Disclaimer: I do not own the characters created by Janet Evanovich. I just really really wish I did!! I am just using them in this story.

Carmella smiled sweetly and practically skipped into the underwear shop. I could swear I heard Ranger whimper. Perhaps The Wizard wasn't so fearless after all. I smiled and followed Carmella in with Ranger behind me, probably cursing his daughter. I had to hand it to her; the girl knew how to wind people up. She knew which buttons to press and could turn from bubbly fifteen year old to fearless killer in a heartbeat. I already had a lot of admiration for her. She suddenly popped up from behind a display and waved a black thong in Ranger's face. He almost fell over backwards.

"What do you think of this one?" She grinned. I smiled back.

"I like it, it's very…kinky." Kinky? Where the hell had that come from? Ranger glared at me. Ok, so maybe he wasn't fully forgiven for being an ass. I'm sure a day's shopping with me and Carmella would teach him a lesson he'd never forget! Carmella nodded at me.

"That's what I thought to. You can never have enough kinky underwear." She threw them into her shopping basket and then handed the basket to Ranger.

"Make yourself useful and hold this." She instructed and disappeared again. Ranger looked like how I'd felt in the bar, didn't want to touch anything and didn't particularly want to breath the air on offer. There was suddenly a shout of.

"Dad, catch!" and a lacy bra came flying through the air and landed on Ranger's head. I burst out laughing at the sight of the Ranger with a bra on his head. I wished I had a camera, maybe I could ask the shop for the security tape. Ranger pulled the bra of his head and dropped it in the basket. I smiled at him, trying to impersonate Carmella's sickly sweet grin. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Don't encourage her. It's bad enough that I have to be here." He hissed.

Twenty minutes later, the basket was full of various undergarments, including a new bra and panties set for me which Carmella had convinced me into getting. Ranger was at the till and shifting uncomfortably as all the items were scanned.

"That will be $298.99." the assistant smiled. Ranger turned and stared at Carmella in amazement, then handed over a credit card to the assistant. She scanned it and handed Ranger the bags of underwear. He led us out of the shop in silence. When we were out of the shop, he turned to Carmella

"$300 worth of underwear? That is ridiculous Carmella, you can't possibly need all this!" he scolded. She stared at him.

"I do, I swear. I left most of my things in Florida." She explained sweetly. Ranger groaned.

"You're going to bleed me dry." He muttered. Carmella planted a kiss on his cheek

"Gracias Papa!" she smiled. He smiled briefly, then smiled at me. I grinned then looked at Carmella.

"Where to now?" I asked.

After four hours and over $3500, I was beginning to think that Ranger's fortune was more legitimate then I'd first anticipated. But then, he owned his own business and he was the best at what he did. I don't know why I'd ever doubted his income. Carmella was very happy as she now had a completely new wardrobe. She was lucky to have such a caring (and rich) father. We walked out of the mall towards the car. It had been a fun day. Strange, but fun.

He watched the trio walk towards the car; the girl was skipping and laughing, the woman laughing with her and the man watching over them, smiling. This was the worst task he could have ever been set. That's probably why they gave it to him. A sick, twisted punishment. He stared at the girl. She was so much like his daughter. He could tell, even from here, that she had the same playful spirit. He hit his head against the steering wheel. Fuck it, he couldn't do this. He turned the keys in the ignition when his phone rang. He turned off the engine and picked it up.

"Yeah?"

"Going somewhere?" The oh-to-familiar voice asked.

"Fuck you, I'm not going to do this. This is sick. They look like a happy family. I've got no incentive. You guys are sick fuck's, do you have a problem with happy families or something?" There was silence at the other end. He knew he'd gone too far.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that because I know you're upset right now, but you wanna be careful spouting out crap like that because one day you're going to say it to the wrong person. Now you need to remember it is either them or you. You don't want to go around saying crap like that because one day you may find yourself with a fucking great hole in your head. Just remember that. Now do your job and stop being such a fucking pussy." The line went dead. He sighed and turned the key in the ignition. They had almost reached the car. It was now or never. He revved the car and stamped down on the accelerator. The car screeched towards the happy three. The girl saw him first. She screamed and ran to get out of the way, but tripped. He smiled, maybe this was going to be easier then he'd thought.

Carmella suddenly shrieked. I spun around and saw the car hurtling towards us. Ranger grabbed my arm and pulled me onto the pavement. Carmella tried to run and dodge out of the way, but tripped and fell in the path of the speeding car. Ranger turned and saw her lying in the road, clutching her ankle and crying in pain and terror.

"Carmella!" he shouted and glanced at the car before darting out into the road. I closed my eyes and turned away. There was the sound of tyres screeching and a thump. Then it all went quiet.

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Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and please keep on reading and reviewing. Again, am always glad to hear suggestions. I hope you like this chapter and the next should be up soon coz I'm on study leave!!!!