Unapologize

By:PricklySare

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Mrs. Manoso Faces the Past

Steph's POV

Once Ranger came back to the penthouse after dealing with Hades, he and I spent two entire days tearing up the sheets, rolling around the floor, sprawling across the counter, and holding up the walls around the apartment. In between bouts of love making, he'd filled me in on what he and Lester had learned from the dipshit.

Amazingly, the knowledge that Morelli was the one who'd requested the surveillance photos that had ended up in the possession of Ranger's contact in Mexico, hadn't fazed me. At least not in the beginning. Now, after our marathon session of fantastic, mind blowing, rock the building's foundation sex, I was ready to have a few words with the man who had wanted to change me.

Ranger was sprawled on his back, one armed wrapped around me, while I was draped across his massive chest. Our legs were entangled, and I was taking pleasure in the texture of his skin as I trailed my hand along his naked skin. "We should deal with Morelli today," I said softly, kissing a flat Hersey chocolate colored nipple.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I think it's time."

"How do you want to run it?" Ranger asked.

It still surprised me that he'd ask my opinion, but it was something I was definitely willing to get used to. "I'd like to talk to him."

He lifted his head from the pillow and looked down at me. Assessing. "Okay. When?"

I gave him a wicked smile and started trailing my lips along his skin. "I think we've got some time," I said.

"Excellent," he said flipping me onto my back and sheathing himself inside me.

I dug my nails into his shoulders, holding on as he drilled into me, all thought of Morelli fleeing from my sex hazed brain.

It took us until noon to get down to the conference room where Morelli was waiting. Ranger and I had rolled around in the sheets for a while longer before sleep claimed us again. When we finally climbed out of bed, it made perfect sense for us to shower together. That led to us holding up the walls for a few extra minutes, before we checked the stability of the bathroom counters. I was insatiable, and was damn happy that he seemed to be just as addicted to me.

When we arrived at the room, we stopped at the door. "Ready to do this, Babe?" Ranger asked.

"Yep," I said, smiling. With a nod and a smile at me, he opened the door, stepping aside so I could enter first. This was my show, and I was going to enjoy myself. "How are you enjoying your stay, Morelli?" I asked.

He'd been pacing like a caged animal and quickly turned and glared at me. Rage was rolling off him like a heatwave, and his eyes were bloodshot. "What the fuck is going on, Stephanie?"

I ignored him and said, "I've got a few questions for you, and you're going to answer them for me."

Ranger had shut the door behind us and was leaning casually against the wall, his arms crossed over of his chest. "Is that why the goon squad locked me up like a criminal, because you've got questions for me?" He shook his head, "Ever heard of the fucking phone, Hell, how about coming by and visiting? Or has Manoso become your keeper since he got back?"

"Carlos isn't my keeper," I said, let the name roll smoothly off my tongue. "No more than you wanted to be, anyway."

"It's Carlos now?" He snarled then looked over at Ranger and said, "It's a crime to kidnap an officer of the law, Manoso. Then again, you've never worried about the law." Ranger remained silent, the only indication that he'd heard Morelli was his raised eyebrow. "You've gone too far this time, and I'm going to enjoy bringing you down."

"You're not in a position to bring anyone down," I said walking over to where Ranger was. I asked, "May I?" He inclined his head, and I reached into one of his cargo pockets. When the packet of information Ranger had uncovered from his contact in Mexico was in my hand I faced Morelli again.

"What the fuck are you talking about? I'm a cop, it's my job to take down criminals."

I nodded at him in agreement. "Admittedly, I don't know much about legal punishments," I said. "But I'm pretty sure there's one for soliciting murder. Am I right?"

Morelli hesitated before he said, "Yes, but what the fuck does that have to do with me?"

"Is it bad?"

"Of course it is," he said.

"Then it looks like you're in a world of trouble. Cops don't fare well in prison, do they?"

He snorted, "What have you gotten yourself into this time?" His voice was condescending, just like it had been so many times during our...relationship.

Anger and resentment festered inside me. I opened the envelope removing the photos and asked with a voice that could have frozen a stronger man, "What was it like to offer money for the life of someone you were supposed to love? Was it just another day in the office, or did it cause you heartburn?"

"You've lost me," he said taking on a bored stance.

