Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 60

The woman barged through the guards at the door before Santino could reach her.

"He is a misogynistic bastard. I will make it my mission to make sure any woman who thinks he is capable of love knows better. He will give you the f**k of your life and then send you on your way and if you dare demand, he respects you or apologize for his cold and callous treatment then he will destroy you and everything you love."

Arwen laughed at her, "didn't you stupidly go after his family?"

"Arwen," Addy put his hand on hers warningly. "Remember our rules," he spoke lowly so only she can hear. "You do not interfere in my business matters no matter what."

She shot him an incredulous glance and then leaned away from him, extricating her fingers from his grip. "Right. This is business." She wanted to roll her eyes but instead gave a nod.

"I will go sort this out once and for all." He rose lazily from his seat as if unbothered by the other woman. "Excuse me for a few moments."

"Perhaps I can go wait in your office or a suite while you deal with your business." She fought hard to control her sarcasm.

"I won't be long," he spoke reassuringly tugging his sleeves of coat as he rose.

Bea interrupted from where Santino was walking her out of the room, "he will give you the most romantic night of your life and then pull it all away without explanation. I'm telling you lady; you should leave before he destroys your life. He's poison." Addy shot Santino a glare, "would you shut her up in front of the guests please?"

He didn't look backwards as he followed his security agents out of the room and Enrique paused to tell one to stay and look after Arwen.

Arwen told the server who magically appeared to bring her whiskey. The other woman gave an understanding nod and went to get the drink.

Forty minutes later, Arwen was ready to scream. She was trying not to make a scene and embarrass Addy in his place of work, but she was starting to feel, using his favourite word of choice, disrespected.

She stood up to leave the private dining area and one of his security met her at the door. "I need a bathroom. I've had three drinks while I've been waiting."

The man shook his head, "I have to check with Mr. Cavallaro first." He touched his mic and then turned back to her, "I'm sorry. Please sit."

She turned back to the table furiously and grabbed her cell phone. She dialled Jesse.

"Hey Arwen. Shouldn't you be parading around the casino like a kept woman?"

"f**k you Chavez." Arwen spit angrily. "Stupid Killer Bea showed up almost three quarters of an hour ago and told me I should run for my life. She implied she wouldn't rest until she got vengeance against Addy for insulting her integrity and ruining her life." "No god damned way."

"Yes, and he put me in a private room in the restaurant and they won't even let me out to pee. Thinks I'm in some kind of danger from that whack job." "What do you need?" Jesse asked seriously.

"I don't know. I need out of here and I want to go home. He touts all this s**t about respect but I'm the fiancée held hostage while he interrogates his ex-lover. He could have at least put me in a private hotel room or suite so I can pee. He just left me sitting here to wait on him."

"You are not being respected." Jesse agreed.

"Why can't I be part of the interrogation?" Arwen queried. "I'm trained."

"Probably better than he is."

"I need out of here."

"Let me get a distraction for you."

"How?"

"Calling Clara. Give me two minutes."

Arwen sat staring at the door to the restaurant expecting Addy to walk through now that she had a plan of escape. It would be the way of course but there was no sign of him and when she waved at the guard again for the bathroom, he shook his head. "Mr. Cavallaro cannot be disturbed. You'll have to hold it."

She wanted to kick him in the balls.

Her phone rang and she gave a grateful sigh, "hey Jesse."

"In two minutes, a fire sprinkler alarm is going to go off. Your guard will get an order in his earpiece to go check it. Walk out the front door of the lobby. Clara has a car waiting." "That was fast."

"Well, in a strange coincidence do you remember when she negotiated the room? Well, she's there. In the suite she bartered with him rocking Elian's world. Ben will drive you back to Flushing or wherever you want to go." "Brilliant."

She asked back to the guard, "can you take me to Mr. Cavallaro?'

"Ma'am he's not on site. He will be returning shortly. His instructions are for you to wait here for his return and then you will resume your date."

"Not on site?" she could feel her blood boil.

Just then an alarm went off in a panel just to their right and the man immediately stepped toward it to check it. Arwen slipped behind him and walked out of the restaurant with her head held high. She hoped he watched it later on his wall of security cameras. He had left her at his resort while he took Bea to whatever off-site place, he had her being held.

As promised Ben was waiting for her at the curb but he was standing next to a sports car and holding a plastic bag. He tossed the bag at her. "Clara said you would want a change of clothes."

"Thanks Ben."

