Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 44

Arwen was providing coverage to her team. It was three in the morning. She was currently holed up on the roof of a building. Corry was on another roof perpendicular to her. Infiltrating the favorite hangout of a bunch of Russian bad guys turned out to be easier than they had expected. One well-placed girl sitting at the bar had found out interesting tidbits. Oleg was not being offered the protection they had anticipated. In fact, he and his three friends who were currently sleeping on the third floor of the bar didn't appear to have any protection at all. They were allowed to stay in the house, but he'd pissed a few people off in the bar and the bar owner had told him to take his crew up the rooms and not come back to the bar unless explicitly invited. When they had argued they were there at Radomir's bequest, the owner, a man named Fedor, had said they would be happy to let Radomir collect his and his friends' dead bodies. The men had then retreated angrily to the third floor.

The only reason he was allowed to stay in the house at all was because Radomir had an acquaintance of a man running a division of a larger family in New York. The man had only agreed to keep Oleg under his protection because Radomir's father had been a friend and Radomir had called in a debt. Now however, Oleg's crew had disappeared during the prior day forcing the men to lay low and stay in the bar, which only served to grate on the regulars' nerves.

The men had been furiously arguing amongst each other while the girl eavesdropping with the listening equipment supplied by their team, drank vodka and spoke Russian with the bar tender like a pro. The feed transferring directly to the team where Jesse and another asset back at HQ were translating as rapidly as they were talking.

Oleg was hated after a mere few days in New York. Radomir was disliked almost as intensely, and he hadn't even arrived yet. The charisma his deceased father had possessed was lacking in the blustering fool. He'd been running the family for more than five years but in this time, he'd created more enemies than liaisons. Dropping his problems onto an affiliate family he hadn't communicated with in a few years was not smart business.

As a result, the men had unceremoniously been shoved into rooms regardless of how much they'd protested because, they simply didn't give a s**t what Radomir thought. They didn't respect him. As the word respect carried into their ears yet again, Arwen grimaced at the word.

"Delta-three, curious," Corry, Delta-one to Clara's team, mocked her, "when you talked to The King about respect, did you tell him he needed to kiss your ring?"

The snickers from the two teams, made Arwen curse under her breath. "I hate you all."

"I heard her say he might get to be bossy in the bedroom but not outside of it. Do you let him spank you?" Cat questioned with glee.

"We have rules." Arwen said nastily, "one of them is no f*****g and telling."

"Aw, you're no fun," Clara spoke teasingly. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you spilled a bit."

"I would bet it's not really telling if we all vow to keep your secrets," Jesse quipped. "I mean I won't be telling anyone."

"We're not doing this," Arwen grunted as she held up a middle finger in Corry's direction. "f*****g sniper, starting shit."

She caught movement in the room where Oleg was sleeping. "Alpha's One and Three, please note there is movement in the target's room. It looks like one of his guys is checking on him."

"He shot his mouth off so much, they wanted to shoot him in the bar. They're probably making sure nobody killed him." "They're going to be quite disappointed when the four of them wake up in the morning dead," Corry commented dryly. Arwen chuckled at the comment. "All I know is, we now have two guys in two rooms instead of a one and three situation." "Alpha Three and I are on the floor. Beta One and Three, state your locations," Clara's voice was curt.

"Bathroom end of hall, awaiting your command," Sabine spoke for herself and Isabella.

"We have your sixes," Corry said briskly.

Josephine spoke up, "Gamma-One here. I have the back door covered. Are you sure I can't kill anyone coming out?"

"We're positive. You can knock them out but no fatal wounds. We need this to look like an inside job. Nobody got in. Nobody came out."

"May as well let the bratva brat get his panties in a twist and accuse someone and get himself shot." Arwen smirked. "Save us a bullet."

"Hey teams," Cat's voice cut in, "I'm in position in the alley. I have two guys coming out for a smoke. They do not see me. I will not engage unless given directive. They appear to be employees for the bar."

"Stand down," Jesse commented quietly. "We are waiting HQ to confirm all cameras and surveillance are disabled."

