The characters belong to JE, the stories are mine, with some borrowing from canon for authenticity. Some disturbing memories.
Chapter 10—Revelation
Stephanie's POV
The two weeks since the weddings are the happiest weeks of my life. Joe is still in jail, without bail, and the trial is set to start on Monday. I'm going to have to testify to everything that he has done to me, but knowing that I have Ranger on my side will make it easier to cope. I don't care what the Burg thinks. My family here at RangeMan has my back and supports me as always. I'm in my cubby running some searches when I hear the control room go silent. Ranger's on the floor. I glance out to see that he is standing next to a man dressed in an army dress uniform. Ranger looks into my eyes, as I see him walk towards me.
"Babe, this is a good friend of mine, Major Thomas Dwyer. That man standing by Tank is Lieutenant Matt Kaminsky, from the Navy. Tom, this is my wife, Stephanie. They are here to hand me my new contract, with the training clause and no more active missions."
"Nice to meet you." I shake his hand. He is charming and handsome. I need to get my Carlos into his dress uniform.
"It's my pleasure to meet the woman who tamed Ranger."
"I don't know about taming Ranger, but I have allowed people to see that he has a sense of humor."
"Babe." The man who is standing near Tank turns slightly towards me so I can see his face. He's one of Morelli's friends. Oh, my God. I need to hide.
"Well, if you excuse me, I have to get back to work. My boss is a real tough guy." I turn around and go back to my desk.
"Tom, why don't you and Matt go into my office. I'll be there in a moment." Major Dwyer turns to walk to the other man and Tank joins them in Ranger's office. Ranger comes over to me. "Babe, what's wrong. Are you feeling okay? You look pale."
"Carlos, how well do you the Lieutenant?"
"I've known him for a while, but not well. He's Navy, but we did a joint mission with the Seals about four years ago. I think Cal knows him better. Why?"
"He's friends with Morelli. I think I'm going to be sick." Ranger grabs my wastebasket and puts it in front of me just in time. He holds my hair after quickly closing my door. When I finish, he opens my drawer to get me my mouthwash. I rinse my mouth before sitting back down.
"He was one of the men who Morelli forced on you?"
"Yes. That man was the worst one. He took pleasure in hurting me. He would choke me until I would almost pass out. He would force me to take him in my mouth and then hold my head until I gagged. He would be rough. I would always have a lot of bruises on my body after I spent time with him." Tears started to fall down my face. Ranger picked up his phone and dialed. "Get to Stephanie's office, tell Hector and Lester to meet you both on seven."
"Great phone manners. Who did you call?"
"Bobby."
There was a knock on the door and Bobby entered. "What's wrong?"
"Lieutenant Matt Kaminsky is one of Morelli's friends."
"Fuck. Steph, are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Bobby, I need you to bring Stephanie up to seven and stay there with her. I need to go over all the paperwork with them. We need to start thinking about a safe house, Babe. Make sure that we are monitoring Morelli."
"Stephanie, don't worry about anything. I won't let Matt near you ever again." He pulls me up from my chair and hugs me. "I'll be upstairs as soon as possible." He nods to Bobby before he leaves me to go to his office. Bobby walks with me to the elevator; we take it up to seven. The elevator opens where we find Hector and Lester waiting for Bobby and me. I open the apartment door allowing us to go inside. I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth and wash my face. When I come out, I join everyone in the living room.
"Stephanie recognized Matt Kaminsky. He is one of Morelli's friends." Bobby told them.
"Estefania, are you sure?" Hector asked,
"Si, mi hermano. I'm sure."
"I have to find him in the video."
"He's the one who's the meanest and roughest. He's the one who chokes me." I close my eyes. Bobby, who is sitting closest to me, wraps his arms around me and holds me while I cry. Hector is livid while Lester looks like he wants to punch someone.
"Ranger can't let him out of this building. He needs to pay for hurting Beautiful."
"Don't you think that Ranger is livid? He has to sit in his office pretending to be nice right now to someone who hurt his wife." Bobby says."
"Do you think Morelli was using him to get to Sanchez? He would know about Ranger's missions or at least be able to find out about them. And by now, he probably knows that I'm here. I think he recognized me the same time I recognized him."
"Estefania, I can look into it, but if he has a sat phone, which he probably does, it'll be near impossible to find out for sure." Hector replied.
A few minutes later, the phone rings. I pick it up. "Hello."
"Babe, I need you to come down here. You need to sign some papers, too."
"Do I have to?"
"Yes. Please, it will only take a moment. Tell Lester he's needed as well." He hangs up.
"Lester, we have to go Ranger's office. There are some papers I need to sign." I try to keep myself calm, but I'm far from it. I don't know how I'm going to sign papers with my hands shaking.
"Come on, Beautiful, it will be okay. Ranger won't let anyone hurt you on his watch. He probably wants to see his reaction to meeting you. It will be fine. I won't leave your side unless Ranger's with you."