I nodded, "I thought that might happen, so I brought visual aids." I flipped through the pictures looking for one that Hades had supplied. When I'd found one, I handed the photo to Morelli before spreading the rest out on the table in front of me. His eyes went wide and his body tensed. "It's not the best picture of me, but what can you expect from security cameras," I said with a negligent shrug.

"What is this?"

I shook my head and sighed, "Give it up, Morelli. I already know you were responsible for the shootout at the gas station," I said. I decided to stretch the truth. Maybe I could make him sweat. I wanted answers and I knew I wouldn't get them if he thought he was safe, he'd spent too many years undercover to give in too easily. "The cops know as well."

"You're crazy. You can't pin this on me." He shot an angry look at Ranger and said, "This is your fault."

Before he could say anything else I said, "Actually, I can pin this on you." His eyes swung back to me. "I've got proof, and it doesn't make you look good."

"That's not possible," he said, his eyes looked...worried, but his voice was strong, sure.

"You screwed up. When you got pissed off that I didn't jump into your arms after Carlos was declared dead, you slipped up. No one who wasn't directly involved in the...incident...would have known about it."

"Anyone could have heard about it. I found out about it from the department," he said.

It struck me that he was an amazingly adept liar. Why had I never seen it before? "Bullshit," I snapped. "The department doesn't know about it. It was cleaned up by Homeland Security. " He swallowed hard, his adams apple bobbing, and it made me smile. "You didn't know that I was in the company of Homeland Security that day? Tsk Tsk. That's just shoddy police work," I sighed in exaggerated disappointment. "You're really slipping, Morelli."

I watched as his features softened, and I knew exactly what he was going to try and do. Bring it on, I thought smugly. Bastard.

"Cupcake, you've been under a lot of stress surrounded by these thugs. Come home, and marry me. We'll have a family, and I'll keep you safe."

I ignored the words 'marry me' and said, "Safe? Riiiight. The only person I seem to be in danger from is you."

"Why would I hurt you? I'm not a criminal. I'm the man who loves you."

This time I snorted, "From where I'm standing, you look just like a criminal."

"That's absurd. The only criminal here is Manoso. Come home, Cupcake. You know we're good together, and you'd never have to surround yourself with lowlifes again."

"Your song is getting old, Morelli. I'm not going anywhere with you. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. I told you before I'm right where I belong, and pretty soon, you will be too."

He took a step toward me and lifted his hand to touch my cheek. "We belong together."

I didn't step back, but I wanted to. Instead I blocked him with my left hand and said, "No we don't. I belong with my husband."

"I'll be your husband."

"How did you ever survive undercover?" I asked.

The question threw him off guard, and he said, "Because I'm good at my job. I catch the things other people don't."

"Like I said, you must be slipping."

"Not likely," he said. He was a cocky sonofabitch, and I was going to love dropping him a few pegs before life as he knew it ended.

"For someone who catches things other people don't, you're pretty damn oblivious to what's right in front of you."

His eyes locked like a laser beam on the rings that glinted in the overhead lights. "What the fuck? You can't be."

"Can't be what?" I asked, enjoying myself.

"Married...you're not."

"I promise you, I am," I said. "Aren't you going to congratulate us?"

His eyes never left the rings, but he dropped his arm. "When?"

"Two days ago." I waited for him to realize I got married the day he was locked up. Waited for his reaction, but he didn't seem to catch it. Really fucking oblivious.

"You wouldn't marry me, but you'd marry this...killer?" he snarled, his eyes finally leaving the rings and locking on mine.

"Obviously," I said. Man, had he always been this dense?

"Why? He doesn't love you."

"Easy," I said, a smile crossing my face. "He's got a bigger cock than you."

His jaw tensed, and the muscle in it started jumping. He was pissed. No man, especially one as arrogant as he was, would appreciate being told that his pride and joy had been measured and found...lacking. "Be a bitch if you want. You'll be singing a different tune when he gets bored and divorces you. You're just a challenge. He only wants you so I can't have you."

Anger spiked through me and I said, "Enough! Our marriage has nothing to do with you. He loves me more than you ever could. He's been everything to me for a very long time, and I've told you before...you never had a chance. You were nothing more than a temporary distraction."

