Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 46

"Has he shown up yet?"

Adrianu stepped out of his helicopter onto the roof of his hotel and casino in Atlantic City and buttoned up his coat and adjusted his sleeves. He nodded to his hotel manager and felt Santino and Enrico flank him as they made their way to the private elevator. "Not yet, Mr. Cavallaro," Tony, his manager said as they stepped into the elevator.

"Everything is in place?"

"Yes."

"I'll do a walk-thru of the casino before we go for dinner," he nodded to Santino and Enrico.

"I don't like this, Addy," Santino said as they descended from the rooftop. "He's too ballsy. He shouldn't have agreed to meet on your turf."

"He proposed the meeting. I proposed the location."

"But you agree with me it's ballsy?" Santino pushed

"f*****g right I do. Watch this motherfucker like a hawk." Addy couldn't say he was nervous but this whole thing was off. The leaks, the FBI switching tactics by asking to talk instead of serving him, the Russian punk kid wanting his sister Zoya back, Bellona in his s**t and now the Bratva wanting to meet in person. Nothing good could come of any of it. The week had been a clusterfuck.

The only good thing of the week had been being with his girls. Arwen and Deidre. Dinner with them on Friday night and the moments he'd been able to spend with them were good for his soul. They were special women. By the time he had dropped her and her friend Miley off at Portia's, Deidre had been much calmer about the dead suitor and Miley had made her giggle multiple times about Mathis.

The story on the hockey player had shocked him but he trusted Arwen's intel. By the time he'd been the boy's age he'd had lovers in the double digits, so he found the whole notion of a man's virginity a bit odd. Whatever floated the boy's boat, he shrugged to himself, so long as he was good to his piccola.

The doors swung open, and he stepped onto the casino floor. The sounds were something he always found invigorating and calming at once. This was an environment of controlled chaos, and he thrived in it. Shouts of excitement and groans of loss coupled with bright flashing lights, dinging bells and alarms and the scent of too many perfumes and colognes coupled with alcohol and sweat.

When he'd opened his first casino in Vegas, his family had immediately wanted their piece of the pie and he'd let them have it knowing damn well he'd recoup it all eventually. However, he'd drawn the line at letting them launder through it. He had enough shell corporations through the shipping company, his ownership of various restaurants and bars all over the world, not to mention multiple joint business ventures where he was a hidden silent partner, he need never sully the three casinos and hotels or his vineyard with the business of his family.

There was a reason there was a battle for supremacy of his family right now. On paper, his personal wealth put him in the billionaire status but controlling all the assets of his personal businesses and the family businesses he was fast approaching trillionaire status and any of his distant cousins would kill for the chance to take it.

Thankfully, his round-up of his leaks in New York and Italy had proven quite lucrative. Two more cousins were in hiding but they were the last of the lot. The rest of his family were loyal, or they'd be dead. The messages had been swift, brutal, and delivered with clarity. Don't f**k with Adrianu or you and your family were dead.

His father's friend Mancuso had been a blustering fool and his son Joey Jr. at first had denied any involvement until his father ratted him out right in front of him. Then Joey Jr. had begged for his life. His father had taken his girlfriend and kid and were being held at an undisclosed location against their will. In the end, both men had died but only after Addy tortured the senior Mancuso to get the locations of the younger man's family. He told Joey he couldn't trust him because he should have gone to him with the problem, and it cost him greatly, but Addy promised he would take care of his family for him once he was gone. At this point, Joey Jr. had spilled every single detail on every leak, mole, and informant. When he'd died, he gone with a clear conscience he'd done the right thing by the Famiglia.

In the last twelve hours he'd had more pledges of allegiance than the American Flag during elementary school assemblies. His family were out of the woodwork in droves offering their services and assistance in whatever their Don wanted.

He should be celebrating his victories. He wanted nothing more than a cigar, a good glass of scotch and then to take Arwen to her bedroom and play with her for hours. Instead, they were both wrapped up in Russian bullshit. Until he dealt with Radomir Gavrikov, Zoya needed to be protected. Bellona was protecting her but letting him deal with the man they were calling the bratva brat.

He'd only met the man once and it was before the death of his father. They were low on the totem pole of bratva, operating out of a small port city. The father had been content with his lot, but this younger man was not. Unfortunately, he was not a logical man and he acted impulsively and irrationally. The entire thing with Zoya demonstrated how unraveled this man's mind was. Not to say he himself wouldn't go ballistic over Arwen, but he wouldn't have been fighting to take back a blonde virgin to make a s*x slave. Rape was something he never understood. As rough as he liked s*x, if the woman wasn't willing then he wanted no part of it.

He worked the floor, scanning the room the way his security team did. He smiled at the right people, shook hands with the rich ones and joked with the ones he knew were going to lose a lot of money and make him a lot of money. He'd rather happy losers than those hellbent on revenge.

He nodded to the woman working the high rollers table and she gave him a nod in return, ever the professional. She was loyal to him after he'd helped her with her medical bills and kept her son safe. He'd had a chuckle to see Dustin in the airport that day. The little boy had grown up and fit into his family right. He hoped the boy never saw a day of violence and they used him only for the odd job at the airport. He was a good kid.