"Thank you." Lester takes my hand as I grab my keys. We leave the apartment and walk down the stairs to five. When we arrive at Ranger's office, we enter without knocking.
"Come here, Babe, you need to sign some documents now that we're married."
I walk over to Ranger. Once I get close enough, he pulls me into his lap while grabbing me for a kiss. I immediately feel at ease. "Oh, by the way, I'd like to introduce you to Lieutenant Matt Kaminsky. Matt was a Seal. We worked on a mission together about four years ago. Matt, this is my wife, Stephanie Plum Manoso."
"Nice to meet you, Stephanie. Your name sounds familiar. Do you know a Joseph Morelli?"
"Yes, he is my ex-fiancé. We've known each other our whole lives. We grew up together in the Burg."
"That's right; he was supposed to be married this month. When did you call off the wedding?"
"A week before, when Ranger came home. When I saw him back home, I realized that I loved him all along and I couldn't marry Joseph."
"Well, then I guess congratulations are in order."
"Babe, you need to sign these papers. They add your name to my government pension, my life insurance, and a few other claims as my wife." I look over the papers, see that Ranger has already signed, so I add my name where indicated. "Lester, you need to get your notary stamp and sign as the witness."
"I'll be right back." Lester leaves the room, returning quickly. He signs his name and adds the stamp to the paperwork. He hands it over to Major Dwyer. "Tom, long time no see. How are things going?"
"Same old, same old. You still trolling?"
"Yup, what can I say. Women find me irresistible, well, except for Beautiful here, she only has eyes for Ranger, even though he doesn't know how to eat or how to have fun."
Tank reached over and slapped Lester in the head. "Santos, have some respect for Baby Girl."
"Tank, it's okay. Lester knows I know where he keeps his contraband stashed. I promised I wouldn't tell Ranger he had donuts in his desk drawer."
"Santos, mats, 0500."
"0500? Isn't that a little early?" I ask Ranger.
"Make it 0800."
With that, Bobby knocks on the door before opening it, allowing he and Hector entrance. "Hey Bomber, Ranger, Tank, Lieutenant, Major. Cal just got shot on a takedown on Stark. Hal has the guy, and Cal is on his way to St. Francis. Flesh wound in the shoulder."
Ranger replies, "Tank, please go with Bobby while I finish up here. I'll be there as soon as I can get there."
"No problem."
"Entienden?" (Do they understand) Hector asks. Ranger motions him to go on. "Pude identificar a ese hijo de puta en el video lastimando a nuestra chica." (I was able to identify that son of a bitch in the video hurting our girl.)
"Estas seguro? Resistira en la corte?" Ranger responds. (Are you sure? Will it hold up in court?)
"Si."
"Gracias."
"Babe, what time are our dinner reservations?"
"Six o'clock," I respond. Ranger and I have a code. Whenever we want to get out of a meeting with someone and can't figure out a way to tactfully get out of the conversation, we ask what time a meeting, or reservations, or something is and the other's reply is always the top of the hour coming up. I made it a little later because of Cal this time.
"Then we are going to need to start to get ready if we're going to stop by St. Francis to check on Cal before dinner."
"Wow, your wife has a lot of nicknames. You don't have a problem with your men all having a different term of endearment for her? I mean, you call her Babe, others call her Baby Girl, Beautiful, Bomber. What's next, Cupcake?" Matt comment. Almost immediately, though, he realized he made a mistake.
"What was that last name?" Ranger growled.
"Cupcake. That's what Morelli told me to call her when it was my turn. Your wife is like a bitch in heat when she's off sugar. I now understand how she tamed the great Ranger Manoso. She has you by the balls, though I must say, she does need to work on her blow jobs. They leave a man desiring a lot more of a release. Maybe she's just not used to having a man as big as me. Morelli's cock is impressively large, but my cock is bigger."
Ranger gently nudges me off his lap while Lester pushes me into the chair before he stands in front of me. Hector is by the door and has daggers in his eyes. Ranger picks up Matt by his collar and slams him into the wall. "You get off on raping women? On putting your hands around their necks and squeezing until they're on the brink of passing out. You get off on hurting and being rough with them. What's the matter, you can't get it up any other way? You made a mistake that day you listened to Morelli and fucked his woman. If you were smart, you would have known that Stephanie is MINE. Even if she were to marry that jackass Morelli, she'd still be mine, and I would still protect her. And now, you can kiss your career goodbye, because you fucked with the wrong man." He had Matt turned around and cuffed before he could even react. He starts to disarm him. Lester quickly goes over to assist. "Hector, tell the control room to call Detectives Marconi and Russo regarding Steph's case and have them come here so they can make the arrest. Tell them we made a citizen's arrest on one of the other perpetrators."
A moment later, Ram and Vince appeared. "Bring him down to one of the holding cells. You are to stand guard until TPD gets here. Make sure Miguel knows to send them straight up for our statements."
