Chapter 5

I went into my apartment to give it a final clean. There were a few items I needed to send to the thrift shop. My fridge, stove, toilet and bathtub needed to get thoroughly cleaned.

The lease on my apartment expired a few days after I moved in with my husband. We got married a few days ago, which happened to be the day I moved in. I was doing a final clean of my apartment when Morelli arrived. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Can't I visit my girlfriend?" he sneered. Joe was wearing the jeans that accentuated his ass. He was known to have the sexiest ass in Trenton. I thought it was true until I saw my husband wearing tight jeans. Thinking about my husband had my temperature increasing. He is one sexy man. Did someone turn up the heat?

I haven't been Joe's girlfriend for a long time. It's hilarious he thought entering my old apartment uninvited would automatically make us date again. "Does she live in the building?" I asked suspiciously. A chill ran through my body. For his sake, I truly hoped he didn't try anything. My husband or my Merry Men would kill him. If he valued his job at all, he would back off and leave before it was too late.

"She does. Actually, she lives in this apartment," Joe said, strutting towards me. I kept a close eye on him and pressed the button in my pocket. My husband would answer my panic alarm within minutes. As Joe got closer, I could smell the stale beer on his breath. The drunken fool was messing with the wrong woman.

"Really? It doesn't look like anyone lives here," I stated as I motioned to the empty room behind me. Joe looked angry but didn't take his eyes off me to look around the room. The apartment was devoid of all furniture. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that I moved.

My bedroom window opened before I heard someone enter my apartment. Joe kept ranting about me quitting my job and marrying him. I resisted the urge to scream that I was already married. My spidey sense quickly settled down when I realized my friend would keep me safe.

I felt Hector before I saw him. He was standing to Joe's left, waiting for him to make a move. My husband, followed by Frank, Joe Juniak, and Eddie Gazarra, entered the empty apartment. They would all witness what Morelli was doing. "Her mother promised her to me after we made love in the Tasty Pastry before I left for the Navy," he stated.

"Don't you mean when you raped me in the Tasty Pastry?" I snapped. It took a while before I admitted what happened when I was sixteen. For many years I romanticized the event.

"You didn't even mean to say no, did you? Cupcake, you had a crush on me, and you wanted a piece of the Italian Stallion. I know you truly meant to say yes," he replied, finally confessing to what he did. It was a shame the statute expired several years ago.

I picked at the loose thread on the bottom of my tattered shirt as I thought about how to reply to his idiotic comment. Speaking in Italian, I said, "Uncle Frank, he broke into the apartment claiming to be visiting his girlfriend. We both know I'm not his girlfriend. He doesn't know."

Frank replied, "I always wondered if it was rape. Your Aunt Helen insisted you wanted to have sex with him." We were still conversing in Italian. The only people who couldn't understand were Morelli and Hector. Although I suspected Hector understood a few words.

"He stole my virginity. I was saving myself," I admitted to Frank. Switching back to English, I said, "No means no, Joe. It wasn't some secret message permitting you. The second I said no, you should have left." He pulled his arm back to hit me, but Hector stopped him.

I couldn't hear what my Hermano said, but judging from the look on Morelli's face, it must have scared him. Joe looked around the room and finally noticed we had company. "How long have you been here?" he asked as his face turned white.

Joe Juniak pressed a button on his phone to replay the video. "Since you entered the apartment. We know you've been following her. She moved out in the early morning hours while you were asleep in your own home. We arrived in the parking lot as you entered the building and followed you inside. When Stephanie pressed her panic button, we entered the apartment," uncle Joe stated. "I started recording when I exited the stairwell."

Morelli tried to come up with an excuse for being in the apartment. We both know he returned the key. I was interested to see what Joe had to say for himself. "I didn't break into the apartment because I have a key," he stated and produced the item.

"You returned the key," I reminded him.

"Your mom gave me this one. She said you wanted me to have it," he defended himself. If Helen said that to Joe, then he would believe her lie.

"Helen isn't my mom. My mother died a few months after I was born. It was the spare key for my Uncle Frank," I argued. I knew if he had a key, he technically wasn't breaking in.

"What the hell does that mean?" Joe screamed. "She gave birth to you, so it makes her your mother."

Stephanie laughed sardonically. "It seems Helen told one too many lies over the years that she believes them to be true. She is not my biological mother," Stephanie slowly said, hoping Morelli would finally understand.

"We can't charge him," Eddie reminded me.

"I know. It doesn't matter anyway. I don't live here anymore."

Morelli finally looked around the apartment. "Where's your furniture?" he demanded.

"Donated. My clothes are at my house," I replied. "I only came back to clean and pick up the clothes for donation."

My husband draped his left arm around my shoulder. I reached up with my left hand to hold his, putting my wedding band on display. Everyone in the room, except Morelli, knew I was married. "You married that thug?" Morelli shouted. He started waving his arms around and continued yelling. Thankfully, Eddie and uncle Frank escorted him from my old apartment.

I couldn't believe the nerve of the asshole. Joe only came around when he was desperate for sex. Morelli didn't want me, but he didn't want anyone else to have me either. His games got old over a year ago. Thanks to my Merry Men, I discovered I deserved more than Morelli or Ranger were offering.

