A/N: This is a big one, folks. I hope you like it. I highly recommend reading Chapter 6 of Starting Over – Chapter Interludes before reading this chapter, as it illuminates some of Ranger's thoughts before the events that take place during this chapter. It's not mandatory reading, however.

Trigger Warning: Violence: domestic abuse, suicide.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Stephanie POV

The sun shone brightly through the window when I awoke the following morning. I stretched my limbs as I lay there, wondering what time it was. When I checked my phone's display, I bolted upright. Zoë should be awake by now. She's not the type of kid to just watch cartoons quietly, so I knew I had to check on her.

I got out of bed and walked toward her room, pausing when I heard a noise from the living room. I turned and headed in that direction instead, freezing when I saw the domestic tableau before me.

The Dick was sitting on our couch, flipping through the newspaper he still insisted we have delivered, preferring the feel of the pages instead of reading the news online like most normal people did these days.

Zoë was sitting on the floor in front of him, eating Cheerios from a bowl on the coffee table. When I entered the room, she looked up and said, "Mama, look! It's Daddy! Daddy's home!"

My heart dropped into my stomach, and I felt a lump in my throat as I stared at him.

"Hello, Muffin," he said with a gleam in his eye.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out.

He narrowed his eyes. "I live here. As do you."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "You know we are in the process of changing that," I said, trying to be vague in front of Zoë.

He shrugged. "For better or for worse, until death do we part." His words were calm, but I could detect the anger in his tone.

I stepped forward until I was next to Zoë and picked her up, holding her on my hip. I picked up her cereal bowl with my other hand and walked into the kitchen. I set her down at the kitchen table, and she continued eating her cereal, unperturbed at the change in locale. I took several deep breaths and felt Richard's hands grip my waist tightly. I remembered the lessons from Ranger and threw him off, whirling around to face him. "Don't touch me," I hissed, trying to keep Zoë from realizing what was happening. "You lost the right ever to touch me again."

He sneered at me. "You're my wife, Stephanie. You will always be my wife, no matter how many little lawyers you send after me."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you tell Debra the same thing?"

Anger flared in his eyes, and before I knew what was happening, he had backhanded me across the cheek. My head lurched back, and I could hear Zoë shouting, "Daddy, no! Don't hurt Mama!" I whimpered and tried to focus, but I had little black spots clouding my vision. I could hear my cell phone ringing distantly.

He reached out and cupped my cheek. "Why did you make me do that?" he asked sadly. "You should learn when to keep your mouth shut."

I jerked out of his grasp and picked up Zoë to leave the kitchen, but he blocked my path. "Zoë! Go to your bedroom now," he spat out. She looked scared, and I was terrified of what she might see or what he might do to her. I didn't know this man standing before me, and I had no idea what he might do next.

I set her down and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "go play with your toys in your room, Zo-zo. I'll come to get you in a little while, okay? Don't come out until I come to get you," and kissed her cheek. She nodded nervously and left.

I stood up and squared off to face Richard. "I am going to pack up our stuff, and then we'll leave. You can have the apartment. I don't give a fuck anymore. But if you ever touch me again, I will call the police on you."

He let out a short, harsh, barking laugh. "I guess you do know where to find them, don't you, Muffin?"

I didn't reply. He continued, "here's what's going to happen, Stephanie. You are going to withdraw the divorce filing. You will return to our home, and our lives will continue as they have been."

My smile grew as he continued talking. It had only been a few weeks since I walked into our bedroom, and my entire life had changed, but I had grown physically and mentally stronger. Jeanne Ellen had significantly boosted my self-worth with her constant pep talks, which slowly eroded during five years of marriage. I would not take his crap any longer, and he can't browbeat me into staying his submissive wife.

"Well, Dick," I began, emphasizing my new nickname for him, "that's just not gonna work for me. See, I am leaving you. I've already left. Zoë is coming with me. I can work with you to discuss a reasonable visitation schedule, but that's it."

Richard's face grew steadily redder while I talked, and when I finished, he pulled a gun from his waistband at his lower back and pointed it in my face. My heart stopped, and time started crawling. Please don't let him be so far gone that he thinks this is an acceptable alternative to divorce. Tears began to course down my cheeks.

The landline started ringing, startling Richard, who swung around. His gun was no longer in my face, and I took a deep breath of relief but cut it off with a scream as he shot at the phone. His shot went wide, and the bullet embedded into the kitchen wall. I could hear my cell phone ringing again.

Richard swung back around to face me, raising his gun hand again. "Shut up, you stupid bitch!" I couldn't stop the tears from coming, but I attempted to keep silent. I couldn't let him kill me; Zoë needed me. He stared at me, cold fury emanating from every pore. "Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone, Steph? Why did you have to go poking your nose into my business?"

