Chapter 7
Stephanie's POV
I was going to kill Thor. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. My hands were balled into fists as I turned away from the monitor and stood. Without stopping to tell Kye where I was going, I made my way to Ranger's office and pounded on the door. The fury I was feeling at the way that Neanderthal had treated my baby sister was nearly choking me, and I barely heard Ranger as he said, "Enter."
The minute I opened the door, he was on his feet, and the next thing I knew I was wrapped in his arms as he asked me, "What's wrong, Babe?"
"I just saw the footage when Thor…kidnapped Rina."
I felt him wince and looked up at his face. "You knew?"
His eyes met mine. "Not until Cal told me he sent you the footage and why. I just finished viewing it myself."
I swallowed hard. "Ranger, you know what Avery did to her. What if she's so badly scarred by this…" I couldn't finish.
Ranger hugged me closer and said, "She's a strong person, Steph. Besides, she has you in her corner. She'll come out okay."
I leaned my forehead against his chest as I said, "I tried to call him, but he's not answering."
"He's not taking my calls either."
A sigh escaped. "At least he's consistent."
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "I'll make sure he knows just how badly he fucked up when all this is over."
I felt the corners of my mouth pull into a smile. "You'll have to beat Dad to the punch. When he finds out…"
Ranger chuckled. "I'm looking forward to seeing where Thor gets dropped. If it's not bad enough, I can make a couple of suggestions."
I leaned up to kiss him and then said, "I guess I should be going back to work. Tina and I are going shopping later this morning at Quaker Bridge Mall."
"I don't think that's a good idea in light of what's going on."
"We'll have our shadows, and I'm betting that Lester is going to insist on going with. She really wants to do this, and if she can't, she's going to want to know why. I think Les should come clean and tell her."
Ranger caressed my cheek with the backs of his fingers. "I don't know. I'm with Les on this one. If it were you…"
My eyes narrowed. "If it was me and I found out that you were keeping this from me, I'd be furious, but more importantly, I'd be hurt."
His lips covered mine in the tenderest of kisses. "I know how strong you are. I might want to keep it from you, but you've more than proven you have the skill to handle any situation. I'll always be honest with you, Babe."
Our lips met in another kiss. The sound of a throat clearing had us breaking apart. We turned, and the man in question was standing there.
"I have a favor to ask of you, Beautiful."
I narrowed my eyes again. "No. I'm not going to tell Tina that I can't go shopping with her. If you want to tell her why you're reluctant for us to go, I'm willing to go along with what she decides, but I won't directly lie to her. I feel bad enough not telling her now as it is."
Lester ran his hand through his hair. "I know you didn't tell her when we got back from the doctor because you didn't want to worry her until I had a chance to talk to her, but I just couldn't tell her. Not yet anyway. Maybe once we get through the next couple of months…"
"Les, that's unreasonable! You can't keep her bottled up here, and if you try, she's going to get suspicious as well as mad."
He looked so lost that I didn't have the heart to say more.
"I don't know what to do. I want to protect her from ever getting hurt again. It would kill me to lose her."
Ranger leaned down, and his voice was barely a whisper as he said, "Give us a couple minutes, will you?"
I nodded. "I'm meeting Tina in twenty minutes. We're going to Pino's for lunch and then heading to the mall."
He gave a slight nod and kissed me once again before I left.
Ranger's POV
I understood Lester's fear, because although I knew Stephanie was a capable person, I still worried every time she was out of my sight. I turned to my cousin and said, "Sit down, Les."
He moved like a wounded puppy to the chair in front of my desk. "What am I going to do, Ranger?"
"You're going to have to decide what's worse. Possibly losing Tina to some unseen danger out there or losing her because you're suffocating her by trying to keep her safe."
His head lifted. I could see by the look on his face that he hadn't considered he'd lose Tina by trying to keep her safe. Now that I'd put the possibility out there, he was trying to come up with a way to keep her safe and in the dark. I knew he was looking at a no-win scenario. He had to make the best of an impossible situation.
He looked at me with a defeated expression. "It won't work, will it?"
Shaking my head, I said, "When Frank told me I wouldn't have to worry about breathing if I ever hurt Stephanie again, I told him I couldn't promise that she'd never be hurt again. What I could promise was that if she was, it wouldn't be intentional, and I'd do my best to keep her safe. Being in our line of work, we know more about the bad elements than most people. Tina's every bit as independent as Stephanie. If you want her to take your concerns for her safety seriously, you're going to have to give her a reason."
He stood and moved over to the window.
I waited for several minutes and then said, "There was a very real possibility that I wouldn't make it back home after Frank dropped me in the middle of nowhere. I was shot in the leg and developed an infection. Stephanie was my reason for living. When we finally got together, I admitted to her the power she holds over my happiness. I made sure that she knew how important she was to my survival. She willingly agreed to the shadows following her around. Not because she doesn't think she can't take care of herself but because she knows what it would do to me if something happened to her. I think Tina would feel the same way once she knows how important she is to you."
His eyes widened as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. After several tense seconds, he nodded. "All right. I guess I better hurry if I'm going to tell her before we leave with Stephanie."
I watched as he hurried from the room.
