thinking hard. "Miley and I were walking down the driveway to wait for the car and a man hollered my name."

"A man hollered your name?" Arwen leaned back and narrowed her gaze on her. "Who?"

"I didn't recognize him. Miley asked me who he was, and I didn't know."

"Did he have an accent?"

"He was American. He had a suit on. Aviators. I wanted to laugh at him for wearing sunglasses at night. He took them off when he called my name, and he said my whole name. He was walking towards me when the car came along." "My age, your age, older?"

"Maybe Addy's age, mid-thirties." Deidre paused. "The driver seemed to know him, and he got us into the car very quickly. He," she paused wringing her hands together, "the driver told him Mr. Cavallaro would not appreciate the man approaching his friend in the street. When he got back into the car the driver said 'stronzo argento. I was laughing with Miley trying to figure out what a silver a*****e was." Arwen froze at Clara's next question.

"Deidre, could he have said 'stronzo agente"," Clara queried quietly. "It means agent. Could the man have been a cop or an FBI agent?" Deidre blinked rapidly and then nodded, "yeah, I guess it could have been what he said. It makes more sense than having a silver a*****e." "Sure does," Arwen stroked her arm softly. "What happened next?"

"The driver, Nico, he waited until the other guy passed us in his car and then he drove in the opposite direction. It was like he was trying to avoid him. We drove for about fifteen minutes and Miley got a text from her brother. Whatever it was, freaked her out because she pulled her seatbelt off to get closer to me like she was going to hug me. I was focused on her but then Nico swore really loud and punched his steering wheel. He tried to call someone but as he was reaching for his phone something hit the bumper of the car and the car spun completely around. It felt like a movie, and I could see everything happening at once. Miley moving, him moving and then the car jolting. The car rolled multiple times. My head hit Miley's head." She rubbed her forehead, "we were all screaming and then we stopped, and it was silent. Eerie silent. I looked at Miley and she wasn't moving at all." Deidre took a shaky breath, "I think she was dead."

Arwen looked away at her words and Deidre gave a sob and Arwen looked back to her and felt the tears on her cheeks, "I'm sorry Deidre."

She sniffed, "she's really gone?"

"She is," Arwen wrapped her arms around her shoulders and pulled her close and let her cry on her shoulder.

"Her parents," she sobbed, "her brothers."

"I know," Arwen rubbed her cheek against Deidre's hair. Arwen let her cry knowing it wouldn't be the last time the girl cried over her friend in the coming weeks.

"Why did she take off her stupid seatbelt?" Deidre's words were raspy and heartbroken.

"I'm not sure," Clara whispered, "Dee do you think you can tell me the rest of what you remember? If not, it's okay. You can rest."

Deidre took a breath, "I could hear voices, but they were a different language. Two men pulled me out of the car, and I just knew they were the reason we crashed. I tried to fight but my leg," she punched her thigh in frustration. "One of the guys just flung me over his shoulder and carried me up the hill. I tried to run when they pushed me in the car but then they shoved a needle in my arm." She wiped tears off her cheek, "the next thing I heard was Addy leaning down to me and telling me he was there to save me. He called me piccola and said he was going to get me home to you and he just wanted me to lay and not make a noise no matter how bad it got because he was strong, and he could take it, but he didn't want them to touch me, so I had to be quiet. Then they pulled him away from me and started beating on him."

Arwen and Clara exchanged a look. There was no way they could pass this off as a dream. The ketamine did not muddle her memories as well as it did to others. In normal situations they would administer additional medications and with psych create an illusion of a bad dream or wipe the memories altogether. Deidre's thoughts were far too lucid.

"Addy even said you hit harder than the guy who punched him." Deidre recalled suddenly, "I think he was trying to keep the attention on him and off me." She made a face, "then I think they drugged me again because I passed out again. I don't remember anything until I woke up here. Whatever they used the second time was stronger than the first time because the first stuff I was drowsier, and it felt dreamlike, but the other stuff was blackness. Only dark." "Deidre," Clara spoke quietly. "You should probably try to rest now."

"When can I go home?"

"They'll keep you at least overnight for observation." Arwen helped her settle into the bed, tucking the pillow behind her head. "I'm right here." She pointed to the chair. "I'm not leaving, you." "Arwen, you need to replace Addy. He's out there hurt somewhere. I don't know how he got me back to you and got me to the hospital but he's in danger."

