Ranger POV
She had called me. In the middle of a damn staff meeting, after six months of no contact, she had finally called me. And jackass that I am, I sent the call to voicemail.
I had left dozens of messages, and she never called me back. I had tried to break into her apartment and she had installed a new floor bolt and electronic monitoring. I saw her on the street and she literally ran from me, my emails were never responded to, and my letters all returned unopened. I had no idea what I did, but she'd avoided me, my men and my building like the plague.
I was so surprised when Tank's phone rang that I almost jumped in my chair. It had taken her four minutes, but she had called him. I knew if she was in serious trouble, she would.
My heart started to race and adrenaline forced its way into my system. She was in trouble and I hadn't bothered to answer the damn phone. Tank practically ran from the room to his office. That ended the pointless staff meeting and I dismissed the men.
I stormed over to my office. I knew I was storming, and I didn't really care. I was a stupid jackass. The woman I loved had called and I didn't answer the damn phone because it hurt that she went to such great lengths to avoid me and I wanted to hurt her back. Damnit, I was acting like I was back in high school.
I could hear Tank practically yelling into the phone so I knew I couldn't call her back right away. I needed to cool off, get this adrenaline out of my system, and center myself once more. I started to pace, so that I could think; at least, that's what I told myself.
I knew the guys blamed me for her avoidance act. I honestly had no idea what was going on with her. One day she and I were having dinner on seven; the next day I couldn't get her to look at me; the day after that, all her Rangeman paraphernalia shows up at the front desk. Her key fob, her uniforms, her Glock, even my SEALS hat, just sitting in a box on the front desk waiting for me. The woman we had hired to sit down there and direct visitors called and said Steph had just dropped it off with the parting words, "Here's everything."
I had initially assumed Morelli had made demands and she had caved. But I'd watched and she was still a bounty hunter, she was thinner and more toned, she was having fewer problems with her skips. And she'd been dating another man, aside from the Italian Asshole, when the box appeared. We couldn't figure out who he was, but we knew she was seeing someone else because she had slipped up in conversation with Lester and mentioned him. For the last three months, she's only been seen with Morelli, but I didn't think he was behind her with-drawl.
I was proud as hell of her. She was getting training. I couldn't figure out who was training her, but they were doing a damn good job. She'd been working hard and hadn't had any problems with stalkers, contracts, cars or skips that we knew about.
While we were all at a loss as to what caused her to literally run from all of us in public, I was still fending off advances by Jean Ellen, Kari, the girl at the front desk, and most women I met. I didn't want any other woman, just my Babe. And if I couldn't have her, I didn't want anyone else. I would accept no substitutions.
I knew several of the men in this office felt the same way about her that I did. I wouldn't stop them from pursuing her. They just had to understand that I was never going to stop loving her, no matter what happened. Lester, Tank and I had gotten drunk enough one night to discuss it, and I knew they wanted her the same way I did. We had proposed going to her and offering a shared arrangement, but in the light of day, I had talked them down. I'm a selfish bastard and I was finally in a place to offer her more. I had tried to open that door slowly with her about a month before she ran, and had never had a chance to build it into anything.
Maybe the guys were right, maybe she needed more than one of us could give, broken as we are. She'd never been a traditional girl. Maybe we could all be happy. I knew Morelli wouldn't last much longer, he would start making demands soon and she would turn away, just as always. Maybe she would see this time that he didn't want all of her, just parts, and that wouldn't be enough to go back. Maybe we could take the next chance we had and show her that we loved her, all of her. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I hated this and I loved her so damn much.
I heard Tank bolt from his office and stepped out in time to see Lester and Hector flank him into the stairwell. They were three of my best men, my best friends, and they would take care of her until I got onto the scene. I was moving to follow them when I heard her voice coming from the control room. I stood frozen for a few seconds before I realized it was the watch I had given her with tracking and audio installed.