I didn't answer. Somehow, I don't think he wants me to reply. He muttered to himself for the next thirty minutes while pacing, but he didn't stop training his gun on me. My tears had long since stopped, but the evaporated tear tracks on my face were still present.

I could hear my cell phone continue to sound off intermittently, and I wondered who was trying to get in touch with me so urgently. People rarely called me these days, preferring to send texts. I wondered if Zoë was okay, but Richard wouldn't let me leave the kitchen to check on her. I had tuned out Richard's grumblings after the first few minutes, but as I heard Debra's name, I refocused on what he was saying. "…another fucking bitch, keeping me to heel with her Daddy's money. At least she lets me fuck her in the ass, unlike my frigid-ass wife. Lets me tape her, too. Have to hide fucking cameras in my bedroom."

I was numb by now. He wasn't telling me anything I didn't know, at least about myself. At least he didn't seem like he was actually going to shoot me anymore, even if he was still waving the gun around.

Another ten minutes went by. By now, I was itching to check on Zoë. It was too quiet in her bedroom. I hoped she had fallen asleep. I hoped this latest stunt by The Dick would ensure I'd get sole custody and not even have to allow him to visit with her. I was definitely going to make sure the police knew he had held us hostage. But how in the hell am I going to get us out of here?

I cleared my throat softly. "Richard. What's your plan here? You can't keep us with you by gunpoint. Why can't you just let us go?"

"You belong with me, and you have since I first met you. And I am not letting you leave me and take my daughter with you. We. Are. A. family," he spat out, punctuating each word by tapping the gun's barrel on my temple. He left it pressed into me, pushing it against my head.

I opened my mouth to speak again, but I was stopped by the sharp knocking on the apartment's front door. Richard whipped his head toward the sound and angrily asked, "who the fuck are you expecting, Stephanie?"

I shook my head minutely. "No one, I swear." Even though I wasn't expecting anyone, I had a feeling I knew who was at the door. I could feel a slight tingle at the back of my neck, and only one person had ever caused that reaction in me.

He motioned for me to stand up and whispered, "whoever it is, get rid of them. If you warn them I'm here, I will kill you."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and walked to the door. When I opened it, to see Tank and Ranger standing there. I closed my eyes in relief but immediately reopened them. "Hi, guys," I said nervously. "What are you doing here?" I only opened the door a crack.

They exchanged looks, and Ranger said, "Babe, what's going on? Are you okay?"

From behind me, I heard Richard's outraged voice as he shouted, "Babe? Who the fuck is calling you Babe? Why the fuck is he calling you Babe, Muffin?"

I closed my eyes again, this time in disbelief. Only this fucking idiot would warn me against saying anything to betray his presence only to get so irate that he does it himself. Dick wrenched the door open and pointed the gun at Tank and Ranger. "Why are you calling my wife Babe?" He didn't appear to notice Ranger and Tank were each brandishing weapons.

Ranger didn't say anything, just watched Richard warily. Richard waved them forward with a nod while grabbing me around the waist with one hand. He pressed the gun back to my temple, and I saw the anger in Tank's eyes. "Where's the Squirt, Steph?" he asked softly.

"Don't worry about my daughter, Tank," Richard sneered. "You have no right to ask about her."

"Richard, I just want to make sure your daughter is okay," Tank said placatingly. "You want her to be okay, right?"

"She's fine. She's in her room," Richard replied dismissively.

"Can I check on her?" Tank asked.

"I said, she's fine. Stephanie here was just telling me how much she still loves me. I know she's been living with you in Trenton. We need you to pack their stuff and send it back home. We will have a second honeymoon here to reaffirm our marriage vows."

Ranger was staring into my eyes, and I was trying to read his expression. Since he usually wore a blank face, I wasn't used to seeing anything there. But I felt The Dick squeezing my waist tightly as he spoke to Tank. I remembered Ranger teaching me self-defence. What did he say when someone was holding me like this? Oh yeah. I dropped my hips a little, and his grip loosened. At the same time, I wrapped my arms around myself and under his arm. I pushed outward and broke his grasp. I dropped down and rolled away. Ranger moved in front of me, hiding me from Richard's view.

Tank had immediately stepped forward and trained his gun on The Dick. Richard laughed sardonically and said, "It doesn't matter, Tank. I'm not going back to jail. I will not let that bitch take away my entire life."

The next part felt like it happened in slow motion. It took many months of therapy to figure it out, and I still wonder if I could have done anything to prevent it. Richard raised his gun, gave a mock salute, then stuck the barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

A/N: The end of this chapter sounds like an ending, but it's not. We still have a long way to go to get to Steph's happy ending.