He put the keys in her hand, "I won't leave Clara here unattended, and she insisted I be the only one covering her tonight. She has triple staff at the house with the kids. Take my car. I'll have one of my guys meet you wherever you decide to go." "You're letting me take your car?" she was impressed at his trust.

"I've seen you drive. You're better than Isabella. Open her up on the highway and she will treat you right."

"Thanks Ben."

"I would go now. Looks like one of Addy's security is looking for you." He motioned behind her.

She got into the car as Ben shielded her legs like the professional, he was. She pulled the car away from the curb and began driving towards New York. Ten minutes into her drive she pulled over and got changed into the clothes Ben had grabbed for her. She wasn't sure where he'd pulled them from or how he'd known her sizes, but she was grateful for the sweatpants and t shirt and tennis shoes. She didn't waste any time and was back on the highway In minutes.

Her phone rang and she answered it when she noted it was Jesse

"He was actually off the resort, Jesse. The security guy said he left the resort."

"What was he thinking?"

"I don't know but I'm driving Ben's car."

"No way!" Jesse was impressed. "I mean you do teach the driving class, so it makes sense."

"He's a nice guy."

"How was Dee when we left today?" Jesse changed topic.

"Great. She still has a lot to process, I think. The three of us puttered around the yard today and got the goat pen started. Addy swinging a hammer in a tank top is a good way to spend an afternoon." She sighed. "Then he had to ruin it with his machismo bullshit." "Has he even called you since you left? It's been twenty minutes."

"Maybe security didn't tell him or maybe he's still off site," she grunted. "They did say he was unable to be reached."

"He should know better Arwen. He would be angry if you put him in the same position."

"I thought we made gains tonight. He actually let me loose in the casino while he did some work and let me mingle and have a drink on the floor, in the most scandalous dress he could have picked. Then he pulled this shit."

Jesse was silent a millisecond, "how scandalous was the dress?"

"One wrong move and my a*s and sweet meats would have been exposed. He bought it and didn't listen when I told he wouldn't like it on. He threw a temper tantrum when I talked to one of my patients but when I called him out on his s**t he apologized and said he trusted me to go do what I wanted. Then he took me to have dinner but before we could even order she showed up."

"What is her damage?" Jesse groaned.

"She yelled something about getting the f**k of her life then being discarded but when I asked him about her before he said it was bad. Her thing is to be positioned."

"What do you mean positioned?"

"Like he had to move her like an articulated doll and was as quiet as a doll. Literally was the equivalent of a blow-up doll." "That's weird!"

"I'm not one to judge someone else's kinks but it wasn't his thing he said. Not sure how it was her best and one of his worst."

"It was probably s**t for her too," Jesse griped, "he was just rude in dumping her on an airplane without so much as a ciao, so her pride got hurt."

"Maybe. Regardless, he left me to deal with her."

"Santino could have done that. There was no need for him to go." Jesse opined angrily

"At the very least he could have put me in a room or called me with an update. It's been over an hour now."

"Are you going home?" Jesse questioned her.

"No. I'm going to head to HQ and see if they need a set of eyes. I'm too worked up."

"Sounds good. Don't wreck Ben's car."

She chuckled, "I wouldn't dream of it."

"Before I forget, Clara wiped you leaving the hotel from the cameras. She wants him to stew a bit. Other than the guard you slipped, there's no way to tell you left the resort."

The comment made her laugh as they ended the call.

An hour later she was more than halfway to her destination and the longer the radio silence from Addy, the faster her car was driving. She stopped to refuel at a petrol station and grabbed a soda and candy bar, praying Ben wouldn't kill her for eating in his baby. The chocolate helped her mood fractionally and she remembered they hadn't had dinner. They hadn't even ordered. She cursed him under her breath as she revved the engine and pulled away from the gas station.

She was going a good clip down the highway when her phone rang, and she debated answering. After five rings she answered the call.

"Mia cara, would you care to tell me why you ditched security and where you are now?"

"I had three drinks. I needed to pee. I was told you were unreachable and therefore I had to hold it. That was more than an hour ago and nearly two hours since you rudely left me sitting in a restaurant."

"I was not notified you were uncomfortable."

"I asked you before you even left if I could go elsewhere, and you said it would only take a few minutes."

He sighed, "I apologize for leaving you unattended for so long. I assume you took a room. I couldn't locate you on the camera."

