Sorry for not posting in ages, hopefully you still follow the story :)

Thanks again for the reviews, I love to read them!

Not mine, not making money

From chapter 13:

I made my way to the office in my apartment and Ranger followed. He stopped and stared at the wall with the photos. I could guess which photo he was looking at. The one in the middle, the one with us laughing. I sat down, focused on Ranger in front of me and my desk.

"You kept this picture?" he asked and I could almost swear his voice broke a little in the end. I thought about what to say to him.

"Yes." I said after a while. He was still looking at the picture. Stephanie was emerging from the bedroom but Charlotte refused to let her into the room. Ranger walked towards the picture and touched the picture frame with his fingers, looking almost longingly at it.

"I kept it too... It's on my bedside table. It's the first thing I look at in the morning and the last thing I see before I fall asleep."

"What do you mean?" I asked him after a long silence with me looking at his back, him looking at the picture on the wall. My voice sounded weak, weak from disbelief and deep down I was worried, happy and angry. I was totally confused.

"I mean that I've been looking at that picture for the last year. Every night when I go to sleep I wish you would be there and that I could hold you while we slept. Every night I dream about you, I feel sad to wake up to the reality in an empty bed. That's what I mean, babe."

I stared at him in disbelief, wanting to trust him, wanting to go back to when things were normal, to the good days like nothing had happened. But I couldn't, not after the way he hurt me that night. He had changed me from the shy and emotional Stephanie to the strong, smart and very private Charlotte who was best in the world at what she does. Better than Batman.

There was no way to describe the pain I went through and what it did to me but I gave my best shot.

"Ranger, as much as I want to believe the sweet things you tell me, I can't. I can't say that the night we shared together meant nothing, it meant the world to me. No please let me finish… As much as it meant it doesn't change the fact that I'm a changed woman these days. Being able to be Stephanie again for a few hours or days has been nice but it showed me the things I ran away from. I made a promise to myself that night while driving to the airport. My promise was to never let my heart be ripped apart by a man ever again. The feeling of you walking over my heart was the most excruciating thing I've ever endured and I've been tortured more than enough. I thought that I knew pain but you took it to a whole another level."

Ranger looked pained as he looked at me but I kept on talking, he needed to know this and I wasn't even sure if I could stop now even if I wanted to. The dam had burst

"By the time I landed in Europe I was another person. I had left Stephanie on the plane to cry over the loss of her heart and I was Charlotte now, the strong, confident, beautiful and private woman who became the leading security expert in Europe. We manage a couple of the world's leading banks, monarchs and heads of states. We do that. I have never in my life been so happy over my job than I am now, I feel pleased over what I've accomplished. I've never been so proud."

And yet I was so lonely but I wasn't going to tell him that. I wouldn't let him know that I cry myself to sleep almost every night. I'm not going to tell him that I missed his touch every single day we were apart. No I was going to see the Charlotte I was during the day.

"Babe…"

"No I'm not finished yet. I became you, Ranger. I became quiet, kept things to myself and trusted only my employees, I became good at shooting, and I started to enjoy it. I can bring in a FTA without having to chase him through gardens. I don't blow up my car anymore, when I drive I go into the zone, I workout voluntarily. I don't eat dessert on any other day than Saturday. I became Charlotte, the badass bounty hunter and security expert. I became the job. Finally I feel like Wonder Woman, I feel like I could fly if I wanted to. And I can't change that. You need to realize that Stephanie is gone, Ranger. She's long gone. The girl you fell in love with is no longer here. I'm Charlotte the total opposite of Stephanie and you need to figure that out. As much as I would like for you to stay, I can't let you do that. From this day forward you're just one of the colleagues I've concurred. It's nothing personal, it's just business."

I stood up and left the room. I felt bad for a moment but remembered what I'd said to him, "its just business". That was me now a days, strictly business on business hours, a complete wreck the time I was alone.

I walked over to the living room and looked outside. It was a pretty day with the sun shining and the birds singing. My mind was filled with too much information and I knew I was going to have a headache later on.

I could feel that Ranger followed me and turned my back to the windows. He stood there with his blank face on and stared at me.

"I would appreciate if you would leave now and pack your bags. I will make the arrangements for you to fly back home to the States later tonight. Say my greetings to Connie, Lula and the rest of the merry men. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work, concurring the whole world of security."

Before any of us had the time to move an ear piercing sound was heard and the glass windows shattered. I turned around and saw that three men in black clothes and masks stormed inside the living room. I could barely register the thought "gun" before one of the masked men had shot me straight in my abdomen. I could hear somebody screaming but this time it wasn't me. I fell limply on the floor, blood pouring out of the wound. It must have ripped apart some of the stitches because I was bleeding so badly.

I turned my head around just in time to see the men shoot down Ranger. Now I was positive the scream was mine. He fell onto the floor, eyes closed and unconscious or worse. Wet tears soaked my cheeks as I thought about Ranger being possibly dead.

My thoughts were interrupted by the men leaning over me. I could hear one of them laughing and recognized the laughter immediately.

"Petrucha, what do you want?" I spat out at him. The laughter went on.

"You know what I want, darlin'. I want to finish what I've started. Pick her up boys."

I felt strong hands grab me and pull me out of the room via the windows. As I began to lose consciousness I could still see that they had parked a car just outside my windows. Mental note: Never let any cars on the yard.

I was thrown inside the large trunk and I collided with something hard. The thing groaned. I moved myself so that I wasn't on him anymore. I found his hand in the darkness and squeezed it slightly.

"Oh my god, is it you Adam?"

Reviews? :)