Meanwhile, in Rangeman Miami, Ranger was dealing with drama from his pregnant wife. It was the reason he never returned to Trenton. He looked at the woman he married because of her pregnancy. Ranger didn't love her but didn't want his child to grow up without knowing his father. He was attempting to make right the wrong he made regarding Julie.

Her face contorted as a Braxton-Hicks contraction passed through her abdomen. She's been experiencing them more frequently, but not at regular intervals. The doctor said if she went into labour, she would know it.

Ranger watched as she opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. She did this several times before the stress became too much for her to handle. "Carlos, I can't do this anymore," she cried while rubbing her baby bump. Her due date was in 3 weeks. Ranger thought she was due in 7 weeks.

"Do what, Babe?" Ranger asked. He called all his women Babe. It was easier than accidentally saying the wrong name during sex. His heart belonged to another woman, but he ended their relationship before his latest mission. When he was with Stephanie, she was the only one. He didn't share his woman with his friends, and Ranger remained monogamous.

"Pretend my baby belongs to you. I was already pregnant before we slept together," she hung her head, ashamed of her actions. "I was planning to pass it off as being a month early."

"Were you ever planning to tell me?" he barked. He could have been home with Stephanie. Instead, he endured this sham of a marriage. Having sex with this woman made him feel empty inside. He married her to give his son a name and support. Now that he learned it wasn't his child, he didn't want to help.

"No," she confessed. She was hoping Ranger would forgive her for the lie. Lyra cried as she begged for forgiveness.

Ranger climbed out of his Rangeman Miami bed, gathered her clothes and threw them at her. He removed the apartment and all other fobs from her key chain. "Get dressed, then leave. One of my men will drive you home," he said, barely containing his venom. This situation was one of the many reasons his life didn't lend to relationships. Women either took advantage of his looks or wealth. He was getting too old to continue playing these immature games. Ranger wasn't a complete asshole. He transferred 200 000 to Lyra's bank account as she dressed. "I'm giving you money to raise your bastard. Do not call, text or contact Rangeman hoping to talk to me. Expect divorce papers."

Tank, Bobby and Lester knew the government did not extend Ranger's last mission. Ranger met Lyra during his mission nearly a year ago. Lyra Stirling was only an inch shorter than Ranger, slightly taller than his Trenton Babe. She has long, straight brown hair and green eyes. Her breasts were slightly larger than Stephanie's, and her pre-pregnancy body was toned before the baby expanded her abdomen.

Lyra was on leave from her military service contract. She had high clearance like Ranger. He got prepared to live in Miami permanently and give up hope of being with the woman he truly loved. Ranger sat in his office thinking about when everything started to go wrong.

A month into his mission, he got forced to marry a young woman named Tatyana. He took her virginity on their wedding night. Ranger tolerated Tatyana and felt guilty for sleeping with her. She was a gorgeous woman he met in Columbia as part of his mission, but he would not love her. Her drug lord father needed to die before any more drugs reached America. He tried to maintain his distance from her, but she was very clever in getting him to have sex with her.

Tatyana spilled her secrets during their intimate moments. When her father died, she was distraught and took her own life. She was only twenty when he found her in their shared home, lying half-dead in their bed. Tatyana breathed her last breath as Ranger held her in his arms. At that moment, he realized how much she resembled his true love, Stephanie.

Lyra happened to be in the right place at the right time. He used her for comfort after learning Stephanie may have started a new relationship with one of his men. Tank wasn't entirely sure because they never acted like a couple at Rangeman. It's possible Tank knew but wanted to prevent hurting his friend.

Ranger knew sleeping with Lyra was unwise, but he did it anyway. He was trying to get over the hurt of potentially losing Stephanie. Now that Lyra isn't even carrying his child, he had no reason to remain in Miami. It was time to go home and be with Stephanie. Ranger hoped he wasn't too late.

When he arrived in Rangeman Trenton, Ranger scrambled the security feeds on the roof to sneak into the building. He didn't want anyone to know he returned home.

I heard Lester and Bobby talk about Ranger. They were speaking in Spanish. I understood every word because my man and Hector taught me during the last year. Only the three of us knew I understood and spoke the language. Ranger's mission finished around nine months ago. He only stayed in Miami because he thought a woman was pregnant with his child.

As he did with Rachel, he married her. She eventually confessed, telling him the baby wasn't his. Their divorce was already in the works. Meanwhile, he missed out on his chance to reconcile with me. He broke my heart, and once upon a time, I hoped to have more with him. They also said before he married Lyra, he married his target's daughter Tatyana. He was not in love with her, and she killed herself. It must have been horrible feeling guilty for Tatyana taking her own life. I felt sorry for him, but he made his own decisions.

Ranger would rather marry two strangers instead of committing to me. I felt more hurt than the day he broke up with me. It was a betrayal of sorts. Loving Ranger was too hard. He was my best friend before becoming my lover and boyfriend. I wasn't sure if we could ever be friends again. Ranger had a lot of work to do for me to trust him again. The knife cut deeper when they said Ranger realized he made a mistake breaking off our relationship and hoped I would give him another chance.

My husband heard the chatter occurring near me. He sat beside me and held my hands. "Are you okay?"

I knew what I thought would so on my face. "In time," I confessed, speaking quietly in Italian. "Ranger betrayed our friendship and anything we had between us. Ranger doesn't know we got married." Getting involved with Woody and marrying him was the best decision I ever made. He put me first. I was his first and only choice.