Chapter Twenty-Five
Stephanie POV
Early the following day, Jeanne Ellen and I were ready to go in the car to drop off Zoë with Ella. Ella had assured us she'd be fine and had a day full of fun activities for Zoë. When we arrived, she seemed genuinely pleased to see her, so I relaxed about leaving Zoë behind. Ella was such a sweet woman, but I didn't think she'd agree to watch Zoë if she couldn't.
On our way to New York, Jeanne Ellen and I discussed the complaint I was about to make to the police. She had gathered some of the information Hector had, in addition to the photos she had taken of The Dick and his second family in Greenwich. She didn't want to include anything too obviously illegal for us to have, so instead, it was stuff I could have just come across as his wife.
I was beyond embarrassed to think of handing over web addresses and SD cards I had pulled from the cameras hidden in our bedroom. Still, after I had watched them in the privacy of the pool house, in my bed under the covers with the lights out, I had found that at the beginning of the SD card, there was a little bit with The Dick talking directly to the camera. He had said something about "the sex is much hotter when my wife has no idea she's being recorded." This was precisely what was needed to prove that I was being recorded illegally.
After discussing the legal part of our day, I told Jeanne Ellen about Ranger's offer to teach me self-defence. "Gigi, we should be back in Trenton by around four o'clock, right?"
"I suspect we'll be back long before then. Why do you ask?"
"Ranger offered to teach me how to defend myself. I thought it sounded like a good idea. I haven't been working out as much since I've been here due to all the shit that keeps coming at me, but I thought this might help me feel stronger physically, which might help me feel stronger emotionally," I explained.
She shrugged. "Tank and I can teach you too, you know."
"I know. Everyone can teach me, and I may take any of you up on the offer. But he said we'd do it before I went home for the day from working for him, and it seemed like convenient timing. Plus, he's nice to look at," I added with a sly grin.
She grinned. "That he is, but you remember what Mr. Manoso said, right?"
"I remember. And I will not do anything to jeopardize my custody or divorce cases. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the excellent scenery Rangeman has on offer."
"True. On another topic, if we get out of the police station early enough, do you want to go to Connecticut to visit the faux Mrs. Orr?"
My eyes widened at the possibility. "You know, I really would."
"I thought if you were going to confront your husband's wrongdoing, we might as well go the whole hog. Plus, at the end of next week, I start my case for the FBI, so I will be gone for at least a month, depending on how it goes. It might be longer."
"I'm going to miss you," I admitted. "I forgot how much I love hanging out with you. We've missed so much these past few years."
"I should be able to call you occasionally while I'm away. I'll have my phone turned off and hidden, but you can always leave a voice message. And Tank will still be here," she assured me.
My phone rang then, and I froze when I checked the display.
"Who is it?" Jeanne Ellen asked, noting my expression.
"It's The Dick."
"If you want to take the call, put it on speaker, and I can record it with my phone," she said, grabbing her phone from the center console.
I took a deep breath, pressed the button to accept the call, and switched it to speaker mode.
"Hello, Richard," I answered, hoping I sounded calm.
"Stephanie, what the fuck is going on? You go on a vacation and hit me with divorce papers?" The Dick sounded angry, and I hated to admit it even to myself, but I felt a little afraid of him.
"Richard, I caught you in our bed with our nanny. Did you think I'd forgive that?" I asked.
"Steph, it's your fault I was even with her. If you were more willing in bed, I might not have to seek companionship elsewhere," he spat out.
I looked over at Jeanne Ellen, who was pressing her lips tightly together. I asked her the question without words, and she shook her head. She didn't want me to bring up anything else right now, and I thought I knew why it'd be a bad idea.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't adventurous enough for you, Richard. You should be pleased with a divorce; you can sleep with anyone you want then."
He screamed down the phone line, "you're mine, Stephanie! You'll always be mine! I will not let you divorce me. I guarantee you will be back in my bed soon enough."
"It's over, Richard. Please accept that. In the meantime, please do not contact me directly anymore. That's why I have a lawyer now. The lawyers can arrange for visitation with Zoë. Goodbye." I hung up, and Jeanne Ellen pressed a button on her phone.