He flicked a glance at his watch. Two minutes to seven. A touch to his left arm from Enrico told him the Russian had arrived and was heading to the restaurant. He gave a one-minute head start to the younger man to allow him to arrive first and then followed suit. He put his phoniest smile on as he entered the private dining room off to the side of the main dining area and held his arms out, "Radomir, what a pleasure. Thank you for joining me this evening. Sit, sit. What can we get you to drink?"

He observed the younger man. Where Addy was thirty-six and had been living hard since birth, it was clear this boy had been given the world since conception. Blonde, blue-eyed and carrying himself with the pride and arrogance of a man who had never heard the word 'no' a day in his life, the thirty-year old was quite possibly causing his father to roll in his grave. Pompous was the word which sprung to Addy's mind. "Vodka, of course," the man waved rudely at the server who appeared.

Addy smiled at the woman, "thank you Teri. Please, bring the bottle and shot glasses." He looked to the security Radomir had brought with him, "anything for your team?"

"No, they don't drink on duty."

"Wise," Addy nodded. He observed one of the men put a shaky hand behind his back. The security team were nervous of whatever it was Radomir was up to. "You wanted to talk about a business transaction. What were you thinking of?"

"Your father allowed my family to utilize your company for the shipment of certain products, shall we say."

"My father would do almost anything for a buck. Me, I'm not so hard-up for cash." Addy leaned back as if relaxed and kicked his legs out.

"It is bad business to break and agreement with us."

"I have no agreement, no contract, and no document to support such a thing ever was agreed upon. We both know my father was no gentleman, thus a gentleman's verbal agreement was unlikely. He documented everything. Where is your proof of such an agreement?" Addy eyed the man coolly and watched his cheeks turn a shade of pink from the blatant call-out.

Addy continued, "Even if such an agreement took place at one time, which there is no evidence it has, I have no intention of ever putting anything on one of my ships unless I know exactly what it is, where it came from, where it is going and what my take of the cut is."

"Girls, Adrianu, girls," Radomir fought to control his temper. "Our country has a lot of girls looking for a better life in America. We want to ship them here on your boats."

"No can do," he shook his head. "Girls are not a commodity. Guns? Maybe. Drugs? I might be tempted depending on my cut so long as I don't see a spike in deaths from poorly made shipments but girls? No. I draw the line at trafficking human beings." "They come willingly. It is what they want. They are whores. They get paid to f**k. Whether they get paid to have s*x in Russia or in America, what is the difference?"

"If they want to have s*x for money, they can do it all they like. I have no beef with it. How a woman wants to earn her own money is her business, so long as she takes all the profit, but I won't be pimping any woman and I won't put them in a shipping container for an eight-week journey across the Atlantic."

"Your father agreed."

"My father is dead."

"A hit by a rival family, no less. How embarrassing."

"Was it?" Addy held the man's startled gaze. "If you wish to believe it then so be it."

"Are you saying you had a hand in your father's murder?"

"I'm saying my family," he thought of Jesse, "did what was best for our family and took out the weakest link, the link which would make us breakable and put the strongest of us all in charge."

"You believe you are the strongest of your family?" Radomir gave a twist of his lips. "I heard you have your panties twisted over a woman and her kid. Letting a woman control you is weak."

Addy didn't flinch at the man's words but inside he was wishing Joey Jr. had died just a hair slower. He had said he'd revealed to the Russians he had a new girlfriend who was taking him away from his responsibilities and he was easily distracted. He didn't say he had given them specifics. "Do I appear to you the kind of man who would let anyone, especially a woman, control me?" He saw Teri hesitate as she stepped into the room clearly unnerved by the tension of the other man. "Come in Teri. Please set the drinks down. I'll signal if you are needed again."

"Thank you, Mr. Cavallaro." She whispered as she stepped out of the room quickly.

"Are we done, Radomir discussing the business you wished to discuss. You won't be using my shipping company for girls. I did have something I wanted from you, however." Addy didn't look away from the man's surprised glance. It wasn't often a man turned down a request and then made one of his own, but Addy wasn't any ordinary man, so he wasn't too concerned with causing a wave.

"Please, make your request," the man said as he helped himself to the vodka on the table.

"I only need a name," he clinked his shot glass along with Radomir's. "There is an affiliate of yours in my warehouse in Italy," at Radomir's surprised expression, he shrugged, "he got himself mixed in with the wrong crowd and my team rounded him up. He mentioned there is a doctor you use in your city who provides the ketamine to help your girls sleep on the initial part of their journey," his words were beyond diplomatic.

"And you want the name of the doctor?"

"No, I want the name of the ketamine supplier."

"If I give you this name, my man in your warehouse in Italy goes free?"

Addy considered Radomir knew exactly who was in warehouse and he was a valued asset. "Sure," Addy shrugged, "I'll have my guys release him from my warehouse immediately." The guy was already dead. They'd dump his body out of the warehouse. Radomir shrugged, "there is a guy in Helsinki who gets his supplies from a man who was connected to Roel Van Dalen."

"He's dead so this information is useless to me," Addy shrugged his annoyance off.

