Sniping Her Mafia King

Arwen stood in the doorway of the office where Addy was seated with a pair of dark-rimmed glasses on, clearly deeply involved in whatever he was reviewing on his screen. He barely blinked and he had a frown. She hadn't known he wore glasses, and it was endearing. She watched as he absently, patted his jacket pocket as if looking for something and frowning. He flicked a glance to the door and noted her standing there and pulled his glasses off, dangling them in his fingertips. "Hi. Are you ladies all done?"

"We are. Our rides will all be here in about three minutes." She leaned against the door frame. "Do you smoke?" At his surprised expression, she mimicked the motion of him patting his chest. "You looked like you were searching for a cigarette, and I noticed the smell on you a couple of times."

He folded up his laptop and shoved it into a leather bag with a shake of his head, "I would like to say I do not but lately I have fallen back into the habit."

"Nasty habit."

"It is." He agreed. "I stopped for nearly ten years. I found myself craving the nicotine lately and the gum didn't cut it."

"How come?" she watched him round the desk and turn off the lamp.

"Enrico feels I traded addictions," he chuckled as he moved out of the office and locked it behind him. She made a face and he whispered in her ear, "until our interlude in the bar last weekend, I hadn't gotten laid in nearly two months."

"Oh," her eyes widened but she was unable to say anything as he led the way to the front of the shop where all of her friends were waiting.

They were all standing waiting and Arwen watched as Addy shook his head at them.

"Did you actually clean up?" he noted the garbage back neatly tied by the swinging doors.

Jesse hooked her arm through his, "you know my mother. Do you really think I could leave a place in worse condition than I found it?" She kissed his cheek, "thank you cousin for arranging our treat."

He patted her hand laughing at her antics, "you are drunk. I can tell because the last time you kissed my cheek was when I let you beat up Luca's guard when he kicked the stray dog."

"I'm trying to say thank you," she glared at him as he unlocked the door to let them out.

"You are most welcome," he leaned and kissed her cheek gently, chuckling at her. "Do you all have rides home?"

"We do," Arwen spoke as the girls trailed out of the shop behind him. She watched as he set an alarm and locked up. "You even know his alarm codes?"

"A couple of years back some punks broke in and smashed up the place. We fixed him up, so it didn't happen again. On occasion he forgets his code, so he calls me." Addy shrugged. He looked to her, "you have a drive home?" "I do," she looked to Josephine and Corry, "they'll drop me off."

"I do not mind," he frowned at her.

"Addy, I don't want to make you drive all the way to Flushing for me." She waved at Corry, "Corry lives fifteen minutes past me."

"I would prefer to drive you home," he said seriously, aware nine sets of ears were openly eavesdropping. "It is not I don't think you are in good hands with your friends. I simply would like to take you home. Please?"

Jesse made a choking noise and Arwen and Addy looked to her. Arwen c****d an eyebrow, "what is your problem, Chavez?"

"I don't think I've ever heard him say please," she was gasping exaggeratedly, clutching her chest. "I think I'm dying or hallucinating or something."

The girls all laughed when Addy shook his head sternly, "don't you have a man at home to torture?"

"He's in the lab," Jesse whined loudly. "Third night in a row he's been there late into the night."

"If I had to live with you, I would stay late at the lab too," he teased her and then ducked away from her punch, casting her a serious stare as he noted she had swung hard. "You are definitely drunk."

"We got her," Isabella pushed forward and pulled Jesse backwards, "here comes my husband now. We're dropping her off on our way through." Isabella hissed at Jesse, "Chavez, he's the f*****g King, you don't throw punches at him in the street." She dragged the woman to the car pulled up to the curb.

Cam got out of the car and pointed at Jesse, "my sister from another mister! You look wasted." He moved to open the passenger side door for Isabella and kept talking to Jesse, "don't puke in my car, Chavez. I know you like cleaning up bodily fluids and I'll make you detail the vehicle."

"You're such an a*****e, Torres," Jesse complained.

Sabine was laughing, "Cam, can I sit in the front and Isabella sit in the back with her? She's drank an entire pint of vodka just in the ice cream shop. That's not counting what she drank at the house."

"Nope," Isabella vetoed before Cam could even respond.

Arwen giggled at the back and forth as the group waved at them before disappearing into the car and driving down the street. "I feel so bad for Torben."

