Chapter 11

I sat up and leaned against the headboard. "You know Rangeman had an account for me, where they deposited money I refused from past distraction and BEA jobs." He nodded and motioned for me to continue. "Well, when RJ started his company after college, he gave me 35% shares in his company. Over the last ten years, his company has a net worth of 29 billion." I saw him quickly calculate the amount in his head.

"Are you serious?" he asked quietly. "You have that much money?" He jumped off the bed in shock. It looked as though he was ready to bolt.

"Yes. I have just under 10 billion," I whispered as tears streamed down my face. My chin dropped as I prepared for his rejection.

I felt him lift my chin. "Look at me sweetheart. I'm shocked, not angry and I'm not going anywhere," he reassured me. "I didn't expect you to have amassed that much wealth. If you don't mind me asking, why are you still working?"

Laughter escaped before I could control myself. "Are you seriously asking me that? You should know me by now," I said indignantly. "Do I come across as the type of person who could sit back and spend my money?"

"No. You always have to be doing something. If you had that much money, why did you always appear to be broke?" he carefully asked.

"I have enough problems with stalkers. If they knew I was wealthy, they would have tried to blackmail me somehow. The only people who know about my stocks are Hector, RJ, Grandma, my lawyer, my financial advisor and now you. Please keep this secret for me. I would hate for the general public to know."

"Your secret is safe with me. Do you ever draw money from your funds?" he curiously asked.

"A small amount is transferred into an account accessible by Grandma. After everything they've done for me, I felt she needed extra cash for fun. It's my way to repay her and Grandpa for helping me."

He thought about what I said before asking, "Could an in depth Rangeman search uncover your wealth?"

I shook my head. "No. My portfolio is under a different name. Unless Rangeman somehow discovers that name, they'll never discover the account. It's well protected," I assured him.

"How do you want to handle our finances," he asked.

"We should have a joint account to deposit money for property taxes, groceries, entertainment, insurance, heat and hydro. Basically anything we need for our house or cars, we deposit into the joint account. I don't want you to use the money you received from your special ops. We should only deposit a percentage of our standard Rangeman wage," I suggested.

"That could work. We could transfer every other paycheque into the joint account for expenses." I ran to my office to grab my laptop.

After signing into my account, I showed Hal my current balance. "I know it's not much," I said when I noticed the balance just over 6000. "We should go to the bank on Monday to open a joint account. I'll transfer half of each pay to the joint account. We could use any extra money to furnish the house."

"Anything you want Honey. My money is our money," he whispered. We spent the evening making love. He was a very thorough lover.

I woke early the next morning feeling sore in all the right places. Smiling, I leaned over to give my husband a tender kiss. He rolled me under him as he entered me. I moaned as he filled me. We moved together, screaming each other's names as we released. "Well good morning to you too Hal."

"Good morning my beautiful wife. Steph, I really like calling you my wife." He peppered kisses all over my face. My stomach growled. Laughing, he said, "Go take a shower and I'll make coffee and breakfast. We have a lot to do today before your friends arrive."

"I love calling you my husband," I said before climbing out of bed.

He pulled on his boxers as I made my way to the bathroom. I was brushing my hair as the most tantalizing smell wafted through the open door. Mmmm... he made bacon, eggs and do I smell pancakes? I quickly dressed before following the amazing aroma to the kitchen.

"Sweet husband of mine, you spoil me," I said as I wrapped my arms around his naked waist.

"I enjoy spoiling you, my beautiful wife." He turned around to give me a panty melting kiss. Hal guided me to the table and placed my breakfast in front of me.

I couldn't stop the moans from escaping. This wonderful husband of mine is an amazing cook. Sure, I already knew he could cook. Somehow knowing Hal, my husband cooking made the food taste so much better.

After eating, I pushed Hal towards the bathroom so I could clean up from breakfast. He shouldn't have to clean up after cooking. I would willingly clean all the dishes if he would always cook. Hmmm... I wonder if he would agree to those terms. Maybe I should get him to teach me how to cook.

Thoughts of us cooking meals together started to turn me on. Before I could allow my thoughts to carry into interrupting his shower, the door buzzed. "It's us!" Cynthia's voice echoed through the speaker.

"Come on up," I said as I buzzed them through the main door. I waited with the door partially opened. RJ and Cynthia exited the elevator holding hands. "It's so great to see you guys." I hugged them after closing and locking the apartment door. "Why didn't you use your key RJ?" I asked.

"Now that you're married, it seemed rude to just let myself into your home." I refused to accept my keys when he offered to return them.

"Hal knows you have keys and we were expecting you," I quickly dismissed his excuse. "So you and Cynthia?"

RJ blushed. "Yes. We had our first date once her divorce was finalized."

"We're trying to take things slow, but you know how that sometimes works out," Cynthia laughed.

"Hi RJ, Cynthia," Hal greeted my friends.

"Congrats you two. I'm happy to see you finally get the guy," RJ teased. "Does he know?"

"Yes, Hal knows everything," I stressed the word everything. Cynthia raised her eyebrow in question. Hal squeezed my hand, silently supporting my decision to keeps Mary Alice a secret.

