Sniping Her Mafia King

Arwen pulled her motorcycle up the driveway to her home late Monday evening and furiously ripped her helmet off when she noted the vehicle parked in her driveway. "Leave!" She marched past the barrel-chested man furiously.

He reached an arm out and gripped her hand, "please talk to me Arwen."

"Trace, you need to get the f**k out of here now before I call the cops." She wanted to shoot him and drop him in a pig farm.

"Look, I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. Hell, for what I said last month and to let you know I'm willing to wait. You're an amazing woman and I f****d up. I can own my mistakes. Please, let's have a talk."

"No," she turned to face him. "Nothing you can say now will make me feel anything but disgust for you. I don't want to be with you."

"I know you were sad we broke up."

"Wrong," she corrected him angrily. "I was pissed off you weren't man enough to be honest with me from the beginning to let me know you were not comfortable coming second in my life. You lied and told me how commendable it was and then when I didn't stay and suck your d**k you threw a hissy fit. You don't get a do-over, Trace. Now get off my property before I go get my gun from the cabinet and defend my home from a trespasser."

The creek of the front door opening made her cringe and she looked over her shoulder, "I'll be in shortly, Dee."

"Um, Adrianu Cavallaro is on the phone. I told him you were outside talking to Trace, and he insists he speak to you."

"Why is he calling your cell?" Arwen turned to face her cousin furiously.

The younger woman shrugged, "I don't know. He said you didn't answer your work phone and so he called this one. I told him you weren't home yet because you worked late. He says he wants to send dinner over instead of having you cook when you got in. Something about bringing dinner to you since you wouldn't go with him. Then Trace pulled up in the yard, so he stayed on the phone with me until you got here." Deidre spoke more in the thirty seconds in front of Trace than she had the entire three months Arwen dated him. She held her phone out, "here."

"Mr. Cavallaro, why are you calling my cousin?"

"I called to make sure you arrived home okay and you didn't answer your phone. I was worried until Deidre said you frequently work late, especially on Mondays. I offered to have dinner dropped off to you and wanted to surprise you but then your cousin said Trace was outside and she felt nervous. I simply stayed on the phone with her until you arrived. I will be there in minutes to remove him from your premises if it's necessary."

She eyed Trace who was staring at her curiously, "no, I don't think it's necessary. Trace is leaving."

Trace glared at her, "we need to talk."

"She has a new boyfriend," Deidre uncharacteristically spoke making Arwen's eyebrows arch in her forehead. Deidre shrugged and pointed to her phone, "he actually seems to give a s**t about the fact you've missed a meal and had to work late. I like him." "Maybe he and I need to have a talk," Trace spoke up.

Arwen looked to Deidre as the younger woman gave a loud bark of laughter. What the actual hell was going on with her cousin? She was rarely verbal in front of anyone, let alone outright confrontational.

"Can you please let Adrianu talk to him? Please?" Deidre asked.

"I would be thrilled to have a conversation with him," Adrianu's voice cut coolly into Arwen's ear.

"I don't need you to fight my battles, Addy."

"I just won a battle," he chuckled as she said his name.

"I don't have time for this," she uttered angrily.

"Arwen," his voice interrupted again, "Deidre said this man makes her uncomfortable. I already started driving in your direction when she said she was home alone, and he showed up. I will be there in less than five minutes."

"I live in Flushing," she rolled her eyes, "I'm a bit away from Manhattan."

"What makes you think I'm in Manhattan? I was meeting with a friend in Chinatown. My meeting concluded later than I anticipated. I called your cell phone, but you didn't answer so I tried Deidre to make sure you got home okay. She said you were late. Mia cara, if Trace would like to have a conversation with me, I'm happy to oblige."

"What?" she looked to Trace who was standing with his big beefy forearms crossed over his chest. While she had always liked bodybuilders, as she considered the sleek toned physique of Adrianu Cavallaro, she suddenly felt all of Trace's muscles off-putting. "No, I don't need you to come and fight my battles. As I said, Trace is leaving."

"He's still standing here, Adrianu," Deidre called out tattling.

"Deidre, go inside and let the grown-ups talk," Trace said coldly.

"You," Arwen pointed a finger, "don't get to talk to her, especially in that tone."

"She's being a brat. You need to discipline her more and stop letting her disrupt your life. I have no problem having a conversation with anyone, least of all some pansy man you just met." The hiss of Adrianu's voice echoed in her ear, fueling her ire.