"I don't," Naomi said with a laugh. "He can handle her."

Bliss laughed, "like I can with my girl." She held her arms out and Naomi lunged at her, jumping into her arms, and wrapping her legs around her waist and kissing her open-mouthed.

"Hey," Clara cut in, "I said I'd keep your kid at my house and drop you both off, but you need to wait until your home before the clothes come off. I do not want to have to pull over like last time and sit in the front with Ben while you two get rowdy. Keep your d**k in your pants." She motioned to the car pulling up. "Get in!" She gave a wave and climbed in the car grumbling about boundaries as Naomi slapped her butt crawling in behind her.

"There's my ride," Cat said as she looked at her phone.

"You are on your own?" Addy asked seriously.

Cat grinned, "yeah but she's one of ours. I'm safe."

Addy tilted his head to Arwen as Cat got into the front seat of the car, "what does she mean, one of yours?"

"Don't ask," Arwen grinned up at him.

Another car pulled up right behind Cat's car.

Josephine looked at her, "are you coming with us or coming," she wiggled her eyebrows, "with him?"

"I'm going," Arwen corrected with a shake of her head and reddened cheeks, "with Addy." She felt his hand snake around her waist at her words, pulling her closer to him. "I'll call you tomorrow."

Corry lifted her fingers up as if shooting guns and pointed them at her, "don't do what I wouldn't do. There isn't anything I wouldn't do!"

"f*****g snipers," Arwen muttered as her friend got into the car, cackling loudly.

Arwen followed Addy to the waiting Escalade and got into the back seat with him.

He put his laptop case on the floor and pulled her to him, kissing her temple. "Thank you for letting me take you home."

"You didn't have to. It's nearly three in the morning." Arwen said quietly as she leaned her head on his shoulder and sighing sleepily.

"You must be exhausted," he spoke quietly against her hair.

"Dead tired," she agreed. "It was worth it. I had a great night."

"I assume you accomplished what you had intended?"

"I did." She felt no remorse.

Addy was quiet for a moment and then spoke quietly, "he suffered?"

"He did. We all had a go at him."

"I cannot picture Clara Draxton being murderous," he said with a shake of his head and a smile, "but I guess those are the ones you should be most wary of."

"She's very protective of me and Dee. She demonstrated considerable restraint. So did Naomi and Bliss."

"Naomi? She's the petite mouthy one who grabbed me in the shop."

"She is. She was my first leader. Taught me a lot. Her wife taught me just as much. They spent many of night sitting in the hospital with me or helping me study for exams or taking me out and letting me get through the rage and grief I was dealing with. I cannot tell you the number of times I cried myself to sleep on their sofa while Deidre was in the hospital. They very much consider themselves my aunties and I love them infinitely." She was quiet. "There isn't anything I wouldn't do for them."

"And they for you. They really are ruthless. Clara told me if I hurt you, she wouldn't just let Naomi destroy me, she would single-handedly destroy everything I owned and make me a penniless pauper before having Naomi's wife snipe my a*s."

She moaned and covered her face, "I knew she was taking too long in there."

"They're protective of you."

"Yes, they are." She sighed and looked out the window of the car. "It's Deidre's birthday tomorrow. Every single one of them got her a gift."

"Nineteen?"

"Yes. I still remember when she was born. She was a gorgeous baby, all eyes, and a ton of hair. I was twelve and I suddenly had a real-life dolly to play with. My aunt would be proud of the woman she's becoming."

"I think she would be proud of both of you," he said quietly, his arm draped over her shoulder.

"I don't know," she shook her head. "She was very much the kind of woman who always did the right thing. She always turned the other cheek. I once watched her walk up to a woman in the grocery store who had called her a slut for living with two brothers and hug her tight and tell her she forgave her. Left the woman sputtering in confusion but she truly meant it. She was such a good person. I feel she rolls in her grave every other day because of me."

"I doubt that." He shook his head. "If she had to live what you've had to live, I think you would find she would have changed from being forgiving and kind."

"Maybe," Arwen spoke quietly. "All I know is she was an amazing mom and I hope she knows I've tried my best with Deidre."

"Deidre is an amazing young woman. Look at all she's accomplished. She didn't do it alone."