"Got it," she said. "He threatened you at the end there. We can share that with the police and maybe get a restraining order."
"Okay." Jeanne Ellen looked over at me with a surprised expression. I guess she didn't expect me to agree to the restraining order so quickly. I am more scared of him now, though. I navigated my way through my phone to the settings and blocked The Dick's phone number. For now, I don't need to hear from him. I'll probably have to unblock him at some point for Zoë's sake, but not yet.
When we arrived at the police station close to my apartment in New York, Jeanne Ellen linked her arm with mine, and we walked inside.
The desk sergeant was helpful when we explained why we were there. As we went through everything regarding the bigamy and sex videos, he asked lots of questions and took notes. He seemed pleased when Jeanne Ellen handed over the thumb drive of everything we had to prove what we were saying. He also explained that if I was moving to New Jersey, a protection order in New York might not be helpful and suggested we file for protection in New Jersey instead. We were with him for a little over an hour, and after taking my contact information, he promised to keep us updated.
Since it was still before lunch, we decided to visit Greenwich and meet The Dick's fake wife. We made it there before lunchtime, and I started getting nervous as we approached the house. I gave myself a silent pep talk. I can do this.
Jeanne Ellen stopped in front of the house and looked over at me. "You ready?" she asked.
I took a deep breath and nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."
We stepped from the car and headed up the walk toward the door of the impressive Colonial. I rang the doorbell, and a little song played while we waited. I heard footsteps coming toward us, then the door swung open, and the woman I saw in Jeanne Ellen's photos stood before us.
"Hello," she greeted us pleasantly. "May I help you?"
My throat was dry. I licked my lips nervously and said, "uh, hi."
Jeanne Ellen spoke up. "Hello. This is Stephanie, and I'm Jeanne Ellen."
"Hello. I'm Debra," she introduced herself.
Suddenly, I found my voice and blurted, "I think you know my husband."
Her brow furrowed a little. "I'm sorry?"
"My husband, Richard. I believe you are acquainted with him. Did you know he was already married?"
"I'm not sure to whom you are referring, but I'm certain I don't know your husband. Not in the way you seem to be implying."
I rummaged in my purse for my phone and opened the Photos app. Scrolling through, I found a picture of Richard, Zoë and me and held it out to her to show her. Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth in shock. "Why do you have a picture of my husband?" she asked.
Jeanne Ellen said, "that's Richard. He is Stephanie's husband. They were married five years ago, nearly six now, and that is their daughter Zoë."
"But…but that's my husband, Rich. How can he be your husband? You mean ex-husband, right?" she asked.
"No. He is my husband, no ex about it," I said. "Though we have just begun divorce proceedings."
Her expression was frozen in shock. "I can't believe this. He's married? How can he be married to both of us?"
"Yes, well, that's part of why we're here. May we come in?" I asked.
She ushered us inside and showed us to the living room. We sat, and she offered us beverages. Despite her obvious shock, she hadn't forgotten her hostess manners. My mother would be proud of her.
After she handed out our drinks, she silently sat on a chair across from us. Finally, I broke the quiet and confirmed, "I take it you were not aware of me or our daughter."
She let out a short, harsh laugh. "No. I was not aware Rich was already married when we got together. I never would have gotten involved with a married man."
"You were married four years ago?" I asked. She nodded.
"We got married in my parents' backyard."
Jeanne Ellen prompted, "and you have twin boys?"
She nodded again. "Henry and Alex." Her face fell. "You have a daughter? What's her name?"
"Zoë. She's four, nearly five."
"We got married in June. She was already born?"
I nodded. "She was born the previous November."
"I don't understand why he would he do this?" she wondered. She looked sad and lost.
"To be honest, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our divorce started because he cheated on me with our nanny. I didn't find out about you until after I left him. And since then, I've discovered he also has a pay website where he uploads secret porn videos of us making love."
"What?" she exclaimed. "That's what his website is?"
I looked confusedly at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," she said, "his laptop is always locked, and he hides it because he said his website information is confidential due to the lawyer/client privilege, and I don't have clearance to view it."