Thirty seconds later, Artemis' voice rang through all their earpieces. "Teams One and Three, you have ninety seconds to get in, slit four throats and get out. Move."

Arwen took a position where she watched the heat signatures of her teammates approach the rooms of the four men. It took sixty seconds for the four women to take out the four men. Oleg hadn't even moved from the bed. Arwen started mentally counting down from thirty as Artemis gave them a time warning.

The girls rushed back through the house the exact way they came in, rappelling up either side of the building and through the windows they'd snuck in.

"Like f*****g ninjas," Corry quipped as the girls ziplined to the two building where she and Arwen were housed. Cat and Josephine were already gone through their respective alleys and towards a rendezvous point.

Arwen stayed on the rooftop and waited for Jesse and Isabella to meet her. They would connect with Cat in a few minutes. Arwen grinned, "hey, what are the chances one of these guys impressed one of the girl's downstairs?" "Why?"

"Anyone want to watch the show with me?"

Artemis voice cut in, "Delta-three, what are you seeing?"

"I'm seeing a young woman making her way to the room where the target's corpse is." She chortled, "she's going to discover the body is warm but unwilling." "F**k."

Arwen smirked as Jesse and Isabella flopped beside her. She pointed to the camera on her wrist. She heard Corry say the angle was even better from her side. "Get me sound," Artemis cursed furiously.

Corry positioned her listening devices in the direction of the room, and they were all immediately provided clear communication.

The sultry voice of the woman speaking stilted English made them all tilt their head, "Mr. Oleg, I came to collect on the offer you made me. You said if I sleep with you, you can take me away from my father and I won't have to work in this stupid bar. I can be your princess in Russia."

"Jesus Christ," Clara's annoyance eclipsed Artemis. "She's trading her body for a ride to Russia. Seriously, even her father who slapped her in front of the staff tonight would be a better catch than him."

"Especially since he's literally going to be a dead f**k," Cat chortled with glee from wherever she was hidden.

They watched as the girl's movements suggested she took her dress off and slid into the bed where Clara had run a knife over the man's neck while he'd slept. The six women watching all let out a collective groan. Her shrieks as she discovered the blood made them giggle like schoolgirls. Their senses of humour were definitely off.

They all watched with interest as men flew up the stairs from the bar and flicked lights on. Fedor pulled his screeching and blood covered daughter from the room and shoved her into the hall. The floor was now flooded with lights and movement through the windows. It was hilarious.

Jesse translated as one of the guys leaned over the guy Sabine had killed and dropped to the floor as he'd been preparing to exit the room, "he's still warm. Murderers must still be in the building. Shut the place down. Do not let anyone out of the bar." "Good thing our girl already left," Isabella grinned as she thought of the girl named Chyna who, along with Lolita and Bliss made up Naomi's new team. Naomi, Bliss, and Lolita were on house sitting duties with Zoya. Chyna had been thrilled to do her first bit of undercover work with the full New York team.

"What's he saying, Alpha," Arwen focused on the furious man who kicked the corpse of the man on the floor.

"He's complaining Radomir is going to be a pain in his a*s and blame him for the murders. He wants the surveillance cameras now."

Arwen giggled, "good luck finding anything on them. It's only going to piss Radomir off more when he says the video doesn't show anything."

"Right?" Jesse grinned.

"Ladies, please exit the rooftops and make your way back to HQ. Delta-three, I have a special project for you, please report to me upon arrival," Artemis' tone was clipped.

Arwen collected her equipment before she along with Jesse and Isabella made their way across three different rooftops before descending a fire escape and getting into the car Cat had waiting at the end of the darkened alley.

She slid into the backseat furious at herself. "Is she going to make me shoot Radomir just to prove a point to Addy?" She looked to Jesse angrily.

"If she is, she hasn't said anything to me. Earlier today she said she was giving him until Monday to handle him.

"She can change her mind like the wind," Isabella complained.

Arwen waved her hands frantically towards the woman sitting beside her. The car casually pulled away as if driving in this area of town was perfectly normal in the early dawn. "Right? Would she? I do not want to get in the middle of a pissing match." "You're the one sleeping with the King."