"She did the work. I was just a cheerleader." She shrugged uncomfortably.

"You were her cheerleader and her support system and her drill sergeant and everything else in between. She speaks very highly of you Arwen. Never doubt she believes she is who she is because of you."

"I love her so much."

"It is reciprocated," he stroked her shoulder.

She looked up as they turned down her street. "We're here already?"

"It seems so."

"Thank you for bringing me home," she smiled up at him. "You didn't have to."

"But I really wanted to."

"I'm glad you did," she admitted. "I like talking with you Addy." She felt his smile against the top of her hair at her words and felt her own smile grown in response.

A beeping notification of the intercom connecting caught their ear, "hey boss, the car ahead says there is a car at the bottom of Ms. Beddoes's driveway, just out of sight of cameras. The porchlights are on at the house but there is clearly someone waiting for us to arrive." "License plate?" Arwen asked sitting up away from Addy. When the man recited it, she grunted angrily, "Agent Croft. Why did Deidre not call me?"

"Maybe she doesn't know? Why do you know his license plate?"

"I told you, he's been keeping tabs on me for years. He has two cars and I know them both and every time he changes a vehicle, I learn the new one." Adrianu spoke brusquely to the man in the front, "do not let him leave."

Arwen quickly dialed Deidre but there was no answer, and she felt her stomach drop. She pulled her phone and began looking at surveillance inside the house. Her doors were all still locked, and her security system was still engaged. "Hopefully, she's sleeping and doesn't know he's there."

The car pulled up to the driveway and Arwen noted the man Addy had called Santino was pulling Agent Croft from his car. She was ready to jump out, but Addy grabbed her hand. "What?"

"Don't do anything reckless. Your niece is inside, presumably safe and sound. He got fired yesterday. He could be looking for something, anything to pin to you to get back at me, Arwen. I've seen men lose far less than he did, try to get to me through other people. For all you know, he's wired, or he is carrying. Either way, we handle this with kid gloves. We don't need the entire division coming down on either of us because you reacted angrily."

"You expect me to be relaxed and calm with him? He is outside my f*****g house in the middle of the night. Really?"

"Yes," Addy said seriously. "Arwen, I am asking you to trust me when I say I have far more experience with these matters than you do. Please do not give him what he wants. It's best if we simply ask him why he's here and request he leaves. Do not give him ammunition to search you, to enter the house or to question you legally."

"I want to kill him."

"Try not to say this out loud when we're out there, please?" Addy lifted an eyebrow.

She watched as he very coolly exited his vehicle and adjusted his sleeves and then reached in to help her out of the car. She fought the desire to plunge her fist into the ruddy face of the man now standing in her well-lit driveway, his car a short distance away, blocked by Adrianu's second vehicle.

"Good morning, Agent Wanker, to what do I owe the pleasure?" she bit out tightly as Addy adjusted her until she was sideways to her security camera. It bothered her he was thinking more clearly than she was. Deidre was in the house, and it unnerved her this man was there.

"I got fired because your boyfriend filed a complaint. You need to call my boss and fix it," the agent glared at her, his arms folded and his face red and scowling.

"I did nothing wrong," she shook her head, feeling strength in Addy's silence. He was letting her handle the situation.

"Where were you tonight? You sure you did nothing wrong?" he gave a pointed glance at Addy. "He's a mob boss."

"We were having copious amounts of s*x, though it's not any of your business," Arwen watched his face redden further. "Copious," Addy echoed her with a smirk.

"My boss fired me because of you. You sent him an email complaining I was stalking you!" he yelled at them both.

"You were, you have been, it's creepy and I don't like it." She shrugged as Addy squeezed her waist warningly as her fists clenched. She looked to Addy. "I would very much just like to go in and go to bed. I'm exhausted."

"Copious amounts of s*x will make you tired," he grinned at her but there was no laughter in his eyes. He was tense and furious and intuitively she knew it was not at her. He was putting on a show. She considered he realized Draxton had provided her home security system and it was recording every single syllable of conversation.

"All I have ever done is try to protect you!" the man started again, walking toward her.

