Chapter 11

Stephanie's POV

It was nearly nine the next morning when the first hint that my entry into the Pentagon had been noticed showed up. I was doing a routine search and noticed there was an echo on the airwaves. Now, most people wouldn't even have noticed, but the electronic footprints that were following my actions were out of sync just enough that I was able to pick up on it. Of course, it helped that Morelli had called and told me to get out if I was doing what he thought I was. He could have been referring to the major break-in of the police department's cybercrimes databases…or he could have been referring to what I was doing at the Pentagon. Either way, I was spooked enough to be extra careful, and I noticed immediately when something was off.

Instead of trying to slip away from the tracking, I used them to expand my base so that I could actually gather more information. What I was working on was aboveboard, soI wasn't worried that they might be able to gather information against Alexander. Within twenty minutes, I was able to gather all the information I needed, and I was leaving the program when I noticed that whoever was on the other end had attached a homing beacon.

I narrowed my eyes as I debated my next course of action. Everything they'd done up to now had been friendly and would cause us no problems... What they were doing now had the potential to crash our system. There was no way I was leading them back so that they could do that. A few keystrokes were all it took to leave them out in the cold while I slipped under their radar. I spent the next hour devising several traps to keep whoever was on the other end off my back the next time I went online and then shut down everything so that I could meet Luci at the doctor's office.

Ever since the incident at Pino's, Luci had been having contractions, andthey were worrisome because she was still close to six weeks away from having the baby. I'd talked to Dr. Thomas, and he'd promised he'd give her a good going over when she went in for her regular checkup, and that was today.

I'd just stood and gathered my things when I heard Alexander's gravelly voice saying, "Good, good. I appreciate what you and your men did, Ranger. If there is ever anything you need, just give a holler."

There was a moment of silence, and then Alexander laughed. "You'd have your hands full with that one." Then his voice turned serious as he added, "And if you ever did anything to hurt her… There wouldn't be a place on God's green earth for you to hide."

I slipped silently out of the office and headed downstairs. As I made my way toward the front door, I passed the library and noticed the door was ajar and Gavino was in there. I frowned, wondering what he was doing in there, because that was Alexander's inner sanctuary, and no one was allowed in, especially without Alexander's presence.

I paused for a moment and took a step in that direction, when every hair on the back of my neck stood at attention. I wasn't stupid. I'd learned years ago to trust these feelings when I got them. I backed away and headed out the front door, seeing Georgio on my way to my car. I stopped beside him and said, "I noticed Gavino in the library. Alexander is still in the office, so I know he shouldn't be in there. I have a feeling he's up to no good, and Georgio…if you confront him, please be careful. My Spidey sense is screaming at me."

Georgio grinned at me. "Don't worry, little sister. I'll take care of this." He chuckled. "Mr. Ramos will be impressed that you didn't rush in feet first."

I gave him a mock glower as I slapped his chest. "Just you be careful."

He winked at me. "Always."

I walked over to the 1989 Acura Legend Coupe that I'd been driving ever since my Sunbird had gone to the great car graveyard in the sky. I had the feeling that the previous owner was into flower power, because the entire car was one giant flower. Letting out a deep sigh, I opened the door and climbed inside. The only thing this car had going for it was that it wasn't Big Blue—my Grandma Mazur's car that I'd had occasion to borrow with increasing frequency.

When I pulled into the clinic parking lot fifteen minutes later, the only spot available was at the back of the lot. I thought about parking next to the door, but there were already three black SUVs already parked there. I looked around, but I didn't see the limo that was Luci's ride these days. I sent a text to Vinny and asked him to look into who was driving Luci today and see where they were. In the meantime, I made my way into the clinic and asked the receptionist what room Luci was in.

She called back, and the nurse came up and took me to the exam room.

Luci's POV

Dr. Thomas checked the ultrasound and said, "Everything looks right on track with the measurements. Of course, this little one just isn't going to accommodate the intrusion to allow us to see what the sex is. I know you've said that you want to wait till the baby is born to find out, but when possible we like to make note of it in the chart."

I wiped the tears from my eyes that seeing my child nestled inside my womb was causingand smiled. "He or she didn't get their shyness from me."

Dr. Thomas laughed. "You're correct there." He moved the wand, and I watched as the baby kicked, lifting the wand off my abdomen. Dr. Thomas took a towel and wiped the gel off the wand and placed it on top of the ultrasound machine. "Your due date is fast approaching, so you might want to cut down on some activities and don't get yourself out of sorts, so to speak."

As he said the last, he was giving me the eye.

I had a feeling my dad had lost no time in giving him the lowdown.

Dr. Thomas cleared his throat and then said, "Any questions for me?"

I bit my lip, a habit I'd picked up from Stephanie, and said, "I've been having quite a bit of cramping lately."

He nodded. "It's possible that it's just Braxton-Hicks Contractions. The ultrasound didn't show any internal issues."

I nodded. "When I do have the baby, I'd like to make sure that certain people don't get anywhere near me."

Dr. Thomas smiled. "I'm sure your father will make certain that only the people you want there are allowed in. On your next appointment, we'll go over everything about labor and delivery as well as the pre-admission forms. Now that you're within six weeks of your due date, I want to start seeing you once a week."

A knock sounded on the door, and he stood to open it. He smiled and stepped back, allowing Stephanie to enter. "We were just finishing up."

Stephanie nodded. "I just stopped by to see how Luci's doing. I was a little worried about the cramping she's been having."

I explained, "Dr. Thomas told me it's probably just Braxton Hicks." I could see from the expression on Stephanie's face that she was still worried. I reached out and took hold of her hand. "I'm just fine. Really."

