Chapter 13- I don't own anything! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write this chapter. This was a hard chapter to write because I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it and then when I figured it out it ended up taking on a life of its own. I hope you enjoy Chapter 13 please read and review!

SPOV

After everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours I was in no mood to play games with Ranger anymore. My emotions got the best of me and every word poured out of my mouth before I even really knew what I was saying and now I'm standing here in front of him terrified of how he may react to my proclamation. The longer we stand in silence the harder and faster my heart begins to pound in my chest. I can feel it almost painfully hammering against my chest walls. I watch him stare at me as if he had no idea what to say or maybe this all just caught him by surprise or maybe he just doesn't want the same thing as me. Either way I didn't care I needed him to say something, anything!

"Ranger?" I watched as he moved lifelessly further into my apartment and took a seat on my couch. It was as if he wasn't there. He was physically here in my apartment but mentally he'd checked out and that thought made my head begin to pound along with my chest in an almost rhythmic beat.

"Ranger, please talk to me," and at the sound of my voice a second time I saw life coming back to his eyes and I watched him slowly pull himself back together.

RPOV

I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with Stephanie but I still had some time left on my military contract and I hated the thought of leaving her alone and I still had my fears of the danger of claiming her officially as mine and bringing her into my life. If something happened to her because of me or my lifestyle I'd never forgive myself along with most of Trenton. But at the same time I felt selfish inside because I didn't want to give her up this time and I knew if I blew it this time it would be my last chance.

I couldn't imagine what she was thinking right now. She probably thought I was trying to find a way out of this or that I didn't feel the same way she did but the truth was whatever she was thinking it was more than likely wrong. I was in a little bit of shock that all this came out now but I was more preoccupied with how not to screw this up right now. So after I sat down on her couch I slowly pulled myself together.

"Babe," I paused for a moment trying to find the right words. I gestured for her to take a seat next to me and she did. I took her hand in mine before saying: "Steph, I love you too and I want to give you all of me," I watched as her face lit up. "I want to give you all of me and I will do my best. If you're willing to be patient with me then I'm all yours if you'll be all mine and only mine."

Throwing herself off the couch and in to my arms told me that she agreed. We spent the rest of the night reacquainting ourselves with each other as an official couple.

TWO MONTHS LATER

SPOV

The feeling of early morning sun beaming on my face and the fresh smell of Bulgari shower gel awakens me from a comfortable sleep. Opening my eyes to a freshly showered Ranger where nothing but a towel was worth it.

"Morning, Babe," Ranger said.

"Mmm… morning," I hummed. "Why don't you come back to bed?"

"Meeting this morning," he said tossing me a shirt. "Can't be late again, today."

I sat up to grab the shirt but decided against it. Standing up I walked towards the bathroom and got exactly the reaction I'd hoped for. Ranger scooped me up from behind and tossed me back into the bed, landing on top of me. He was half dressed but his tan chiseled chest was still bare.

"You're not playing fair, babe."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I replied giving him a seductive smile. "I was going to the bathroom."

Sealing my mouth with his in a passionate possessive kiss that left me believing I had won and he was coming back to bed but when he released from the kiss his eyes told me differently. "I've been late every day for the last two months," he said as I ran my hands down his chest following a trail that led below the belt. "Important meeting, babe." He shut his eyes tightly before giving in and crawling back into bed with me.

RPOV

It's been two months since Stephanie and I became official and I haven't made it to work on time since. I can't say that I really mind and I know Tank and my men will hold down the fort while I'm out. To say we were infatuated with each other was an understatement but I wanted to enjoy it while it lasted and I hoped it lasted forever. Even though I woke up on time every morning I never made it out the door before eight and even though my work was piling up I still came home to her every evening early. We spent all of our time at her place, for some reason she didn't want to talk about, she didn't want to stay at my apartment so I'd pretty much moved in with her.

After everything that happened with Joe, Ally, and her and I; I'd offered her a full-time position at RangeMan but she'd declined. I wasn't sure whether she didn't want to mix business and pleasure or she just wasn't ready to work alongside Ally yet, either way I didn't blame her and told her if/when she's ready there would be a desk for her at RangeMan.

Today, I was later than usual and I'd completely missed my meeting all together. Stephanie had seduced me back to the bed and now it was after nine am and I was just pulling into my parking space. Rushing up to five and to my office, I was greeted by Ally who had a stack of paperwork in her hands.

"Morning, Ranger, I finished the paperwork from yesterday and it's ready for your signature."

Ally had been a huge help in the office and I was happy to have her even though I wished it was Stephanie. Ally had caught on quickly and I was impressed with her work. She was here every day ready to work, most days she was here early and worked late and every morning she followed me into my office to give me any messages, go over my schedule, and ask about Stephanie.

"Good morning, Ally," I replied probably a little too chipper. "You can put that paperwork on my desk and I'll go over it this afternoon."

"Alright," she said leaning over to place the paperwork on my desk. "Tank covered the 7 o'clock meeting and he returned all of your messages this morning."

