Kind of short, I know. I am trying to get back into the swing of things, hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Not mine, but I wish they were

Chapter 21

"Sam!"

In that instant I knew that the person with Lester was his brother, Mateo.

"Can someone please tell me why Sam's picture is up there and what the hell happened to her?"

"Calm down Mateo, that is not Sam." Maggie explained and then continued, "this is a murder victim from this morning. She was found behind the bail bond office, I know the similarities are unbelievable but it's not her."

I was listening to their conversation from the other side of the room when I felt Ranger come up behind me.

"Babe, are you going to be all right? I had no idea that Mateo and Hunter were going to be here today."

"What choice do I have? I knew I was going to have to face him sooner or later, I was really hoping for later."

I turned to face Ranger and put my head on his chest, I was listening to everyone else in the room.

"I just want to know what the hell is going on here, first Steph takes off this morning from the scene, then we get back here and you decide that you need to have a private talk with her. Maggie, we are partners and I think you need to tell me the real story and what it all has to do with Steph." Joe sounded really angry.

"Who are you and who the hell is Steph?"

Before things got to carried away I decided to step in.

"Can everyone just calm down for a minute! Now I know that everyone has questions they want answered and I think I can do that."

Everyone stopped and looked at me, especially Mateo. He stared at me for a few minutes before speaking and incredulous look overtaking his face.

"Is this some kind of fucking joke?"

"Mat, please just listen..."

He put his hand up and cut me off, the look on his face was pure anger. "No, I am not going to sit here and listen. What kind of game are you playing?"

"Mat, you need to calm down."

"Calm down, Lester tell me how am I supposed to calm down when a woman who has haunted my dreams for over 8 years is standing right in front of me?"

"Everyone needs to just shut up!" Everyone stopped and looked at Ranger. "Now, before we continue is there a reason that you two are here?" Guess Ranger had had enough of the yelling.

"As a matter of fact Ric, we are here about this case. It seems to tie into one of our cases and when we talked to Tucker about it, he said that Maggie was here and handling the case with Rangeman." Hunter explained.

"Wait a minute, Tucker sent you here?"

I looked at both Hunter and Mateo, they both nodded.

"Son of a bitch, he knew this whole time. That's why he was here!"

"Steph, there is no way to know that..."

"Jase, he hates us both and would do anything he could to hurt either one of us."

Mateo had been quietly watching before speaking up. "So Steph is the name you are going by now," then he turned to Lester, "and you knew about this and didn't tell me?"

"Don't blame him, I asked him not to tell you."

"Do you have any idea what I have been through over the last 8 years?"

"Mateo, this is not about you," and before I could say another word he cut me off.

"Not about me? What about us, we were engaged, and you were pregnant with my child. I would like some answers as to why you disappeared without even a goodbye?" He finished angrily.

"Jesus Christ Mateo, what about me? I was the one that was raped and tortured every day for weeks, do you know how long it took me to get over that. I lost my family, it was years before I could face Jase or my father again. It was to hard to face any of you and cutting off contact was the only way I could heal. I'm sorry for going about it the way I did, but I had to do what was best for me."

"Don't you think I wanted to help you? I loved you and wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, I wanted to help you. I know what happened to you, I had to watch helplessly everyday while he did those things to you."

"You know what Mateo, we don't all get what we want out of life. Right now I can't be worried about you and your feelings, this latest murder is the only thing that concerns me. Ruiz is out there and he is coming for me, he left a note specifically for you and pictures of all of us from our time in Columbia." I finished, not knowing what else to say.

It was so deathly quiet you could hear a pin drop, until Joe spoke up.

"I think I have been patient long enough, now will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?" Joe asked angrily.

TBC