Disclaimer: This a Stephanie Plum FanFiction Story. Everything belongs to the fabulous Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing her amazing characters for a while. I'm grateful she allows us to play with her characters.
Warning: Adult language, adult situations, some violence, some smut, may not be for the faint of heart.
A/N: This story picks up after the events of For Fortune and Love. The characters are a lot more serious and the material is much darker.
Ranger's dangerous past finally caught up to him. Stephanie has been left to deal with the fallout and she is caught in a web of danger and lies. This a story about the complexities of navigating loss, finding, love and learning to build a new life. This is a story about love, loss, and redemption.
For Love and Redemption
Chapter One
I felt warm, strong arms around me. Holding me tight. I felt loved and protected. A whisper of a familiar scent tickled my nose and I snuggled into the warm, loving arms. A hand stoked down my body and I felt desire bloom, liquid and hot. I moaned and whispered "I love you Ranger."
Suddenly, I was ripped from the safe haven of those strong arms, and I was running and running. I was in a forest and I was lost. Branches were whipping at my arms and stinging my face. I was stumbling over unfamiliar ground. Hunted by evil. I could feel the malevolent presence behind me. Its putrid breath on my neck. My breath was coming in gulping pants as I ran aimlessly through the dark night with an unknown predator stalking me.
I burst through a clearing and skidded to a stop. I was standing on a frozen pond. I stood there watching helplessly as the ice around me began to crack, and spiderweb out around me. I felt the ice give way and I was engulfed in icy cold water. Surrounded by inky blackness. I didn't know which way was up. Panic clawed at me momentarily. I couldn't breathe. My lungs were on fire and I knew I was going to die. I didn't care. I stopped fighting and let myself sink into the inky black depths of oblivion. I'm coming Ranger. Soon I'll be with you, back in your arms.
I jerked awake panting and sweating. It was another nightmare. The same recurrent nightmare I'd had for months. I looked around and I was alone.
Ranger had been gone for one year, nine months, and four days.
Ricardo Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger. Former special forces, turned bounty hunter, turned business man. Over the years our relationship had been many things. Ranger had been my mentor, protector, employer, lover, and my almost husband.
Ranger and I spent years circling each other denying our feelings. Ranger didn't do long-term commitments and I didn't do casual sex. In the end, it turns out we were both idiots. A force far greater than either of us had pulled us together. We were twin flames, destined to be together, and I guess in the end, destined to burn hot, but quick.
I loved Ranger and he loved me. We decided to build a life together, and we had. A wonderful life. At least while it lasted. We were two halves that just fit together. After three months of living together, Ranger and I got engaged and moved from Trenton to Washington DC to open a new branch of RangeMan.
RangeMan is the name of Ranger's security firm. Well, my security firm now, I guess.
I heaved out a sigh. A lot had happened in the one year, nine months, and four days that Ranger had been gone. A lot had changed. I had changed. Some for the better. Some not.
Ranger had a lot to answer for. I felt guilty at that thought. How stupid was it to be angry at a dead man? No, I corrected myself. Presumed dead. That was easier to accept. I had always believed Ranger and I had a connection. I could feel Ranger's presence, and even though I was told he was dead, I didn't always believe it. Logically, I knew it was true, but I still felt the connection and I still felt his presence. That belief had given me hope, but I was starting to begin to accept it was just wishful thinking. Ranger was never coming home.
My name is Stephanie Manoso. I am a former lingerie buyer, turned bounty hunter, turned business woman. I am an almost widow. OK, it is really Stephanie Plum since Ranger and I were never legally married, but I go by Manoso now. It makes me feel closer to Ranger, it makes running RangeMan easier, and it suits me better.
Stephanie Plum was a light-hearted Jersey girl that was impulsive and relied on her intuition and luck. I am no longer that girl. That girl died when Ranger died.
When Ranger and I moved to DC to open the new RangeMan office, Ranger brought me in as his partner. We were doing well and branching out.
RangeMan sits in a non-descript building on K Street. Near the nerve and power center of the country. Powerful people have powerful enemies and RangeMan is there to protect them. We decided to focus on personal security, some corporate security, babysitting and transporting Federal witnesses, and the occasional Kidnap and Ransom recovery.
Ranger and I had set a date and were planning our wedding. We wanted to go back to Miami and get married on the beach, for real this time. We bought a little house on the water in Annapolis Maryland. We were happy, or at least I was. Ranger had kept me at arm's length for years because he didn't believe his lifestyle was conducive to relationships. In retrospect Ranger was probably right. Ranger was always right.