Once Matt leaves the room, Ranger comes over to me. "Babe, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'll be fine."
"Lester, go back with Steph. Don't leave her side until I return."
Lester and I walk out of Ranger's office and take the stairs up to seven. Once we get in the apartment, I drop my keys on the dish on the counter and head to the bathroom. I promptly vomit yet again. I brush my teeth and rinse my mouth. I open the door and call out to Lester, "I'm taking a shower. Give me a few minutes."
"Want help, Beautiful?" He replied.
"You better make sure Ranger doesn't hear you."
"Just thought I'd check. I'll be in the living room. Take your time." He walks out of the bedroom and closes the door behind him. I close and lock the bathroom door. I strip off my clothes and get into the shower. I scrub my skin over and over until it is red and raw. I even manage to damage the skin enough that I was bleeding a little on my breasts. I shut off the shower and start to dry off. I walk into the closet to put on my underwear and Ranger's t-shirt when the flashback starts.
Flashback
I see Matt, Morelli, and another guy in Morelli's bedroom. They were all naked, touching me. I was trying to fight, trying to get away. I did a distraction the night before for Tank in New York City, and we got back to Rangeman late. I had fallen asleep in the car. Tank didn't want me to drive home, so he brought me up to Ranger's apartment and put me to bed. I woke up that morning and took a shower using the Bulgari that Ranger always used. I had a pair of black jeans left with underwear, but I couldn't find a shirt. So, I put on one of Ranger's t-shirts and tied it with a spare hair tie. I went to work on my searches. When I arrived at Morelli's house that night, his friends were already there. They had gone through a couple of six packs already. I was going to turn around to go home to my apartment, but Joe grabbed me before I could leave. "What are you doing wearing HIS clothes. And why do you smell like him? Did you fuck him again? Is he back?"
"No, Joe, he's not. We got back late last night from NYC; I fell asleep in the car. Tank didn't want me to drive home and let me stay at Rangeman in the penthouse, being that no one is using it. I took a shower there this morning and got dressed. I don't have any clothes there anymore. I was lucky to find these jeans. So, I just put on his shirt because I had nothing else to wear."
He backhanded me. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Home. I don't see any reason to be here."
"Why, Cupcake, you're our entertainment for the weekend, right guys."
I didn't know what he meant, but I didn't like the way he said it or the look in his eyes. They all had that same look, like the hunter chasing after the prey, and I was the prey. "Joe, let go of me. I'm going back to my apartment. I have to take care of Rex." He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and carried me into his bedroom with his friends following. They locked the door. I was trapped.
"What do you want from me?"
"We want you to strip, Cupcake. I told them how tasty you were and they want to sample you. I know you don't mind. After all, you are a little slut."
"Joe, I'm leaving. Let me go."
"No. If you don't take off those clothes now, we will take them off you." I refused and tried to find a way out of the room. Matt and the other guy grabbed me and tossed me on the bed. Matt held my arms above my head, while the other guy held my legs. Joe took a pair of scissors and cut off the shirt. He unbuttoned my pants and pulled them off me. He started to touch me, allowing the other two guys to join us. I was still fighting and bucking, but it was getting them more excited. They outnumbered me, and they were stronger than me. I couldn't fight them. They took turns with me, two a time, one in front and one in the back, the other in my mouth. When they finished, Joe cuffed me to the bed. For the next two days, they did whatever they wanted to me whenever they wanted. Finally, on Sunday night at ten o'clock, Joe let me leave. He warned me that if I told anyone about our weekend of fun that he would put the video on the internet for everyone to see."
I'm crying. Ranger is holding me. Somehow, I'm in the living room. "Babe, it's okay. You're safe. You're with Lester and me. No one else is here."
I look at my surroundings. "How did I get in the living room?"
"Beautiful, I heard the shower turn off. After ten minutes, when you didn't come out, I went to the bedroom to check on you. I called out your name. You didn't answer. I opened the door and found you on the floor, thrashing around and trying to fight someone. I tried to get you to snap out of whatever you were thinking, but you wouldn't. I carried you out here and tried to comfort you until I could get Ranger up here."
"What were you thinking about, Babe?"
"I remembered what Morelli, Matt, and some other guy did to me the first time."
"Do you want to share?" Ranger asked.
"No, but you both need to know. Maybe it will be easier when I have to tell the detectives about this new memory." I proceed to share the entire story with them. I can see them tense up and get angry. Hell, I was getting angry. When I finished, Ranger stood up and said, "I am going to FUCKING KILL Matt. How the fuck could he do that to a woman, let alone Stephanie. That son of a bitch."
"Ranger, you have to calm down. Let the courts handle it. You know, once the General finds out, he's done. They won't be helping him with his criminal case."
"You're right. Go down and tell Hector to find out the name of this other guy."
"Yes, sir. Beautiful, we all have your back." Lester walked out of the apartment.