Santino lifted a hand and it put it in front of him, "sir, I'll ask you give Ms. Beddoe her personal space. If you approach her, I'll have to consider a trained FBI agent who is likely armed is a threat to her. My job is to protect her. I will protect her. Please step back." "You'll protect her?" Agent Croft was furious, "you are from whom she needs protecting. They're dangerous. You're too good a woman to be with the likes of these men. Arwen, how do you know they weren't hired by the gang who killed your aunt."

"I don't," she stared at him, "but the truth is, I would rather take my chances with them, than with you. You bungled the investigation into my aunt and the disappearance of those two men. I have long been suspicious you had something to do with them not being found because it allowed you to continue to follow me around and make me feel nervous." She lied through her teeth, "I don't like you. I don't trust you. I am more concerned with your behaviour than the men I'm standing with tonight." She looked to Santino and Addy, "could you please escort me into the house? I'd like to check on my niece and make sure he hasn't done anything to her."

"I wouldn't hurt her!" the man screamed at her, his voice shaking with fury, "I love you both! You should have come to me, and I would have helped you raise her. I have always only wanted to protect you both!"

"Mr. Croft," Addy stepped between him and Arwen, "please leave. Do not approach my girlfriend again or I will involve my legal team and I will make certain you, your supervisors and their supervisors are all held accountable for the very real breach of privacy the FBI has caused to Arwen."

"You don't scare me, Cavallaro."

"It is not my intent to scare you, Croft. I am simply telling you facts. Your continued abuse of power over two women in the suburbs is not going to go unchecked. We have already spoken with the district attorney's office on your transgressions and the fact your supervisors, even though they know you are a loose cannon where the Beddoe women are concerned, allowed you to participate in an investigation surrounding them. You had already been reprimanded countless times and yet, here you are, after sending inappropriate emails to Arwen, taking her photographs and videoing her at the airport, bothering her yet again. It is almost three in the morning. Tell me Mr. Croft, if Arwen had arrived here alone this morning, what was your plan? Were you going to hurt her?" he stepped closer to the man, speaking loud enough for the security system to pick up, carefully enunciating each syllable. "Did you just intend to frighten her or threaten her? Were you going to use your size as an overweight and oversized man to intimidate her? You are sitting in the driveway of a house belonging to a woman and her child in the middle of the night. My lawyers will have a field day with this information. In case you missed it," he pointed to the porch, "Ms. Beddoe has state of the art security equipment, just in case a biker gang you let slip away comes back for her. It has captured our entire conversation and all of your actions. Imagine if this got released to the press?"

The man paled then and looked to Arwen, yelling belligerently, "I'm warning you, Arwen!"

"That sounds like a threat to my girlfriend, Mr. Croft." Adrianu spoke quietly. "You were warned. Now you will see what happens to people like you who abuse their power over a woman, especially my woman."

"She isn't yours."

"I most assuredly am his," Arwen stepped forward and slid her hand into his elbow. "I would very much just like to go in and get away from him. I'm scared."

"Of course, my love," he patted her hand and nodded to Santino who behind the man and away from the camera was smirking at them both for their performances.

Santino motioned to Agent Croft's car, "Mr. Croft, please get into your vehicle and leave. You have one minute to vacate the neighborhood, or I am calling the local police department to come deal with you. Imagine how much worse this is going to look when we take the video evidence and file our injunction against you."

"He's a s*x trafficker, Arwen. It's why they are investigating him. You're going to end up in a container being shipped across the ocean!"

She shook her head and didn't say a word to the man as Addy escorted her around him, Santino providing an extra body between them. She unlocked her door and entered the house quietly, ignoring the yelling of the man at her from her driveway. As the door closed behind her she turned and looked to Addy, "I have never been more rageful than I am right now. I want to shoot him in the face, point blank."

"I advise against it," his spine was stiff and his smile he'd sported for the cameras was now long expired. "You did very well, and I am proud of you. Come. Let's get you to bed."

She looked at him in surprise, "are you staying?"

"Are you going to make me drive all the way back to Manhattan at three-thirty in the morning?"

"No," she smiled softly, "but I -"

"Let's go check on Deidre and make sure she is asleep and unharmed. Then we can go get sleep of our own." As she frowned in confusion he waved to the door, "I do not trust he won't come back."

He held her hand as they climbed the stairs to the main floor. Arwen considered as calm as he outwardly appeared, she was curious to know how he was feeling inside. Worse, how would he react when she did what she had to do next?