No, I shook my head at the thought. That isn't fair. If Ranger and I had never found our way to each other, I would have still grieved the same because I had been prime-time in love with Ranger for years. It wouldn't have mattered. My soul would have still been ripped from my body, and I would have never had the joy of being with him. It would have been my loss. I was grateful for every minute that we had spent together. I thought we had a lifetime. It turns out we didn't, but I wouldn't trade one minute of that time together.
Ranger had been asked to take one last assignment by his government handlers. His job was to take out the leaders of one of the most vicious Cartels. They dealt in drugs, guns, and little girls.
Ranger and I fought about it. We had agreed to move the busines to safer work that didn't require Ranger to be "in the wind" for months. Ranger said he was obligated, that he had to do it. He promised that once this job was done, his contract was fulfilled and we were free to live the life we wanted. The truth was, I knew Ranger believed it was his obligation to right the wrongs in this world, and last contract or not he would have done it anyway.
Ranger gave me power of attorney for all his businesses, finances, and property. I had cried, and Ranger had left. Six months in, contact had been lost. Ranger had not checked in.
Burned bodies were found in a mass grave, and it was determined an unidentified mole had outed Ranger and the other undercover agents working the case. Ranger's body along with at least one other agent was never recovered. He was listed as missing in action and presumed dead.
Well over a year later, no one had seen or heard from Ranger including me. Because the work was classified, that is all I knew, and probably all I would ever know. Ranger had likely died a gruesome death in some hellhole buried in a mass grave never to be found. That was just the way it was.
Tank and Lester Santos had come to DC with us to set-up the new RangeMan office, and had stayed to help me when Ranger left.
Tank had been Ranger's right-hand man, and now he was mine. Tank was built like a tank and skilled like Ranger. He was also incredibly smart and had a head for business. If it hadn't been for Tank, RangeMan would have never survived and neither would I. I asked Tank once why he stuck with me instead of heading his own security firm. He had just smiled and said simply this is what Ranger had wanted. Ranger trusted me, Ranger chose me and that was good enough for him.
Tank and Lester had been there through the ups and downs and the grief with me. At first, I thought they were loyal to me because they were loyal to Ranger. Now, I think of them as family. The only family I will ever have I thought sadly.
Lately, Tank and Lester had been pushing me to declare Ranger dead, invoke the provisions of his estate and move forward. I'd resisted. Declaring him dead seemed so final. It seemed like a betrayal. I couldn't, I wouldn't give up on him. Besides, I knew the provisions of his estate indicated that if he was missing for two years his estate automatically transferred. So, time would take care of all that anyway. This provision didn't surprise me. Ranger had always been a planner. He had always known this was a possibility.
What had surprised me was that everything came to me. All the assets and all the responsibilities including providing for Ranger's ex-wife and child. It had always been that way since very shortly after I met Ranger. Long before we were a couple, apparently Ranger and I had been in a relationship. I just didn't know it. I bit back the tears that threatened. We had wasted so much time.
I looked over at the clock. It was 3:30AM. I sighed, I may as well get up. Roll call was at 5:30AM and it would give me a chance to work out before the day started. I wasn't going back to sleep anyway. Sleep had become an elusive creature.
I rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom and stared at my reflection. Dark circles were stark beneath my eyes, my face was gaunt. I'd lost too much weight again, and my blue eyes seemed dull as they stared back at me.
After Ranger went missing, I had moved out of the house in Annapolis to an apartment at the K Street building. It made things easier, and it was less lonely. It was a modern, minimalistic apartment. Light colors and sleek lines. No photos, no mementos and no favorite coffee mug. Just the stark reality that was now my life.
I got in the shower and stood under the scalding water, wishing away the memories, the loss and the loneliness. I picked up the unscented soap and scrubbed away. After losing Ranger, I had banished his favorite Bvlgari show gel. Just the smell brought fresh waves of grief and longing so stark it took my breath. It was the little things that still got to me after all this time.
I dried off and pulled my still wet hair into a ponytail. I pulled on my standard RangeMan uniform of black cargo pants, black t-shirt, and black bates boots.
Whoever had invented coffee makers that started on a timer was a god as far as I was concerned. I wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of black coffee. I looked in the fridge. I knew I needed to eat something, but nothing seemed appealing so I drank the coffee, and headed down to the gym.