Even after I realized where her voice was coming from, I stood frozen and listened to the conversation. I had a ball of lead weighing me down when I listened to the tone of her voice and the slightly slurred speech of the person she was talking to. All activity on the floor had come to an abrupt halt.
"I need to talk to you, Joe. Are you sober enough for a serious conversation?"
He was drinking enough that she had to ask that? How did we not know this?
"Get in here, Cupcake. It's time we got a few things straight."
"Please let go of my arm. I'm coming in."
Shit, if he was hurting her, I was going to kill him, cop or no cop. She moved and the sound of the door shutting and bolting sent a small tendril of fear through me.
"Go get me another beer and get into the living room." It was a command, not a request.
She moved through the house and the fridge door opened, closed, bottles clinked, and a deadbolt turned. Good girl, leaving herself an exit. She moved back and sat down somewhere in the living room after he made a grunting noise and the bottles clinked again.
"Joe, please listen to me."
"No, Cupcake, you listen. I'm done with you running around making a fool of me. You've been such a good girl since you stopped seeing Manoso, but it's time to give up the job and get this all settled."
"Settled. Yes, it's time we settled a few things. I'm not interested in having children, getting married or moving into the Burg. You and I have a lot of history and I'd like to be your friend, but I can't be in this relationship anymore."
Her voice was calm, but I could hear the fear. The fear was justified. There was a loud thud and she cried out. I almost bolted out the door when his next words stopped me in my tracks.
"No one wants you, whore. You'll do what you were raised to do, have my babies, keep my home, service my dick, and you're not leaving this house until I've gotten that through your brainless skull. Ranger's not going to rescue you this time. He can't. I've made sure he'll be busy tonight. His band of thugs is going to get arrested right along with him. His Jersey Penal Stop-Over Station is going to get shut down."
He was laughing and I knew what that meant. There were Feds headed this way with a warrant. Too bad I already knew that and cleaned the entire building weeks ago. I looked at the men. I nodded and Cal nodded back. We were clear.
"Joe, I'm leaving town."
Every man in the room stiffened. She couldn't leave. We may not have seen much of her lately, but she couldn't disappear from our lives completely. We had tried to shadow her for a while, just to be sure she was alright, but after the first month, she slipped past every man, including myself, and we admitted defeat. She also found every tracking device and mailed them back to the office. Some, she mailed to Miami, Boston or Atlanta, just to change things up.
"You're not going anywhere, Cupcake."
There was still laughter and now a smug sense of self assuredness in his voice. I hated him just a little more every second I listened to this and rage was building inside of me.
"I'm leaving and you're going to let me. Or I'm going to allow certain documents, videos, audio recordings and pictures to be released to certain individuals."
Her voice had gone colder than I'd ever heard it. There was another, louder thud and then Morelli started laughing. It was a sick sound that turned my stomach and spiked the fear already swimming through me. We heard him moving around, more thudding, her groaning in pain, and then he began to talk.
"You're not going anywhere, Cupcake. I'm never letting you leave here and I'll take away all your toys so you won't get rescued. Then I'll find what you've done with what you have and destroy it. You'll be mine forever."
The sick laughter sounded again, sending us all almost over the edge.
"While I have you just as I like you, I'll get started on teaching you how to please me."
When I heard the zipper, I bolted for the stairs, followed by Cal and Bobby. I couldn't really hear anything above the noise of my heartbeat and harsh breathing in my ears.
We burst out of the stairwell in the garage and raced the nearest Explorer past the gates and through the city streets. I didn't care that he was drunk. I had learned that the actions and thoughts that come out while under the influence of anything aren't because of the intoxicant, but because the intoxicant has cleared the path for the actions and thoughts that have always been under the surface. It's a matter of inhibition being removed.
I was going to kill him. My instincts were screaming that if I didn't end this permanently, he would always be a threat. And I couldn't let a threat to my Babe continue to walk around, no matter how strong she was now. I was going to protect her and I was never going to let her run again. Consequences be damned.