Unknown POV
Rage filled me as I waited outside the apartment building, again, for the third day in a row. There was still no sign of her. If it hadn't been for those men the other day, I would have had her and they could have started their games.
I looked over at the file that I'd compiled of all the players. The woman Harper had kidnapped… My eyes narrowed on her as I recalled the condition Harley had been in when she'd gotten done with him. She was going to pay for that. Father would make sure of that. More so because of her attack on Jeanne Ellen.
The second page in the file was the young woman I was looking for now. She was J's younger sister, and I knew if we had her, it would hurt J worse than if she was the one going through the torture. It had taken some convincing to get everyone to agree…but I just couldn't bring myself to hurt her directly.
That brought me to the last page of the file. I didn't know why she was important. The more I looked at her little face, the more I saw my sister though. Maybe that's why Father had tried to take her a couple months ago. Fortunately, the man who had rescued her hadn't been able to see our faces, so we were in the clear…for now.
As I set the file on the passenger seat, my gaze went once again to the scene outside the front window just as my phone rang. Without looking, I answered the call. "Hello."
"Father's getting restless. Do you have the girl yet?"
"She's disappeared."
There was a pause, and then from the high-pitched giggle, I knew that Harper was excited about something as he said, "Forget about her for now. The other two are leaving the RangeMan building right this very minute. I'll follow them and relay the location to you so we can grab them when they get to where they're going."
I scowled. I didn't want them to get J. Careful so I didn't tip my hand, I replied, "All right. Let's do this."
Tina's POV
I sat looking at Lester and trying to control the anger that I felt inside at learning what he'd been keeping from me. The pain was worse than the anger, and right now I wanted to get away from him so that I could calm down before I said something I would regret.
He gave me a pleading look as he said, "I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner. My only excuse is that it would destroy me if anything happened to you. After what happened the last time…"
Suddenly all my anger vanished, and I knew exactly what he was telling me. I stood and walked over to where he was sitting. Leaning down, I kissed the top of his head. "I get it, Les. All I can do is promise to take my safety as serious as possible and do everything I can to make sure if something does happen, I have as much backup as possible."
He nodded. "Will you still let me go with you on your shopping expedition?"
Smiling, I said, "Sure. You can come. Stephanie already told me she wouldn't go without her shadows, so I guess the least I can do is let my shadows come along as well."
His hands shook as he cupped my chin. "Thank you, gorgeous."
I shook my head. "I love you. I could never do anything that would cause you pain. Besides, it's not just me I have to think about. I have these three babies inside me who I have to keep safe."
Les leaned forward and kissed me.
When we finally came up for air, I asked, "So, are you ready to shop till you drop?"
He groaned. "Only for you, baby. I hate shopping."
I laughed at that, and we stood and headed down to the garage.
As the elevator doors opened, I saw Stephanie standing by the Cayenne waiting for us. I smiled as I saw that Ranger was standing with her and asked, "Is he coming too?"
Ranger grinned. "He is."
I threw back my head and laughed and then leaned into Les. "Let's get this show on the road, then."
Lester lifted me into the back seat behind the driver and then went around so that he was in the back behind Stephanie. I had to admit, this setup made a lot of sense. As Ranger drove the short distance to Pino's, thoughts of what those bastards had done to me eight months ago had me admitting to myself that I was scared. I'd be a total idiot not to be. I wasn't going to let it rule my life though. I knew I'd be giving Jess a call when we returned. She'd helped me through a hell of a lot in the past eight months. I just hoped the guys could catch these ass wipes before anyone got hurt this time.
The cessation of motion had me turning to look out the window to see that we were parked beside the door to Pino's. Ranger got out and helped me out as Lester performed the same service for Stephanie, and then the four of us headed inside.
Ranger led us to the back booth, and I wasn't surprised when he and Les chose to sit with their backs to the wall so that they could see all exits as well as the rest of the room.
As soon as we sat down, the waitress joined us and gave a friendly smile. "What can I get for you?"
We gave our orders. Stephanie had her usual meatball sub, Les chose the lasagna, Ranger opted for the salad, and I asked for my favorite—spaghetti. We talked about a variety of things while we waited for our order to be delivered, and once the food arrived, we concentrated on eating.
Stephanie seemed to fidget during the meal, and I couldn't help wondering if her Spidey sense was telling her something. We were just finishing up when she took her phone out of her purse and sent a text to someone.
I was feeling a little tense when she suddenly smiled and leaned forward to softly say, "Hector has another vehicle at the back exit. When we come out, we'll take his vehicle, and he'll come in and eat before taking the Cayenne back to RangeMan."
Ranger's eyebrow went up. "Is there something you want to share with the rest of us?"
She shrugged. "My Spidey sense is going nuts. I figure it's better to be safe and change things up."
Ranger nodded. "All right." He took out a wad of bills and tossed them on the table.
We stood and made our way out the back of the restaurant, and sure enough, there were Hector and Kye. Once again, Lester helped me into the vehicle, and then he and Stephanie walked around to the other side and climbed in. I was equal parts excited and scared spitless that we were on our way to the mall.
A/N: Thank you to all the guests reviewing, with a special thank you to Bonnie.