"Trace, get the f**k off my property before I shoot you in the a*s. You're trespassing."

"You won't shoot me. We're going to talk. We had a good thing and I'm not willing to throw it away."

She looked at Deidre, "go inside Dee."

"No," she shook her head. "I don't trust him. He's bigger than you and if he wants to throw you in his car and take you away, he can. I'd feel better if Adrianu was here."

When had her cousin become so mouthy and why was she team-Adrianu now? She stared at her cousin curiously and watched as the girl kept flicking angry glances in Trace's direction.

She hung up the phone, motioning for her to precede her into the house. When Deidre hesitated, she glared, "get in the house Dee, now. I'm coming with you. He's leaving." She pushed her phone back in her hands. "You and I are going to have a chat about being bitchy with me."

"I'm not being bitchy. I just want you thinking with your head and not your v****a." Deidre grimaced at her as she stepped inside the house. "I don't like him. I never liked him. He stares at my face like it's causing him physical pain. I tried to get past it because you seemed to like him but then you broke up and I was thrilled. I'm not faking it now. He can f**k off."

The heavy footsteps of Trace jumping onto the porch made Arwen turn around and shove him back hard to the ground. "I told you to leave!" her voice was cold and hard as he landed awkwardly on his a*s, his hand underneath him. "f**k Arwen, I think you broke my wrist."

"You're lucky it's a wrist. If you don't leave, I'm going to break far more than your wrist and then I'm going to feed your rotting corpse to my chickens." She heard Deidre gasp in surprise at the tone in her voice. It was a tone she used when interrogating or threatening someone for Bellona. There was promise in her words. "Dee, in the house now."

Deidre closed the door behind her as Arwen jogged back down the four steps to her driveway. "I told you to leave and you didn't. I don't want to get back with you. I'm done. There is no amount of talking which will change my mind. Your behaviour is bordering stalking and I don't like it. Leave and never come back. Do not call me. Do not text me. Do not email me. Never darken my doorstep again."

"You can't mean it," he had risen from his spot on the ground and was rubbing his wrist. "We had something special."

"No, we didn't. We f****d. It was s*x. Nothing more."

"I could do things for you nobody else could."

"Who says? Nothing you and I ever did was an act I hadn't already tried out with someone else. You're not innovative or creative enough to surprise me with a new position."

"You loved me."

"Are you nuts? I guarantee those words never left my lips because they never once entered my brain."

He was rubbing his wrist with his hand staring at her, "please, let's talk."

The revving of an engine racing down her street made her groan, "now you've done it you idiot."

"What?" he looked over his shoulder as the escalade pulled beside his car, missing Arwen's bike by mere inches. "Who is he?"

"Adrianu Cavallaro."

"Should I know the name?"

"Should you? No. But you're going to."

Adrianu stepped out of the car with two men on either side of him. "Mia Cara, Deidre called me back. She explained she'd never seen you this angry, and you pushed a giant man. She was worried you'd shoot him and have to go to jail. We can't have that." He stepped close and kissed her cheek warmly. "Dinner is on its way for you and Deidre. She said you like to eat falafel and watch movies in bed after a hard day. She told me the name of your favorite place. They will deliver in a few minutes." He motioned her away from Trace, "Arwen, I know you can fight your own battles, but your cousin is inside and scared for both hers and your safety. I am not going to do anything to him I know you yourself wouldn't do." "Therein lies the problem," her lips were a flat line.

He smiled and adjusted her thickly braided hair on her shoulder, "do you want him alive or dead?" His words were whispered quietly ensuring only she could hear, and she stiffened against it. "Excuse me?"

His voice was a hot whisper in her ear, "Arwen, I'm not a fool. Jesse doesn't have nine close friends who are incredibly coordinated with each other to the point they could finish each other's sentences while in separate rooms. She found her own family away from ours and I am happy for this. You," his breath caressed her ear lobe, "are a strong capable woman. If Deidre weren't here, would he be alive or dead?" "Alive," she kept her face straight, neither confirming nor denying his comment, as she turned her head to whisper in his ear. "He's not worth a bullet."

"Excellent," he stood straight and touched her cheek gently, "go inside and comfort your cousin. She needs you and is scared. My men and I will escort Trace away from your home and we will discuss what it means when a woman tells a man their relationship is over. Just a talk."