He threw his arms in the air and started pacing. His temper was obviously boiling, and each word he said was louder than the last. "You know what, Babe," he said, his voice sarcastic...and something else. Crazy maybe? "You've never done anything right."

His words hurt a small part of me deep inside, but I knew what he was saying didn't really matter. He was cracking, and pretty soon I'd have the answers I needed. I decided to push a little harder, going with instinct rather than actual evidence I said, "At least I didn't hire street thugs to try and kill the person I supposedly loved."

"That's what I'm saying. You screw up everything you come in contact with!"

I was shocked. He had to be crazy. "You're blaming me because the men you hired to kill me were screw ups? What did you expect me to do? Jump up and say, 'Here I am!'?" My voice was matching him shout for shout now.

"You could have done what you were supposed to do!"

"What the fuck was that?" I yelled.

"Died! But no you had to be with those mammoth fuckers who once again saved your cheating ass!" He ran his hands through his hair clenching them into fists as he went.

I lowered my voice to a normal level, aware that Ranger was standing tense against the wall. "Why, Joe? Why would you want me dead?"

"You belonged to me. We were destined to be together, but you weren't listening. You weren't learning. You kept hanging around with him!" he yelled, pointing at Ranger. "I loved you, but all you saw was his money, his power, his...men."

I didn't think it was important to refute his statements. Ranger's money had never been important to me, neither had his power; but he was one hundred percent correct about and his men. They were my family. A family I'd never had before I had started working at Rangeman.

"You never loved me...you just loved what you thought I could be," I said, my voice soft. Morelli had been a good cop. A lousy boyfriend who couldn't keep his pants zipped, but a good cop. I wondered when it had all started going so wrong for him, and why I hadn't noticed it before. " I was a possession, nothing more." I ran my hands through my hair, "Why couldn't you just let me go? We didn't make each other happy."

"Because, it was supposed to be us."

"It was never supposed to be us. We never wanted the same things, and I never loved you."

"You would have if Manoso would have stayed away."

I shook my head. "When did you put the contract out?" I asked. He was silent, looking at me. "You might as well tell me. The cops are outside waiting for you, and I think I deserve to know."

He sighed, glancing toward the door, and then toward Ranger before saying, "Your mother called me the morning after your showdown with Val. She was in a state and asked me to come over."

"Why would she call you?" I asked.

"Because she knew I was in love with you, and figured I'd be the best person to talk sense into you."

I snorted. "There she goes, showing how well she knows me," I said, sarcasm thick in my words.

"I contacted this guy in Mexico, sent him half the payment up front, but when he didn't show I had to find someone else to do it."

A cold, unhappy laugh bubbled out of me, "The first hitman didn't show so you hired random street thugs? It's a good thing you had a day job," I said, rolling my eyes. I suddenly didn't care anymore. I wasn't a cop, it wasn't my job to get all the details. They'd heard him confess, they knew he'd done it. Let them finish it up. "You know what, Morelli? I've heard enough," I turned around and headed for the door, "I hope you have a nice life in jail. You'll make Bubba very happy."

His eyes flared in anger and he lunged. At first I thought he was coming for me, but it quickly became obvious he was going for Ranger. "You sonofabitch, you just had to have her, didn't you? None of this would have happened if you would have just left her alone."

Ranger did nothing more than shift slightly and Morelli was on the floor. When he tried to struggle up, Ranger placed a booted foot against his throat. "Don't move," he said. "I'd like nothing more than to kill you, but that's not nearly enough punishment. You're going away for a long time, Morelli."

The door opened, and Agent Cassidy was there along with a few local cops I recognized. "Joseph Morelli, you're under arrest for solicitation to commit murder. You have the right to remain silent ..."

Ranger and I watched as they hauled Morelli away, and I leaned against his solid strength. "I could use a vacation now," I said.

"It's all taken care of. We're leaving tonight," Ranger replied, kissing my curls.

"How long will we be gone?" I asked.

"As long as we want."

"Sounds great to me," I said.

"Have any plans for the rest of today?" Ranger asked me.

"Yep."

His eyebrow winged up in question. "Care to share?"

"You'll see," I said leading him toward the elevator. No reason the honeymoon couldn't start early.