"He's fine," Arwen kissed her forehead. "I'm sure of it."

"Can you call him? Please? I just need to know he's okay." Deidre sniffed, "please Arwen."

Arwen looked to Clara who shook her head. She knew Addy was in a room getting medical attention. She shot a glare at Clara as if telling her to replace a way, "Deidre, I can try his cell, but I know he told me earlier today he had a very important meeting in Atlantic City." "He wasn't at a meeting in Atlantic City," Deidre argued. "He was in a building with concrete floors and old pallets and barrels. I know because I kept thinking if they killed us, the barrels would fit our bodies if they folded us up the right way."

She and Clara exchanged a horrified expression.

"Look, I know it was probably mob stuff and I'm not ever supposed to talk about it again and I can keep the secret. I mean I've never said anything about you and crazy group of girlfriends," she waved at Clara, "but one of my friends died tonight. I need to know another one isn't dead too."

Clara tensed, "what do you mean crazy group of girlfriends?"

Deidre rolled her eyes, "nothing. I'm not saying anything other than you are all nuts. Please, just call him, Arwen."

Arwen gave an impatient sigh and called the number for Addy. She shrugged, "it's his voicemail, Deidre."

Deidre tried to move to a seated position, "then he's still in danger."

"He's fine, Deidre. You need to rest. Please." Arwen argued fruitlessly with her, pushing Deidre's hands away from her attempts to remove her medical equipment. "Deidre, stop!"

"I can't Arwen. He told me he would always protect me and be there for me and he was. He was right there Arwen and he got beat up because of me. Now I'm in a hospital and where is he? If he were okay, he would be right there beside you and he's not which tells me he's not safe. I have to know he's okay."

Arwen's phone rang in her hand and Deidre stilled. Arwen pushed her back gently, "sit. Let me answer this." She met Clara's gaze who gave her a half-shrug.

"Arwen," Addy's voice was raspy, "I saw I missed a call from you. Everything okay?"

"Yes," Arwen stared at Deidre, "Dee is convinced you were in danger and wanted me to check in with you. I have you on speaker."

"Ah, piccola, I'm just fine. I will be up to see you as soon as I finish here. I promise. Try to rest and be a good girl for Arwen and I'll be there to see you shortly." "Addy," Deidre wiped tears off her cheeks, "are you okay?"

"Never better, now rest," his voice was soft and tender, and Arwen could see Deidre visibly calming in front of her.

Deidre settled into the bed and Clara pulled a blanket up over her to her chest. Arwen spoke into her phone, "thanks Addy."

"No thanks needed. I will check in with you later. Ciao."

Clara shot her a look at the briskness of his tone. "Is he always so abrupt?"

"No," she shrugged, "but considering the events of the evening and where he is right now, I imagine he's occupied."

She and Clara moved just outside the door of the room.

"What do we do?" Arwen asked Clara as they looked through the glass to where Deidre had drifted off to sleep relatively quickly.

"I recorded the whole thing and sent it off to HQ. Her comment about keeping you and the girls a secret is alarming."

"No f*****g shit." Arwen rubbed her chin.

"At least Miley was unconscious when the car stopped rolling. She never needs to know," Clara let her voice soften, "her best friend was murdered."

Arwen recalled one of Deidre's statements, "I want to know who called Dee's name in the street outside Dylan and Portia's place."

"Me too." Clara motioned to the door, "go stand vigil like I know you want to. I'm going back to HQ and get you an update." She hesitated before walking away, "I'll replace out what they want to do with Deidre and her memories as well and I'll update you on this as soon as I know more."

"Thanks Clara. The use of a mind-altering drug is not what I want for her but in these cases I know they do a forty-eight-hour psych hold and reset memories. Her brain has been through so much since her head injury as a kid. I'm worried the effect it will have. Will it alter the very few memories she has of her parents?"

"I'll keep you posted. For now, just go keep her company and relaxed. I'll be in touch."

Arwen didn't wait for Clara to leave and moved back into the room with Deidre and took up her spot in the uncomfortable chair at her bedside. She squeezed Deidre's fingers lightly and smiled when she squeezed them back. "I love you, Deidre," she whispered into the night.