Chapter 25

LPOV

Stephanie and I returned to Rangeman in the morning. We did our workout in the gym. She was sparring with Hal and completely kicking his ass. Hal proudly let her. Tank approached her as she was climbing out of the ring. I heard her squeak when he lifted her over the ropes. He was saying something to her but I was in the weight room and couldn't hear. She looked at me and nodded. Stephanie shook her head when he asked another question. I watched her pull on her shoes and grab her belongings before walking towards me.

"Luke, I need to go over some things with Tank. I emailed him last night to request a meeting this morning. He wants to talk with me before holding the core meeting. I'll see you later?"

"Definitely. I'll be in my office finishing the employee searches," I replied. She ran from the room, likely to shower before meeting with Tank.

The man himself briefly dismissed Cal and took over spotting me. "Your wife sent me some interesting papers last night," he stated.

"Is that right?" I asked knowing exactly what she sent him. She never mentioned sending him the proof.

"Did you know?" he asked not feeling it necessary to answer my question. He was asking if I knew she had an identical twin, not if I knew she sent the data.

"I did not know until last night. The information was intentionally buried pretty deep," I answered without giving away her hacking skills.

"Has it been verified?" he finally asked.

"Yes. My uncle Andy, Bernie and Frank Plum all verified the sources and information gathered. It's all true," I replied. He gave me a perfunctory nod before leaving the room.

"What was that all about?" Cal asked.

"Stephanie and some important information we discovered recently. It isn't my story to tell," I answered and prevented him from asking a follow up question. He got the message and didn't ask any more questions. We swapped places and I spotted him. After he replaced the weight bar in the bench holder, he sat up and motioned towards the ring.

We sparred for 45 minutes before Cal caught my right cheek with a well placed punch. "Crap!" he grumbled. "Steph's going to kill me."

"You're afraid of my wife?" I laughed before climbing out of the ring. He mumbled a 'yes' as I walked away from him. If I didn't ice my cheek soon, my injury would be more noticeable to Steph.

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SPOV

He was hurt and I could feel it. Someone hurt my husband. I had no doubt he sparred with Cal who forgot to pull his punches again. 'Where?' I sent the message to Cal.

'Right cheek… sorry.'

'Forgot to pull your punches?' I teased

'Yes.'

'Tomorrow 0700... you know where.'

'HUA.'

I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "What's so funny little girl?" Tank asked as he was connecting a video call to the Miami branch. He was calling Ranger.

"Cal forgot to pull his punches and landed one on Luke's cheek. He thinks I'm giving him a beat down tomorrow," I answered. "Back to business at hand. What do I need do?" I noticed Ranger appeared on the screen.

"Explain how you found this information," Tank answered.

"Babe?" Ranger questioned.

"Hi Ranger. Did Tank give you any details?" I wondered.

"No. He said we needed to talk," he answered.

"Okay. Please listen to everything before you ask questions. Lester mentioned you met a woman who could pass as my identical twin. He told me where she lived and died. By the way, I'm sorry for your loss. I used the DMV records to search my picture. When Emily Price's name appeared with my photo, I decided to look into her background. I found an old myspace account in her name in the deep web. She opened the account mid-September 2003. Emily only had a few weeks worth of posts and I found photos of her sister who looks exactly like Valerie.

"Ellen's maiden name was Mazur and was my mother's identical twin. Her medical records indicated she only had one pregnancy, her son Craig Price. If she only gave birth to a single child, I wondered why she had Mallory and Emily. Some documents stated she was the biological mother, others stated she had guardianship. After I dug deeper, I discovered Emily was adopted at age 5, Mallory at age 7 by Ellen and Victor Price. You don't adopt your biological children, so it raised more flags. Unfortunately, Ellen died during the birth of her son, so we can't ask her why she raised her nieces.

"When I pieced together all the information, I discovered Mallory and Valerie are identical twins. As are me and Emily. You were in love with my twin Emily and you were the father of her unborn child. Is that why you placed a claim on me? Because I look identical to Emily?" I asked.

"Babe," he sighed. "At first I thought you were Emily. She had a mole behind her left ear. You don't have one, so I knew you weren't really her. I hoped fate was giving me a second chance."

"Ranger, I'm sorry. I didn't know Emily existed until yesterday. You obviously have a lot of unresolved anger and grief. Talk to a therapist. Please get some help and for goodness sake, protect yourself. I don't want to lose my friend," I pleaded.

"I'm sorry too Babe. I should have told you about her and talked to a therapist. Please forgive me."

"I already forgive you. Did you get your results back?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Clean," he replied sounding relieved. "Repeat tests monthly for six months."

"When are you coming home?"

"After I complete therapy," he answered. "Babe," he whispered before ending the call. I was really sad he had to go through all of this alone and so far away from his friends. If he was still here, seeing me everyday would hinder his progress. I need my friend healed before he comes back home. It was the only way we could possibly maintain our friendship.

Telling Ranger about my family's dirty laundry was mentally exhausting. I'm very disappointed with mom and grandma. Dad was completely in the dark. If grandma knew what mom did, I would never forgive her. Actually, I will forgive her but it would take a long time for me to trust her again.