RJ always suspected Mary Alice is my daughter, but he never asked and I would never tell. However, Hal knows if I was asked outright by Cynthia or RJ, I would be honest with them. It's the 'ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies' type of concept.

We took RJ and Cynthia to show them our new home. Emilio happened to be visiting Hector and offered to let us walk through our house again. "When does it close?" Cynthia asked.

"We have to wait another 10 days. Some of the Rangeman guys offered to help us move," Hal answered. "Hector already set up the security."

"Hola Angelita," Hector said as he pulled me into an embrace.

"Hola Hermano." I returned his hug and kissed his teardrop tattoo. He left his arm wrapped around my waist as we walked through the house.

"This is a beautiful house Steph," Cynthia gushed.

"This is your room RJ," Hal showed him the room on the main floor. "Don't worry, the master bathroom is at the opposite end on the upper level," he quickly added. I blushed when I noticed RJ's smile.

"Thank goodness," he said barely holding back a laugh. "I was afraid I'd lose sleep if I stayed here."

"You could always stay at mi casa, if they get too loud." Hector pointed to the house next door. Hal's face turned bright red.

"I don't mean to be so loud," I mumbled. My face turned bright red when everyone laughed. "Out loud?" I asked as I buried my face into Hal's shoulder.

"Yes Sweetheart," Hal whispered. I felt him lift my chin. He placed a chaste but gentle kiss on my lips. "It's one of the many things I love about you." I pulled him into a deeper kiss, only stopping when Hector nudged me.

"Sorry guys. We've only been married a few days." I glanced at my watch. "Crap!" I shouted. "Our shift starts in less than an hour." I was glad RJ decided to drive his own car, especially since I didn't have enough time to drop them off at my apartment. Hal had a surveillance shift while I would be stuck on monitor duty. I wasn't worried about having a work uniform, there was a spare uniform in my locker room.

"You have an extra uniform in the back," Hal informed me.

"I do? I thought I used that one already."

"You did, but I replaced it while you were in the washroom this morning."

"Hal, you are the best husband ever." He blushed a beautiful shade of pink.

"Cynthia and RJ are planning to visit for a few days," I reminded Hal.

"Well that should make things easier. Do you think they'll go shopping with us tomorrow?" he asked.

"Cynthia loves to shop, but I'll still ask." I quickly texted RJ and Cynthia in a group text. They were staying in the guest bedroom at my apartment. We were planning to select new furniture for the house. Since they would have their own room, it made sense they should have a say in its decor. "They're in," I told Hal.

I discovered my partner du jour is Bobby. Monitor shift with Bobby was fun. He was the comfortable mid point between Lester and Tank. Lester liked to joke around all the time while being sexually suggestive. Tank was completely silent. Bobby knew when to talk and when to remain silent. If he noticed my eyes glazing over, he would tell me a funny story. He never complained if I needed to have a snack during our shift. Bobby and I had only 1 hour left on our 6 hour monitor shift. It was already 9 pm. I swear I saw him send a text a few minutes before Junior brought me water and a snack.

"Yes, I did text Junior. Your stomach was demanding to be fed," he joked.

"Ha ha. You're a very funny man Mr Brown. Is that who I think it is?" I pointed to the monitor in front of me.

Bobby quickly pulled the display up in front of him. "Well I'll be..." He grabbed the phone to announce, "Team Beta. Plum Bonds office. Roger Samson is in the back alley." It was faster to dispatch a new team than redirecting Hal and Ram to catch their skip. They were watching Samson's warehouse on the other side of Trenton. It would take them almost 45 minutes to arrive at Plum Bonds office. The team dispatched from Rangeman would take 10 minutes. If they manage to detain Samson, we'll redirect Hal and Ram to TPD since they have the paperwork.

I quickly pulled up the tracker on Ram's SUV. They were heading towards Plum Bonds office. ETA of 20 minutes. I watched as team beta circled the building. The alarm started to sound. I was going to silence it but my spidey sense told me to let it chime. "If I silence the alarm, it will be like telling Roger we're watching him."

Cal tapped his comm unit 3 times. Our unspoken secret code for HUA (heard, understood, acknowledged). Hal and Ram arrived in time to cover the front entrance. I watched as Hector slid into Vinnie's office behind Roger. After a brief scuffle, I heard Hector quietly speak in Spanish. Roger wisely kept his mouth closed. Cal called for Bobby's assistance. During the scuffle, Hector cut Roger's arm. They wanted to ensure stitches were not required.

I was relieved when Hal called to say Roger Samson was back in jail. He was a very nasty skip. Too many of my Merry Men were stabbed or shot by him. I was thankful my guys were returning to Rangeman unscathed.

Hal gave me a hug and kissed the top of my head when he returned. Ram and the others followed suit. It was customary for my Merry Men to hug and kiss me before leaving for their surveillance shift or picking up a skip. I should say it's customary only if I'm in the office.

I completed some paperwork as I waited for Hal to complete and file his report. "Are you ready to go home?" I heard Hal ask as he massaged my shoulders.

"Yes," I moaned. "Can we continue this at home?" He chucked then gently kissed me. I held his hand as he led me to our car.