She gave a bitter laugh, "if I left you sitting in a restaurant for an hour and didn't check back for nearly two hours, you would be lecturing me on respect."

"Let me come to you and apologize."

"How long until you're back at the hotel?"

He was quiet at her words, "you knew I left?"

"Was it a secret?"

He exhaled lowly, "no. Not a secret. I will be there in twenty minutes. Which room are you in?"

"None." Her voice was clipped and angry. "You don't deserve to have me sitting and waiting for you. I'm not one of the chickens, Addy. I don't just wait in a pen for you to come toss me a bit of grain and a scratch on the neck." "You left? Are you out for a walk? Where did you go? I will come to you."

He underestimated her anger apparently, "I am on my way back to New York."

He was silent for several seconds. She stepped on the gas, revved the engine, and overtook a semi truck, earning a honk from the other driver. She honked back and stuck her finger out the window as she blew past him. "You are driving? Where did you get the car?" his voice had gone from soft and apologetic to cold in a flash.

"A friend."

"The hockey player?"

"No." she wanted to scream at his hypocrisy. "Do you even hear yourself? You left me sitting in a restaurant while you left the resort with your ex-lover, who exclaimed to anyone who could hear her how you gave her the most romantic night of her life. I imagine you escorted her off the premises in one of your limousines or SUVs which means someone definitely saw you leaving with her after entering with me and you have the f*****g audacity to question my relationship with a patient? Someone I have never been intimate with and a man who I literally have a professional association with while you left with a girl you had your d**k in. f**k you, Adrianu. I don't need your permission to come and go as I please. I don't have to give you a running commentary on my friends, associates or clients and I sure as hell don't owe you an explanation for leaving after being left for an hour when you didn't even have the courtesy to check in with me for two hours."

"Arwen."

"I'm done for tonight." She cut him off and continued angrily, "maybe I'm done for good. I don't know. All I know is, double standards don't work for me, and I'm not made to be a sycophant doormat. I'm not cut out for your world Addy if it means I have to give up my self-respect and dignity in the process. I didn't make a scene. I was professional and respectful and what good did it do me? The entire evening was a constant reminder of why we won't work." She wiped an angry tear off her cheek. "I can't do this." She finally stopped speaking as her voice broke. "Amore, tell me where you are, and I will come to you, and we will fix this."

"I'm not the one who broke something Addy." She hung up on him then, unable to continue her conversation. She shut the phone completely off, silenced her watch and cranked the radio. Ben's present station was a hard rock genre, and it suited her mood. It took nearly an hour more before she pulled the car up to a donut shop in the middle of Manhattan. One of Ben's men met her and took the keys from her. "Tell him I said thank you."

The man nodded, got into the shop, and drove away. She entered the quiet coffee shop, "any leftovers out back?"

The girl nodded and she went through to the back of the coffee shop. It didn't take long for her to get to HQ, and she made her way to the main offices. She stood quietly in the background of the girls working the cameras and just watched the various missions around the world.

"You're here late." A quiet voice spoke up behind her.

She looked over her shoulder, "hey Lolita. Had a bad date. This seemed as good a place as any to wind up." See smiled at the redhead, "you're here late too. Still working on your project or is someone running another test?" she motioned to the screen of missions. "Bliss and Naomi invited me for dinner, but their kid started puking and they took her into emergency because she spiked a fever." She made a face, "going home to listen to my pops complain I don't have a life didn't seem as fun as this." "You live with your dad?"

"He's a retired fire chief. I've been around fire my whole life. I just prefer starting them not putting them out."

"How does that work for your dad? He was a chief and you're a pyro?" Arwen asked curiously.

"He doesn't know."

"I assumed by the way you said retired it wasn't voluntary."

"It wasn't. His boss's son raped me, and they swept it under the rug. It was my word against his and Pops was pissed. He made it out like I was trying to get my dad a promotion and offered myself up. I was just a chemical sciences major in school and a bit of a nerd. He had a couple of the other fire fighters attest how I slept around. Dad was given the option to retire since I made a scene."

"Lolita, I'm so sorry."

She looked to Arwen with a smirk, "don't be. Pretty boy firefighter got caught up in a blaze. Spent eight months in the burn ward. I made sure his d**k took the brunt of the burns when I trapped him in it. My dad called it karma. I called it justice." Arwen high fived her, "good for you."

As the two women sat down at a desk to start reviewing a file one of the other girls brought to them, Arwen decided her night wasn't a total bust after all.