There has to be more to this story than I uncovered. I need to contact the doctor and nurses from the hospital. Maybe they could shed some light on the situation. If they were part of this conspiracy, they don't deserve to work in the medical field.

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LPOV

My eyes followed Stephanie from Tank's office to the hallway outside my door. I watched her smile and wave at each camera as she walked past. Stephanie could always tell when I'm watching her. She gave the door a quick knock before entering.

"Hi Sweetheart, how was your meeting with Tank?" I asked when she opened the door.

"It went better than I expected. We had a video meeting with Ranger. He knows everything now," she replied before sitting in my lap. She seemed a little introspective and sad.

"Did he seek psychiatric help?" I asked, prodding her to talk.

"He did. I'm glad he's getting the help he desperately needs. Hopefully he can move past losing Emily and his unborn child. Ranger's a very generous and kind man. He's just been dealt a difficult hand," she answered.

"Too true," I agreed. My wife is a very kind and forgiving woman. "Should we be worried?" I asked.

"Not in the least. He needs to straighten out his own life in his own time. I'll miss having my friend around, but I won't miss all his relentless flirting," she replied honestly. "For a minute, I though I would need to find another job."

"Rangeman needs you too much. Besides, you need the approval of three core members before they could fire you," I reminded her about the details in her contract.

"I'm not worried about being fired. I was more concerned he would refuse to get psychiatric help. If he didn't get the help, I wouldn't be able to work here." I waited and heard her quietly add, "Or live here." Stephanie stopped talking for several minutes. She seems to be a little quiet, seemingly lost in her thoughts. I wonder if she felt bad for parents' marriage ending. We never really talked about what we overheard.

"Your parents?" I asked knowing she would understand what I was asking.

"Sure, I'm sad. Helen honestly brought this upon herself. All the lies and deceit. She should have known it would come back to bite her in the ass. I'm confused why Grandma Mazur never said anything. She obviously knew twins run in the family. I feel slightly betrayed. Do you know what I mean?" she asked.

Stephanie was very close with her grandma Mazur. Edna's personality is exactly like her granddaughter. Neither women are content sitting around doing nothing. It wasn't like Edna to keep something this important from Stephanie.

I was at a loss for how to help her. My arms were already wrapped around her. She placed her head on my shoulder and sighed. Going on instinct alone, I shifted her position until she was straddling me. "I love you Luke," she said resting her forehead against mine.

"I love you too Steph. Are you planning a conversation with your grandma?" I asked.

"Eventually I'll need to talk to her. For now, I need to finish wrapping my head around the whole 'I had a twin' concept before I talk to grandma." She was a little overwhelmed.

"My love, you know she wouldn't keep something so important from you. I seriously doubt your grandma knew," I attempted to comfort her. Mentally, I crossed my fingers hoping I was telling her the truth.

"Angel?" Hector knocked on my door. He was reluctant to open the door, probably wondering if we were having a pre-work love session.

"Enter," she called out. We were still in the same seated position when he opened the door. Hector smiled when he saw my wife sitting in my lap. She shifted her position to face him. "What's up hermano?" she asked.

"Your grandma Mazur is in the main lobby asking for you," he replied.

"I guess I'm having that conversation now," she muttered. "Hector, can you bring her up to my apartment?" He nodded as he walked from the room.

Steph left my lap, leaving me missing her. She reached for my hand, silently asking me to join her. I fixed myself after standing to my feet. My wife gave me a knowing smile. She knows exactly the effect she has on me.

We held hands as we walked up the stairs to our Rangeman apartment. Hector was just exiting the elevator with Stephanie's grandmother when we arrived outside our apartment door. Her grandmother rolled her teeth around in her mouth before approaching us. She looked as reluctant for this conversation as Stephanie.

Stephanie unlocked the door and opened it wide for her grandmother. Edna walked past me and pinched my ass. I forgot to avoid her fast hands. My wife laughed when I jumped.

Edna sat on the couch next to Stephanie. A few awkward moments of silence passed before Edna started to speak. "I knew your mother was pregnant for twins with you and Valerie. When she went into labour, she had Angie Morelli take her to the hospital. Other than Helen, the doctor and nurses, only Angie knows what happened. Angie and Helen have been best friends since they were children. They even made a pact for you and Joe to get married."

If I was angry to learn this, I could only imagine how angry Stephanie would be. "What about the twins?" Steph asked almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Helen said only one child survived both times, but that isn't what happened. Isn't it?" Edna asked.

"Not even a little bit," Stephanie spat out.

"I didn't know she gave your sisters to Ellen. Your aunt left home at a very young age. She's a lot like you. Independent, strong willed and wanted to live life on her terms. Ellen left home and I never heard from her since. I always suspected she stayed in contact with her sister, but they have always been good with hiding their intentions. If I had known what they were planning to do, I would have stopped them. I believed Helen when she said the one of the twins died," she explained.

"Mom lied to everyone except her sister and friend?" Stephanie asked. "What about the doctor and nurses. Surely they know the truth."

"Apparently her friend, sister, doctor and nurses know the truth. I wonder how they got away with their deception," Edna commented.

"I'm glad you weren't part of her charade. I'll be locating the doctors and nurses. I want to know if they continued practicing medicine after that farce," Stephanie stated. They hugged each other before Stephanie escorted her from the building.