She looked over her shoulder in the direction of his gaze and saw Deidre looking through the curtains of the living room. The girl was biting her bottom lip nervously. She looked back to him and offered genuine gratitude. "Thanks Addy."

"My pleasure. Also, to alleviate any of your anxiety, the only reason I have Deidre's phone number is because she signed for your flower delivery this week." He winked playfully, "I had requested signature and phone number on the delivery in an attempt to get more than your work cell. Instead, I got hers."

She couldn't help but smile at his admission. "Fair play, Mr. Cavallaro."

He cupped her cheeks and kissed her forehead. "Go, rest, and spend time with your girl. You can get my number from her if you want to talk later and get an update."

Her skin burned where his lips had lingered to her forehead, and she made her way back inside the house ignoring Trace's blustering argument he was going to drive his own vehicle. She chuckled as she heard one of Addy's men tell him to get in the car or he was going to put him in it in multiple pieces.

She entered the house and made her way to the living room. "Deidre."

"I hate him." She whispered furiously.

"I'm not a fan either but you called a mob boss to take care of an ex-boyfriend."

"I hope he gives him cement shoes."

"Dee, why do you hate him this much?"

Deidre looked away.

"Why, Dee?"

Deidre passed her phone back to Arwen, "I should have shown you before."

Arwen read the four messages from Trace to Deidre, the last one instructing her to keep her mouth shut and felt the bile rise in her throat. She sat down on the sofa, "son of a f*****g b***h. Why did you keep these from me? These are from last weekend!" "I was embarrassed!" she whimpered sadly. "I'm always in your way."

"This," she shook the phone, "this was why all those questions last week about me having regrets and missing out. Not Adrianu Cavallaro. Theses text messages saying we broke up because you're a clingy mental case. This is what it was about?" She forwarded the messages to her own phone and then added a number to her contacts.

Deidre nodded and wiped a tear off her face. "Then I thought maybe he had hired Adrianu to scare me at the clinic."

"Holy f**k," she rubbed her forehead. "You thought he hired a hit man?"

"Yes," she wiped a wayward tear. "I'm sorry, Arwen. I should have shown you the messages when you said Adrianu was a man who wanted to date you."

"Go to your room and put on the noise cancelling headphones." She waited until Deidre was out of the room before she pulled her phone out and dialed a number, "remember what you asked me in the driveway? Can I change my answer, slightly?" Adrianu's voice was cool at the question, "absolutely. Dare I ask why?"

"He made my kid cry. Sending you a screenshot," she stared at a mirror in the living room holding her own gaze seriously. "Nobody f***s with my little girl. Make the fucker bleed and make sure he understands if he even whispers either of our names again, I will personally put a bullet through his head and make it look self-inflicted."

"Done," Adrianu paused, "still alive though? I'm reading these messages and I would very much like to not keep him alive."

"Alive, but tube feeding for a month wouldn't make me sad." She gritted through her teeth, "I wish we had a desert to f*****g bury him in."

Adrianu's chuckle made her shiver, "he will regret his actions. I promise you."

"Thank you."

"Now, forget this ugliness and go be the guardian she needs. I will call you later."

She hung up the phone and sighed, dropping her head into her hands, and sighing dramatically. Instead of going to check on Deidre she made another call. "Hey b***h, what's up."

"Trace sent Deidre messages telling her she should kill herself so I could be rid of the burden of her." Her voice was a whisper as a single tear trailed down her cheek.

"I'll kill him," Jesse's voice was hoarse. "What do you need?"

"I did something stupid."

"Did you already kill him?"

"Worse."

"You have him tied up in the basement?"

"Worse."

"You cut his p***s off and beat him with it and are letting the chickens peck at him in the back yard?"

"Worse."

"My imagination is surprisingly running low."

"Your cousin had called Deidre to ask what I liked for dinner when Trace showed up here tonight to make amends and make up. She told him he was scared, and he came to protect her." Jesse's silence spoke volumes. "I may have agreed to let him take him off my property and I may," she sniffed, "I may have told him to hurt the fucker bad."

Jesse sighed loudly, "yeah, that's worse. You owe him one now."

"He suggested he was only doing what I would do anyway because he knows you belong to your own family, whatever it means."

Jesse grunted, "I might have told his father, right before you put a bullet in his head, the only reason he was still breathing was because my family was keeping him alive."

Arwen chuckled, "well your cousin isn't as stupid as his father. He put nine women who travel together a lot and figured out who your family is. He thinks we're a gang." "We are a gang," Jesse giggled. "Did you tell him any different?"