She smiled, but I could see her heart wasn't in it. "Okay. I'll drop it for now." She turned to Dr. Thomas. "You're sure there's nothing to be worried about?"

The doctor frowned. "I assure you, the ultrasound shows everything is going great. But if you're that worried, there are a few tests that I could run just to make sure."

Stephanie looked at me, and I could tell she wanted to tell him to do his tests. One thing I'd learned in the years that I'd known Stephanie…she had a sixth senseabout some things. If it was just me, I would have shrugged it off, but I wasn't willing to take any chances with my baby.

I turned so that I was looking at Dr. Thomas and said, "Do your tests."

"All right." He wrote something down on a paper and handed it to me. "Have my receptionist make these appointments, and I should have the answer by your next appointment."

I smiled shakily. "Okay."

He left us, and Stephanie turned her back so that I could adjust my clothing. Once I was more presentable, we headed to the receptionist's desk and I handed her the paper.

She frowned. "It will be a few minutes before I can get these scheduled."

I groaned.

Stephanie wrapped an arm around my shoulder and said, "Why don't you head on home, and I'll stay and make the appointments."

I grinned. "Thanks. I'd appreciate that."

I headed out to where I knew the limo would be waiting. As I stepped outside, I was surprised to see Lester standing beside his blacked-out, high-riding pickup truck. I'd always liked that truck. The back made for some…

Lester's voice broke into my thoughts as he said, "Luci. We need to have a talk."

My mind started reeling. He shouldn't be anywhere near me. I looked around desperately and saw Gavino pulling into the lot. As soon as he put the car in park, he pulled out his phone and was talking into it animatedly. I frowned, wondering why he was doing that instead of stepping in here and getting me away from Lester.

Knowing I was on my own for the moment, I turned to Lester and said, "I think you spoke all the words you needed to in the text messages that you sent me. By the way, your lawyer is falling down on the job because I haven't gotten anything from him. As far as I'm concerned, the two of you can go finger-fuck yourselves!"

He smirked. "Nice choice of vocabulary for a mother-to-be, don't you think? As for the text messages, I have no idea what you're talking about."

I couldn't believe he had the audacity to stand there as if he expected me to believe he didn't know what I was referencing.

I lifted my head, and my hair whipped behind me. "I'm sure you're here with your slut, Sheryl. Of course, this isn't a veterinarian's clinic, so you might want to consider taking her there. While she's having the ultrasound for your devil spawn, do society a favor and get her a rabies vaccine, why don't you."

Les looked like I'd just sucker-punched him, but I wasn't buying it.

My head started swimming, and I needed to get away from him—fast. "I'll just send you a copy of the text messages to refresh your memory, since you don't seem to be able to remember things. By the way, my dad has a copy of them, soI'll be getting my own lawyer. So put that in your pipe and smoke it."

His hands balled into fists, and a muscle clenched in his jaw. Maybe I'd pushed some buttons after all. His gaze bore into me as he said, "Send me those damn text messages. And Luci..."

I stood silently, but he refused to say anything, as if he was waiting for me to acknowledge him. Finally, I said, "What?"

His hand came up to cup my cheek, and I tried to pull away from him, but his other hand had hold of my forearm and he wasn't letting me go anywhere. His voice was deadly soft as he said, "The last time we spoke was at the fundraiser. And what does Daddy have to do with this? I doubt we would have met…or that we even travel in the same circles. But I will tell you this; if he were in front of me now, I'd tell tell him what an immature, spoiled little bitch he has for a daughter."

The sound of the horn honking had me turning to see that Gavino was still on his phone and glaring my way.

I shoved Lester away from me with all the strength I could muster. There was so much rage inside me, and I didn't know what to do with it. I glared at Les and said, "Say one more word about my father, and I'll shoot you in the balls so you won't have to worry about any more children you don't want to have."

He went to say something, but I didn't let him get started as I practically yelled, "Don't even tempt me, because it will happen." I turned, stalked over to the limo, and wrenched open the door before flopping inside.

I heard Gavino talking on the phone, and the voice on the other end sounded just like Sheryl's.

Gavino quickly put his phone away and then looked up in the rearview mirror, waiting for me to tell him where we were off to.

"Who was that on the phone?"

He gave me a look that made me feel as if I'd just seen a spider—and I hate spiders. They made my skin crawl. "Nobody. Why do you ask?"

Without thinking, I told him, "It sounded like a bitch who would be a nice attachment for the barnacles after she hits the ocean floor."

He scowled, and the next thing I knew he'd hit the gas, causing me to fly back in the seat and hit my head on the seat behind me. The partition window went up, and I heard the beep of my phone. I looked down to see there was a call in progress and lifted the phone to my ear. "Sorry, Dad. I must have hit the button when I left the clinic."

A string of well-executed Italian expletives were strewn together, and after several seconds, I heard him say, "I heard the whole conversation—both of them, as a matter of fact. Who's your driver today? And what was he doing that he let this encounter happen?"

I must have let too much time pass, as his voice softened. "You need to answer me, bella."

I let out a sigh. "I don't know, Dad. He wasn't here when I first came out, but I saw him pull in, and then he got on his phone. It sounded like that blonde bitch, buthe wouldn't say for sure."

I heard him yelling to his right-hand man, Renaldo, to get Gavino's phone log and get Alexander on the phone. A moment later he was back on the line. "Don't worry, bella. I'll figure out what he was up to. Did anything else happen?"

"I made a comment about the voice on the phone."

"I heard that. What did he do?"

I told him, and there was a low growl on the line that told me the sleeping giant had been woken and someone would be answering to his maker sooner rather than later.