"You're related to him!" she growled at Jesse. "How come you don't get pulled in the middle of this stuff?"

"Because I keep my f*****g distance from the Cavallaros!" Jesse growled back just as annoyed. "This is all your fault. You couldn't keep your d**k in your pants where he's concerned and now all of our world's are colliding and I'm losing my f*****g mind." "How is it my fault? You introduced us at fight club. You told me he wouldn't chase me. You told me he wouldn't like me if I was mouthy. You were wrong. How did you get it so wrong?"

"Because his behaviour with you," Jesse threw her hands in the air frustratedly, "is nothing I've ever seen before from him. He treats my mom the way he treated my grandmother before she died, as if she were a delicate flower. Teases and panders to them." "Like he does Deidre," she whispered.

"Right!" Jesse pointed at her, "yet with me, he's protective but gives me all the space in the world. He calls me to make sure I'm alive, reminds me to check in and ensures I'm safe but it's like he knows intuitively I don't need him to mollycoddle me. We can go months without talking if we have to, not that we do but we're cousins. He just doesn't check in on me. He called you more today at the house than he did in the last three months to me. He calls Dylan even less than me."

Arwen considered this as she stared at the passing streetlights on their way to HQ.

Jesse shook her head, "Arwen, with you, it's nothing I've seen before. I've seen him date. I've seen him with lovers. I've seen him have a woman disrespect him and he get up and just walk away and not look back. I've walked in on him having threesomes. I've seen him date the same girl for a couple of months and then she sneezes the wrong way and he's citing disrespect and out the door she goes."

Isabella laughed, "Killer Bea. That was funny."

"f**k, exactly! The MMA chick who challenged me in Vegas, he ruined her Arwen. She eavesdropped on the king laughing about me going to Vegas and wanting to get into an underground fight and how he was going to stop it because I was La Principessa. It took her four months to dig and find the information to get back at him and when she did, he ruined her. Her manager, her coach and all of her sponsors have dropped her. Done. She couldn't get a job at Hooters. The guy who was giving her intel, gone. He's gone Arwen. No longer exists on this earth. Why? Because he disrespected Addy by confirming to the girl he would be at the underground fight. Respect to him is everything. Every f*****g thing." Jesse was turned in the front seat staring at her, "you however, disrespect him all the time. I've heard you. You tell him to f**k off. You've flipped him off. You buzzed his ear with a bullet!" Jesse grabbed her own earlobe and shook it, "yet, my cousin, who I thought I knew better than anyone knows him, thinks it's funny. He thinks you were put on this earth for him and him alone. He's willing to put up with your shitty behaviour," she held a finger up at Arwen's frustrated grunt, "in comparison to what he's used to, it's shitty."

"Its not so bad."

"He's a f*****g neanderthal mafia king who could have any woman he wanted kiss his ring, take it up the a*s and never speak out of turn and I would have said six weeks ago, those are the kind of girls he likes. Not anymore. He told my mother at dinner tonight at Dylan's, he wants to bring you to Sicily and Tuscany. The vineyard, Arwen, he wants to bring you to his mother's birthplace." Jesse tugged at her braids, "honestly, I don't know who this guy is. It's the strangest thing I've ever seen. I assumed the first time you told him to go f**k himself, he'd have just bailed."

Jesse punched the dash, "now he's making phone calls to Artemis and agreed to let Bellona use his companies as cover. He's changing Arwen. He's not the same Addy and I'm freaking out." She pointed at her, "you changed him."

"I did not. He was rescuing women in crates before we hooked up." Arwen glared at her. "This isn't on me."

"Nu-uh," Jesse shook her head vehemently. "My grandfather was an evil son of a b***h and Addy is just like him. Cold, calculating, and ruthless. Could shoot someone point blank and sleep like a baby minutes later. He runs guns and launders money."

"So do we," Isabella interrupted, "Jesse, you're making him out to be this monster because he's a mafia king, but the truth is, we're no better than the mafia. We might not sell drugs, but we launder money, we steal, we kill, most of us use our businesses as fronts for illegal activity. He draws the line at trafficking women. He doesn't pimp. He doesn't authorize his guys to run brothels."

