The wicked witch of Trenton was dead. Sasha Evans and her brother, Terrance, got buried a few days after her death. I never had to see those two low lives again. My husband was safe from Sasha's twisted plans.

Carlos and his team left no survivors when they rescued me. I thought Anton Ward had redeeming qualities, but the guys never saw it that way. Anton was partially responsible for my kidnapping. He was kind to me.

We learned many things about Sasha and Terrance Evans when her mother published the obituaries. She was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her family lived a few houses away from Lester's childhood home. Sasha and Lester attended the same elementary and high school, though Sasha was two years younger. Terrance was two years older than Lester. Sasha, Terrance and Lester never hung around the same cliques. It explained how Sasha knew about the inheritance after Lester's grandfather passed away.

Lester and his grandfather were close. Both men joined the Army instead of attending college or university. Grandpa Mateo set money aside for the others to further their education. There was enough for an undergraduate degree and specialty programs, such as law, medicine or Ph.D. Whatever Christian, Paul and Piper didn't use for their education would get reinvested or used as a down payment on a house. Lester's siblings never received much money but weren't bitter about Lester inheriting the bulk of the estate.

"How are you feeling?" Bobby asked, examining the back of my head.

"I'm fine, Bobby," I replied. "I passed out from exhaustion, not from hitting myself on the headboard."

"The bitch tagged your arm with a bullet," Bobby said. He pulled the dressing away to look at the injury. The adhesive tape tugged on the fine hairs covering my skin. "You don't need to cover it."

"It was barely a graze. Sasha was a horrible shot," I shrugged.

"You hit her point blank. When did you learn to shoot? Has Hector and the others been training you?" Bobby asked.

Lester entered the room, carrying Mateo. My son reached for me. I grimaced as the stitches pulled on my arm. Mateo buried his face into my neck and cried himself to sleep. "Sorry, Beautiful. He refused to sleep until he saw you," Lester explained.

I smiled at my handsome husband. It was time to explain my accuracy with the gun. "Hector and I trained in the shooting range at Rangeman Atlanta. But that's not where I learned to shoot. I went BBGun practice shooting with Eddie Gazarra and Carl Costanza during elementary and high school," I replied. "We played paintball a lot too."

"I thought you didn't like guns," Bobby said.

"I don't."

"Your dad said he took you for target practice when you were younger. Why don't you like guns?" Lester asked. Lester sat on the couch beside me, then entwined our fingers. He was careful not to brush against the abrasion on my left arm.

"It was a tragic accident. Carl, Tony, Eddie and I were at Tony Caruso's house. Tony and Carl are cousins. Anyway, Tony found his father's police-issued side piece in the hall closet. He checked the barrel to ensure it wasn't loaded. Tony pointed the gun at his younger sister, Joan, and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit her in the stomach. Joan died before the ambulance arrived. She was only seven. Tony was twelve. I hated guns since," I explained.

"You should always check the chamber," Bobby said. "Not everyone has to die when you pull the trigger."

"Yet it happened when I discharged my weapon," I deadpanned. Mateo started fussing on my shoulder. I released Lester's hand to rub Mateo's back. He settled within a few minutes. "How can I explain to my children that I took a life?" The guilt ate away at my soul.

"Steph, Sasha took the first shot. If you didn't return fire, you'd be dead," Bobby reasoned.

I shook my head. "Carlos or Lester could have shot her."

"No, Beautiful. We couldn't. Ranger and I refuse to shoot people in the back. It goes against our moral code," Lester explained. "We never kill our enemy without seeing the whites of their eyes."

"It's best to know who you're killing," I replied. Dad shared stories of soldiers shooting the enemy in the back, then realized it was their man working undercover. "Okay, guys. Enough with the kill talk. It's upsetting Mateo."

"Because it's upsetting you," Lester said. He wasn't wrong. Babies often reacted to the tension displayed by their parents.

Lester changed the topic, but not from discharging weapons. "So if we put you in the shooting range against our sniper, Ram, would you win?" Lester asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Probably not. Ram's a sharpshooter," I replied.