"No. I ignored his comment."

"Are you boning him?"

"No." she made a face, "at least not in reality. Boned him every night last week in my dreams. Twice on Saturday night."

Jesse chortled with laughter, "Saturday night was special. He did rescue twenty women."

"He did. Cat called me today and she's sending me two of his girls for physio. I'll create a program for them with my team."

"Don't call them his girls. I said it yesterday to him when I was walking him to his car after dinner at mom's and he became incensed. Said nobody owned those girls, especially him. He was doing everything he could to make sure they were going to be capable of doing whatever they wanted."

"Imagine if he knew he missed an entire crate of them," she said sadly.

"He'd be devastated." Jesse agreed, "but at least they're safe and we're doing exactly for them what he's doing for these ones."

"How can a person with his," she struggled to find the word, "business interests, be a good man too?"

"How can you shoot two people in the head then go home and kiss your kid and love her with all of your heart?" Jesse asked seriously. "One is a job. One is your life. There's a difference, Arwen." She paused, "do you know he still goes to church every week?" "Why? Surely, he knows he's not going to heaven if there is even such a thing."

"He gave his mother his word when he was seven."

She pushed her forefinger and thumb into her eyes and pushed against them, "it's making my brain hurt."

The doorbell rang and she shot up in her seat. She peered out the window and saw the paper bags in the hands of the man standing on her doorstep. "He ordered me and Deidre falafel."

"Really? How sweet." Sarcasm dripped from Jesse's tongue. "It's not meatless balls he wants to give you."

She chuckled and groaned. "It's nearly nine now. I need to go shower, eat, and check on my girl. She was pretty upset." She took a breath, "she wanted Addy to kill him. Told me she hoped he gave Trace cement shoes."

Jesse's roar of laughter made her smile. Arwen accepted the food from the delivery guy and noted he had really nicely polished shoes as she closed the door behind him. "I think Addy sent one of his guys to be the food delivery service. Nobody wears Italian leather shoes and works for Post Mates."

"He likes you Arwen. I don't want to influence you one way or the other because if it goes sideways, I don't want the blame. I already told him I'd bury his body at your command, and I would do it but I'd rather not. I love you both." Jesse took a breath, "but I've known him a long time and he's not one to chase a woman. If he makes a play and the girl says no, he walks. He also doesn't usually give them a second chance. The fact he's still hanging around after you shut him down tells me he thinks there is something special about you. I mean I agree with him. You're the bees' knees."

"A*****e," Arwen grumbled as she climbed the stairs carrying the bag of food in the direction of her bedroom. "Do you think he'll make me date him as payment?"

"No." She answered quickly. "But don't be surprised if he wants tit for tat. He may want you to shoot a mark in the kneecaps."

"Ugh," she groaned. "Artemis is going to kill me. I'll report it myself and go to debrief tomorrow."

"Smart decision," Jesse commented.

She stood outside Deidre's door and watched the girl who was laying on her bed with her hands folded on her stomach staring at the ceiling with her headphones on, listening to music. "Thanks for listening to me. I'll call you tomorrow." "Night Arwen."

"Night Jesse."

She stepped into the room and crawled onto the bed beside her cousin and wrapped her arms around her shoulders pulling her to her chest.

"Never keep this kind of s**t from me again," Arwen whispered as she pulled the headphones blaring pop music out of them off the woman's head.

"I promise."

"I love you. He's a waste of breath and I am so sorry I put you in his path."

"Is Adrianu going to hurt him?"

"I don't know. It's possible but I did ask him not to kill him."

"Good." Dee whispered, "Can you imagine if he said those words to another person who didn't have the love and support, I have? What if I'd been weak?"

"But you're not. You are the single strongest woman in the world. I love you and I'm proud of you. Do not ever doubt how much I love and respect your strength."

"I just don't ever want that pile of trash of a man to encourage anyone else to kill themselves, Arwen. If a mob boss wants to make him regret what he did, I have no misgivings over it."

"Well," Arwen held up the paper bag she'd put on the floor before crawling on the bed, "the mob boss is taking care of business on multiple fronts. He's handling our s**t and feeding us." "He's not so bad for a mob boss," Deidre giggled.

"Truth," Arwen agreed and snuggled up close to Deidre. Arwen decided maybe dinner with Adrianu Cavallaro wouldn't be a bad thing.