I tried to work through what she was saying. "What do you think he does for a living?" I asked her.
"He's a lawyer working on a partnership. But his law firm works closely with the government, and he maintains a database for them.
I shook my head. "My lawyer told me he's not working as a lawyer but a paralegal. He's checking his current professional status and whether Richard ever wrote and passed the Bar exam. Given that information, I'd highly doubt whether he has any government job."
Jeanne Ellen asked, "May we see his laptop?"
Debra frowned. "I don't know. He's very private about it."
Jeanne Ellen looked like she wanted to roll her eyes but barely managed to refrain. "Debra. You realize your marriage to him is illegal, and he has never told you the truth about himself, right? Surely you can't be worried about protecting his privacy. This morning, Stephanie filed complaints to the New York police department regarding his bigamy and the porn videos. If he has further evidence on this laptop, we really do need to see it."
She sighed but stood and walked out of the room.
I looked to Jeanne Ellen and said, "now, we just need to get her to give it to us so we can get Hector to look at the files. It's probably locked like his other one, and I don't think I could break it without knowing the details of his second life."
"Leave it to me," she said as Debra returned to the living room. Debra handed Jeanne Ellen the laptop, who laid it on her lap.
"Debra, I'm so sorry that we came here and delivered such awful news. I couldn't imagine being in your shoes. It's been hard enough seeing it second-hand, as I have with Stephanie this past couple of weeks. If you ever need anyone to talk to about this, I'll give you my cell phone number, and you can call me."
"Same for me," I interjected. "If anyone knows what you're going through, it's me. And our kids are half-siblings."
"We should go," I said. "Please think about what we said. I would like it if our kids could get to know each other one day, but I'll leave that up to you."
Jeanne Ellen stood up, holding the laptop, and walked toward the front door while I followed. Debra followed us quietly and held the door while we moved outside. She didn't say anything about the laptop, so neither did we.
We chatted about our visit with the police and Debra on the way back to Trenton. She seemed shell-shocked, and I was confident she'd called The Dick after we left. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.
We drove to Rangeman, and our first stop was Ella's apartment on the sixth floor. Zoë launched herself in my arms, and I spun her around in a big hug. "Mama, I love Ella!" she beamed. "We made oatmeal cookies!"
I smiled and looked over her head at Ella, smiling at her too. "I'm so glad you had such a good day, Zo-zo. How many cookies did you eat?"
"Only two. Ella said no more."
I nodded approvingly. I'm sure they were as healthy as cookies could get, but I didn't want her to spoil her appetite for dinner.
"Thank you so much, Ella. I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you," I said.
"Not at all, my dear. Zoë is a delight, and we had a lot of fun together today. Anytime you need help, I'd be happy to spend time with her."
Ella let me change into my workout clothes in her bathroom, and then I went to the gym to meet Ranger. Zoë was going to Tank's office with Jeanne Ellen for the next hour, and then we'd all go home together.
The training with Ranger went well. He showed me several holds and the ways to get out of them if I were attacked, and near the end of the hour, I was able to get myself out of the hold. He said fighting back was not the goal, but merely to free myself so I could run away.
I felt little frissons of excitement as he held me tightly to his chest while explaining how to get free, though I knew it wasn't meant to be intimate. But he smelled so good and felt so solid around me. I will find it very hard to wait until the divorce is final.
After we were done, he said, "you did well for your first time, Steph. You're picking it up quickly." He handed me a bottle of water, which I took gratefully to take a long swallow. He watched me as his eyes darkened.
"Thanks, Ranger, for everything. I'll see you on Monday."
"Steph? Do you and Zoë want to go to the zoo with me tomorrow? They have a great aquatic exhibit, and I know Zoë is a fan."
I was surprised by his invitation, but even though I'm attracted to him, I decided to accept. I think he's probably too much of a player to ever be serious about, but I could always use more friends. And Zoë seemed to like him. "That sounds fun, Ranger. I'm sure Zoë would love it. Thank you."
"I'll pick you up at ten am. Does that work?" he asked.
"Sounds good. See you then."