"We've got a training course in Atlanta. Why don't we try you on long-range guns?" Bobby asked. I knew about the training course. Hector and I purchased it from the owner, who wanted out of the business. We figured it would be the centre for Rangeman recruits to ensure they could handle anything the bounty-hunting industry would throw at them.

"We don't have rifles, shotguns or such at the facility," I replied. Bobby raised an eyebrow as Lester laughed. "Ranger and Tank have to sign off on the weapons supplier."

Hector entered the room. He was in my home office updating the software for the Rangeman search program. I hoped he got the bugs ironed out. Hector placed the laptop on my thighs, then took Mateo from my arms. Mateo snuggled into Hector's neck, grabbing the loose hair near his shoulder. "I'll put him to bed while you check the installation," Hector said.

I smiled when the program loaded. It was faster than before. I entered "Sasha Evans" into the program and selected the options for education, finances, residence and employment. It took ten minutes to return the results. Sasha was heavily in debt. Her father, who died when she was ten, left the mother with over one hundred thousand dollars owing to creditors. Sasha and Terrance worked to help their mother repay the borrowed money. It was unfortunate Sasha and Terrance incurred most of the debt. Sasha had student loans to repay. I understood why she wanted a sugar daddy.

"How the hell does someone spend a few hundred grand on cosmetic surgeries when they owe so much for student loans?" I mumbled.

"What did she get done?" Lester asked.

"Jaw, cheekbones, nose, breasts, liposuction, butt implants, stretch mark removal and ear reconstruction," I replied. I retrieved the yearly photographs from Sasha's childhood. She was chunkier than Joyce Barnhardt.

"Sasha needed all the help she could get," Lester said. "She doesn't have natural beauty."

I didn't care about Sasha. She was an ugly woman, inside and out. It was no mystery why she insisted I was ugly. Sasha bought her beauty. Silicone implants didn't last forever. She would have to get them replaced every ten years.

To test the program's accuracy in retrieving data, I entered my name. "Lester, did you know our names don't appear in the registry for marriages in New Jersey?" I asked.

"Yes," Lester replied. "Your father got it suppressed when I passed Rangers training. Can you find it anywhere?"

I dug deeper into the searches and found the information hidden under the pseudonyms John Smith and Jane Brown. "Yup," I replied, showing him the screen. Lester chuckled. "But I had to mine for those details."

"You should be the head of our research department," Lester said, impressed by my sleuthing skills.

"It's part of my job as the office manager," I explained. "Rodriguez is as nosy as I am. He would best oversee the process and report to me."

Someone knocked on our front door. Lester raised an eyebrow before seeing who was visiting. "Steph, are we expecting anyone?" Lester asked.

"Celia," I replied. I called Celia when I got home. She needed to confirm my pregnancy and create the chart for my baby.

"I told you," Celia replied, smacking Lester's chest. "My equipment is in the car. Can you grab it?"

Lester slipped his feet into his shoes and went to Celia's car. He pulled the portable ultrasound machine from the trunk. Hector arrived to carry the Doppler and medical bag.

Celia and I went to the guest bedroom on the main floor for her to examine me. She took my weight and blood pressure before checking the fetus. I was six weeks pregnant, four weeks gestation. Lester got me pregnant the first night we had sex after the restrictions got lifted.

"Is the fetus okay?" I asked.

"Everything looks good, Steph. I'll see you at twelve weeks to ensure everything is still on track," Celia replied. "When does Mateo see the pediatrician?"

"Next week. Dr. Windsor took him on as her patient," I replied, getting dressed after the examination. I had assumed Holly was an obstetrician, but her specialty was pediatrics. She worked on-call at the hospital, which was how I met her.

"Isn't her name Holly and she has a brother named Halton?" Celia asked.

I smiled at my friend, seeing through her distraction. "Are you interested in Hal?"

"Haven't I told you about my boyfriend?" Celia asked, quirking a brow.