"Why's he in our s**t though?" Cat jumped on board Jesse's argument. "Just because Artemis wants his ships, he gets a free pass into our business. He's not exactly the normal kind of recruit?"

"Why, because he wasn't a victim of a s*x crime?" Isabella argued furiously. "How many of our recruits are kidnapping victims or domestic violence victims? You can't tell me he didn't get the s**t kicked out of him as a kid. If he were a girl, Artemis would have recruited him years ago. It's why like Arwen said, he knew Artemis. She approached him directly eons ago. He's as damaged as every single one of us in this car."

The car was quiet and then Cat spoke up, "is he Arwen? At this point, you know him on a more personal level than even Jesse. Is he as damaged as we are or is he just a mafia prick?"

She looked out the window and stared sadly, "his entire torso is covered in tattoos."

"So is Cam," Isabella shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

"But are Cam's to hide the hundreds of scars, many of them an inch wide running over his entire back and backside," her voice was a whisper now. "His torso, front and back has been whipped and beaten until he bled at different points in his life, but I'd bet my last nickel many of those scars are from his childhood. He has scars on his scars."

"Jesus," Jesse whispered, "I've never seen him without a full shirt on. Even when we walked in on him with the girls, he had an undershirt on. I mean his a*s was on display but only because his shirt rode high."

"He must have been really wasted to show skin," Arwen said quietly. "Some of his scars run straight across his buttocks. He has one running from his right shoulder to his left butt cheek, almost to his thigh. The only reason I know they exist is because I got close enough to look. He has them all covered. If I ever had to identify his body, I'd probably use it as the point of reference," she wiped a tear off her cheek.

"He had it bad, as bad as you Jesse," Cat tossed her friend a glance.

"He didn't shoot his father in the head," Jesse grunted.

"He thinks he killed his mother," Arwen defended him again.

"What?" Jesse turned and stared at her, "no, Luca killed her because the gardener gave her flowers."

"Addy picked the flowers for her but had to run in the house because he cut himself. The gardener brought them in for him. Luca misinterpreted the gardener's actions and beat him to death and then shot his mom. Luca refused to let anyone help her. She bled out and Addy held her in his arms when she died."

Jesse blanched, "I didn't hear this version. Holy s**t. Arwen, his mom died when he was seven. Are you saying at seven he -" she cupped her hands over her mouth in horror.

"Held his mother while she bled out because he was foolish enough to pick her flowers? Yeah, it's what I'm saying. He has spent his entire life regretting picking his mother roses." Arwen felt her heart breaking just considering the situation. "Your dad died when you were little but his died a month ago. He's hard and cold because of the world he grew up in, but his trauma continued into adulthood, and it rivals ours. I'd say his far outweighs mine."

Isabella gave a loud sigh, "there you have it. Jesse, your worlds may be colliding but, in my opinion, it's about time. If he is confiding these things to Arwen, things not even his own family know about, then he's healing and it's because of her. If he were a girl, you would be fighting to protect him with everything in your power. He doesn't have access to Psych-One or debriefs but he does have Arwen. We have his back, Jesse, we have to. Man or woman. It's the right thing to do." "Well said three-point-oh," Cat made a quick joke to lighten the mood, and everyone put small smiles on.

"Do you think Artemis knew?" Jesse said after they'd been driving wordlessly for nearly ten minutes, just before they approached their underground parking.

Isabella gave a nod, "I do. She doesn't do anything without a million reasons why. If she approached him all those years ago, she knew then. She's been watching him and waiting for her time to strike. Arwen catching his eye was the perfect segue." Cat pulled the car into the garage and into a designated parking space.

"Well, this brings me back to my original question. Is she going to make me shoot Radomir even though Addy explicitly asked me not to?" Arwen grimaced at the four girls who were all hesitating to get out of the car. None of them enjoyed debriefing sessions. Stalling was normal.

"I don't know," Jesse groaned. "All I know is, after this car ride, my debrief is going to be intense. I have too much s**t to unpack now."

Arwen considered they all did and for the first time in her Bellona career, she was dreading a new assignment.