"It seems there is a person taking up his slack because the shipments still come in without regularity." He paused, "I will see what I can do about finding the name of his replacement but since we are doing this asking for things schtick," Radomir eyed him, "what do you know about six men from Russia here to collect their sister and take her home. They were murdered last night."

"That," he gave a single toss of his head, "I know nothing about. I was sorting out part of my problems with the wrong crowd I mentioned earlier. I'm sure you understand what it's like when you first take over. There's a lot of push and pull. I was doing a bit of," he paused, "pushing and pulling with some of my father's more loyal devotees."

"Ah, well I understood the girl was in your possession," Radomir elaborated. "I want her. Can you get her?"

"I do not have any girls in my possession."

"She was part of a shipment your rival Ferraro sent over."

"Alas, I wish I could help."

"I think you can," Radomir held up his hand and then looked to his phone before hiding a quick smile. "See, my little girl, Zoya, she is special to me. I want her back. Someone saw her going to a physiotherapy clinic before disappearing off the face of the earth and I was surprised to find out the physiotherapist is none other than the girl your friend Joey Mancuso told me had your balls in a grip."

"Coincidence I'm sure," Addy eyed the man cautiously. "I don't have a list of my mistress' patients."

"I am thinking you sent her there."

"You would be thinking incorrectly. I do not know the girl, Zoya, you said?" As Radomir nodded, he shook his head, "no, the name doesn't ring a bell. Should I ask my mistress if she knows her?" "You could, or" he shot another glass of vodka, "you could stop f*****g me around and hand her over."

Addy pursed his lips at the insult, "Radomir, we are having a friendly drink and a chat. No need to be rude. I am not f*****g you over, as you call it, I genuinely have no idea where your girlfriend is."

"Wife," Radomir corrected, "she is supposed to be my wife. She left town the morning of our wedding because her i***t brother couldn't be trusted with the simplest of tasks. She needs to come home and fulfill her obligations as my wife. You know where she is." "I'm afraid I don't."

"Perhaps, I can jog your memory," Radomir said quietly. "You like to play house in the suburbs with your mistress and her daughter. I too want to play house with my wife and have a daughter after I have a son of course," Radomir was cocky. "I will give you back your daughter in exchange for my soon-to-be-wife."

Addy's head tilted as he flicked a glance in Santino's direction noting both Santino and Enrico were tense at the entrance to the room at the man's words. "Explain yourself, Radomir for the less bright people in the room." He flicked a glance specifically at Radomir's muscle.

"As we have been sitting here having a lovely chat, about ten minutes ago, your mistress' disabled child, the one with the limp and the burns to her face, hideous really, and her friend were involved in a car crash."

Addy's fist tightened around the shot glass in his hand as he willed himself not to outwardly show the panic he was feeling. Joey Mancuso was lucky he was already dead.

"It was kind of you to arrange transportation for the young girl with her friend, but the car was knocked off the road and over an embankment. Nobody will find the bodies of your driver and the friend, both deceased." Radomir's cold gaze didn't waver from Addy's. "They didn't die on impact, but my men made sure they did not survive the crash. The child though, the one with the burns, kicked and screamed the whole way up the embankment until we used some of the ketamine you mentioned earlier. Now she is in my possession. I want Zoya, you want Deidre," he flicked a glance at Addy's squeezed fist, "I'm not wrong you want the little girl? My guess she is an innocent thing, like my Zoya. I would hate her first time to be rough."

Santino and Enrico both lunged to pull Addy backwards to stop him pummelling the other man.

"Boss, we need to find where she is before you kill him," Enrico whispered in his ear.

"Here is how this is going to work." Radomir stood up. "Adrianu, you are going to drop all of your things here on the table. Wallet, keys, phones, weapons and then you and I are going to walk out of this lovely restaurant. We are going to get into my car, and we are going to drive to the location where I have your little girl. Then after you and I have a discussion without your muscle about taking what is not yours to take from me, you can call your muscle using my phone. Hopefully, in the time you and I are having a discussion, your men can locate my lovely bride and we can do a trade. If not, I will take the blonde with the bad face in her place. I bet our babies would be beautiful."

Addy's breath was tight, and his lungs hurt as he glared at the man. "Let's go."

"Addy no," Santino shook his head furiously. "He'll kill you."

Addy turned to faced him, "call my cousin. She will know what to do. I need to go and make sure Deidre is alright." He faced Radomir, "your word. You take me to her. I want to see her, and I want to verify she is breathing." "I would not have it any other way."

He emptied his pockets on the table let the men accompanying Radomir pat him down before straightening his jacket. He stopped his men from following, "call her. Now. Don't follow me. Don't try to chase me. Call her." "Okay," Santino didn't like the plan, but he wasn't one to not take an order, especially from Addy.

Addy waved to Radomir, "lead the way." He paused, "if I see a single hair out of place on my girl, you will pray for death."

Radomir laughed loudly, "you are in no position to bargain but sure, why not."

As Addy followed him through the restaurant and then the lobby of his resort, he considered Artemis' bragging of her infinite resources able to track down the most miniscule of leads had better be on the money or both he and Deidre were in trouble.