Tank was a savior; if I didn't have him this company would probably fall to pieces right now. "Thanks for the update."

"You're welcome," she stated and I already know what was coming next. "How's Stephanie?"

"She's good, Ally. Just give her some more time. I know she'll come around."

"Ranger," she said more as a question.

"Yes."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Is she avoiding RangeMan because of me?" I could see the concern in her eyes. "I hear the guys talking about how she hasn't been around and they all miss her. I just don't want to be the reason she's not coming here."

"Honestly, Ally I don't know why. She hasn't really wanted to talk about it so I'm giving her time too."

She nodded before turning to leave and once she shut the door behind her I released a heavy sigh. It was obvious that she didn't want there to be any hard feelings between the two of them and I was pretty sure Stephanie wasn't upset with Ally and Joe because of their relationship but because they kept it from her and also everything that went down during the distraction. Even though Stephanie and I hadn't talked about it I was pretty sure Ally was the reason Stephanie refused to come to RangeMan but I wasn't exactly sure what her reasoning was. I decided to let the thought go and get down to business so I could get back to Stephanie as fast as possible.

APOV

Joe and I's relationship had gone from extremely friendly to hot and heavy quickly. Even though I still hadn't completely forgiven him for what went down on my first distraction; I still loved him and knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him and only him. Since he came back into my life I couldn't picture my life without him again; just thought hurt my heart.

It's been two months since Joe or I have heard from Stephanie and even though we weren't great friends I still didn't want there to be any hardships between us or her and Joe. I still hoped we could all be friends in the end. I wanted to give Stephanie her space so I hadn't gone to talk to her yet but I had every intension of doing it soon. Joe asked me three days ago to move in with him and I'd accepted but it didn't feel right and I knew Joe felt the same. I knew Stephanie seemed okay with us at the hospital but I needed her blessing in order for Joe and me to truly move forward. Even though I knew they knew they were wrong for each other I still felt like I needed to talk to Stephanie.

I had just left Ranger's office and was sitting at my desk. The office was busy as usual with the men hustling around taking care of business. I had about an hour before lunch time so I headed into the control room where Tank was covering briefly for Lester.

"Hey, Tank."

"Hey, Al."

"Do you have a tracker on Stephanie?"

"Yep. Usually more than one."

"I need to know her location."

"Sorry, Al but the boss would kill me if I gave that to anyone without permission or immediate danger."

"Oh right of course, sorry, I should have said that to begin with. Ranger, wants to know Stephanie's location."

"Does he think she's in trouble?"

"I don't know? He didn't really say." He looked suspiciously at me but then turned and began typing on his computer. I prayed that he didn't contact Ranger because I didn't want to get fired for this.

"She's at the bonds office. Looks like she just got there."

"Thanks, Tank, I'll let him know," I turned to leave and headed to Ranger's office. He was leaned over his desk shuffling through a large stack of papers when I walked in. I cleared my throat gently letting him know I was here. He looked up from his stack of papers: "yes," he said before lowering his gaze back to the paperwork.

"I need to take a long lunch today. I'm leaving now but I'll stay late to make up whatever time I'm out."

"That's fine," he replied dismissively.

I left Ranger's office and headed for the elevators but as I hit the button to the elevator I heard Tank clear his throat behind me and I began to chew on my bottom lip as I turned to face him.

"Tank, what's up?"

"Did you let Ranger know Stephanie's location?"

"Um," I didn't want to lie anymore so I tried zigzagging around the answer. "I just left his office."

"Okay, well you can let him know that her car is still at the bonds office but she's on the move. Looks like she's walking down the street towards the bakery."

"Thanks, Tank, I'll let him know," I said as the elevator doors opened and I jumped in.

SPOV

It had been another one of those perfect mornings with Ranger. After he'd finally managed to get away from me I'd gotten myself up and gotten ready to go into the bonds office. Lately, the world seemed to be spinning the right direction for me. My job was super busy and kept my fridge full and rent paid and it would have bought me a new car but Ranger had insisted I take one of his. The only thing that still bothered me was Ally. Well Ally and Joe or maybe just Joe, I wasn't really sure. I was still furious about what happened at the distraction and the fact that the Franco brother's got away and I still couldn't find it in me to forgive either of them yet but I knew in time I would eventually forgive them.

I made it to the bonds office around ten-thirty and checked in with Connie.

"Got anything for me today," I asked walking in the door.

"Nothing right now. You're catching them fast then we're bailing them out."

"What can I say; I think I've finally got the hang of this job." And I actually believed that when I said it. I hadn't fallen in dog poop, got anything stuck in my hair, been shot at, had any stalkers, or had my car blown up in two months and counting.

"I'll let you know if we get anything today but everyone appeared to court this morning so it won't be until after afternoon court; check in then."