"Nope. You said you were staying with him but never told me anything else," I replied, narrowing my eyes. I grinned, then laughed. "Please, tell me that shy Halton Windsor is your boyfriend."

Celia nodded. "We met after you interviewed him for the Rangeman position," Celia confessed. "I thought his blush was adorable when I said hi."

"Name your first child after me. You guys never would have met if I didn't hire you as my midwife," I joked.

"We're a long way from having a child. I'm moving in with him once my lease ends." I couldn't be happier for my friend. Celia had shit luck with men. It was worse than what I endured with my ex-boyfriends.

"Lester and I are heading to Miami when the guys return from their next deployment," I told Celia.

"Why and when?" Celia asked.

"To open the Miami Rangeman branch. We need to be in Florida to meet with the police departments and bail bonds offices to get Rangeman established. The clients expect to see us face to face instead of over Skype calls," I explained. "The guys should return from their mission in six weeks."

"In time for your appointment," Celia said. I nodded. "How did you get shot?" Celia pointed to my left arm. I told Celia the entire story. She gasped and commented in all the right places. "Wow. That's a lot," Celia replied. "Now, why did you wait several weeks before leaving?"

"Hector explained that the Comstock Street Slayers had affiliates across the states. They had expanded their territory as they took over each syndicate. We wanted to ensure my kidnappers were acting alone. It took time for Hector and the others to research and infiltrate the Slayers to keep me safe. Terrance Evans, known as The Terror, planned to overthrow the leadership. He wanted to rule the Slayers. Hector collected intel from Terrance and Anton. The superiors monitor their charges, taking over their plans and increasing Slayer numbers," I explained.

"So the Slayers leader lets you leave when Terrance and Anton die?" Celia asked.

"Basically, yes. The leader didn't support the action of kidnapping when territories and numbers didn't improve as a result. Terrance and Anton were recruiters. Rangeman will have to exercise caution if any Slayers miss court dates. At least, that's when we open Rangeman in Trenton. We have an understanding that your brother negotiated," I replied.

"Do I need to know the details?" Celia asked.

"No. I couldn't tell you anyway because I don't know," I replied.

We returned to the living room after I scheduled my three-month check-up with Celia. I was happy she wanted me as her patient.

Lester pulled me onto his lap. I giggled and cuddled into him. "Did you get a picture?" he asked. Celia passed him the image she printed while I got dressed. "I see a blob."

"That's our baby," I replied. "I'm six weeks pregnant."

My husband whispered, "I bet you got pregnant on the first night."

Carlos, Tank, Ram and Vince arrived when Celia left. She had another patient to examine. I attempted to move off Lester's lap to grab the men's drinks and snacks. Lester pulled me back.

Hector and Vince fist-bumped, then went to the kitchen to get everything we needed to entertain the group. "Steph, I'm speaking on behalf of Tank, Bobby and Lester. We are impressed with your tenacity in getting Rangeman to become a reality. I'm changing your active role in Rangeman to co-CEO," Carlos said. I was shocked.

"Who will take my place as COO?" I asked.

"Me," Lester replied. "Valerie remains your right-hand gal. We hired Vince as my right-hand guy." I smiled at my cousin. He was invaluable when I was in Atlanta.

"Hector is the IT manager, and we promoted Rodriguez to research manager. Silvio agreed to run the bounty hunter department. Lester said you recommended the job appointments," Carlos explained.

God, I loved my husband.

"Hey, I helped," Bobby whined, not wanting to be left out. I laughed and slapped his shoulder.

"Come on, Steph," Ram said, tugging me off Lester's lap.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Target practice. Five rounds. Loser changes Mateo's diapers," Ram replied.

"Who will watch Mateo?" I asked. Lucinda and Piper entered the house.

"We are. Have fun, dear." Lucinda hugged me and whispered, "This will help you."

"I'm taking bets," Lester said. I rolled my eyes as the guys bet who would win and who would lose. Lester bet I would outshoot Ram.