I looked down at my watch and I only had about two hours before afternoon court so I decided to head to the bakery for some lunch and then check back in. I left the bonds office and it was such a beautiful day I decided to walk. I was almost to the bakery when I saw Ally standing in front of the bakery leaned against her car parallel parked in front of the store. SHIT! I knew she saw me but maybe if I turn around and walk the other way she'll pretend she didn't see me but when she starts walking towards me I knew she wasn't going to pretend she didn't see me. But I turned around and started to walk away anyways.

"Stephanie," I heard her call out. SHIT! I stopped and turned around to her. She was closing in the distance between us quickly and when she stopped she was face to face with me.

"Hey, Ally," I said not really sure what else to say.

"Stephanie, do you think we can talk?"

"Uh yeah, sure. What do you want to talk about?" I decided to play dumb which usually didn't work for me and I had no doubt that it didn't work for me this time either.

"Do you want to take a walk?"

"Um I'm not really into that whole exercise thing…." I cut myself off when I saw her eyes narrow in confusion. "Yes, let's take a walk and talk," I said mostly sarcastically. Perfect, sounds just perfect!

RPOV

The day was nearing an end and I couldn't wait to get home to Stephanie. All I could think about all day was Stephanie. I opened my top desk drawer and pulled out a small blue velvet box that held the answer to my future with Stephanie. I rubbed the box in my fingers before placing it on my desk and staring at it. I know it's only been two months of an official relationship but I was ready and I wanted to ask Stephanie to marry me. I'd asked her to go away with me this weekend, I rented a beach house in Point Pleasant and at a sunset dinner on the beach I was going to ask her to be my wife. My nerves were most of my distraction, I only had to make it through two more days and then she and I would be at the beach for hopefully a wonderful three day vacation.

I picked the small ring box up and placed it back on my desk when a knock sounded at my door. Tank knocked twice and entered before I could say come in.

"Boss, we have a problem."

"What," my immediate thought was the hackers who are continuously hacking into my system were at it again but the look in Tanks eyes let me know it was more serious. "What is it, Tank?"

"We were wrong."

"Wrong about what, Tank? Spit it out."

"The Franco brothers never left the country."

"What? Tank, we saw their plan take off and Cal and Hal confirmed with the airline that the Franco brothers were on that plan."

"Yes, they were but Hal and Cal never asked them where the planes final destination was. The plan landed in Florida."

I could feel the rage steaming up through my body and I was ready to fire Cal and Hal immediately but first I had to find Stephanie and Ally. "Do you have a location for the brothers?"

"No, but rumor has it their back in Trenton and looking for revenge."

"I need a locate on Steph and Ally now."

"Did you find her earlier?"

"Find who earlier?"

"Stephanie?"

"I didn't know I was looking for Stephanie."

"Ally came in and said you needed her location."

"I never asked for Stephanie's location today."

"Uh-oh."

"Why would Ally need Stephanie's location?" I picked up the phone and dialed the control room before Tank could answer. Lester answered: "RangeMan control room."

"Get me Stephanie and Ally's locations now. Send them to my phone. Tank and I are leaving. If Ally or Steph shows up do not let them leave."

"Okay," he answered and I disconnected.

"Let's roll," I said as Tank and I left my office. Just as we made it to the elevator we heard Lester yelling from behind us.

"Boss, boss, Ranger, wait."

"What?"

"There's no signal."

"What do you mean there's no signal?"

"Neither Steph or Ally have a signal. If either of them have a tracker on them we can't find it. Neither of them are on the grid."

"Why weren't we alerted when they went off the grid?"

"I don't know."

My heart began to pound in my chest. I had no idea what was going on. I turned to ask Tank what Stephanie's last location was when Hal swung open the door to the stairwell and flew out.

"Boss, I've been trying to contact you. The hackers there back and they're in our system now. Hector is trying to trace them but he's having trouble."

"Leave Hector to worry about the hackers; right now, I need everyone available out looking for Stephanie and Ally. Lester round up everyone we have up and brief them quickly and get them out looking and let them know no one comes back until Stephanie and Ally are back at RangeMan. Tank and I will be on the road."

"Do you want me to go or stay," Lester asked.

"Stay keep an eye on the controls, if Stephanie or Ally come back on the grid let me know."

"Hal get Cal and get on the road."

We all began to part ways when we were halted by a deafening screeching sound over the RangeMan security system speakers. Everyone stopped to cover their ears and when the screeching stopped we all looked around at each other. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on but I knew it wasn't good. We stood in silence for another moment before a loud tortuous scream sounded over the speaker and I knew it was Stephanie. I could hear her and it wasn't long before I could see her. Every T.V. screen, computer screen, screen monitor came to life with Stephanie stripped down to her bra and panties strapped to a chair. Her body sat limply, her curls were mated to her face and her face was damp with sweat and all me and my men could do was stand paralyzed watching as a faceless man began to torture her and listen to her painful screams through every speaker.

My heart was pounding in my throat. Every fear I've ever had I was now witnessing first hand.

"They've got her," was all I could manage to mutter.

I hope you enjoyed Chapter 13, more to come soon. I can't wait to read what everyone thinks.