AJ heard the voices from the door. She had met Stephanie before and always thought she was a little quirky, unlike Valerie. AJ was not relatively as conventional as Valerie, but she was more of a traditionalist than Stephanie. While she loved her local coffee shop barista job, she enjoyed being home with the kids. Her husband, whom she met and fell in love with in middle school, was an accountant. Outside of tax season, he worked for a modest firm and was home with her and their girls. She enjoyed her life with Alex but often thought about how it might have been different if she had stayed with Lester Santos. She heard, through her family, of course, that Lester was the owner of a large security corporation that had branches in multiple states. He was, by all accounts, rolling in the dough. Her brother told her he had a large estate in a posh community outside of Miami on the water.

Lester was the bad boy when they were growing up. The one who skirted the line. While he never did anything wrong, at least nothing that he got caught doing, it wasn't the straight-arrow college guy that Alex was. Les was restless and looked for excitement and thrills, finding them in the Army. Despite their many differences, Alex and Lester were thick as thieves. They were best friends from pee-wee soccer and lived across the street. Lester's parents and AJ's in-laws still lived across the street from each other. AJ wanted a family, many kids, and to marry young. While Lester was willing to marry her and proposed, he did not want children until he became an Army Ranger. It frustrated AJ that he wore condoms even though they were in a committed monogamous relationship. AJ had always loved Alex, but Lester had asked her out first, and she had gone to both junior and senior prom. She was happy with him, so she thought, but that was before that night.

Lester enlisted in the Army. Although he came from a middle-class family, his parents didn't have the money to send him to college. So, Lester, the free-spirited tough guy, joined the Army. The night before he left for boot camp, AJ threw a huge going away party for Lester. All their friends and some of their families were there. She remembers Carlos and Lester boasting that they would be Rangers and the best two. They were so cocky, but not in an arrogant way. They only had a couple of beers since they were leaving early the following day. Neither wanted to arrive at boot camp hung over. Finally, at three, Carlos and Lester had to go. They still needed to pack their last few items, and their grandmother wanted to make them a grand breakfast.

Alex stayed behind to help AJ clean up. The party was at her house since her parents were away that weekend. She and Alex had more beer, and before the sun rose, they had consummated their relationship. The following day, they each vowed that it would never happen again and that it was a mistake. For the first two months, they didn't talk. However, they bumped into each other one night at a club and soon fell into a "friends with benefits" relationship, even though AJ and Lester were still together, and Alex dated other women.

When Lester got accepted into Ranger school, he arrived at AJ's parent's house, asked her father for her hand in marriage, and proposed. She said yes without a second thought. Things were beautiful between them, and she was amid the wedding plans when he left for Georgia. As luck would have it, Alex continued their no-fringe relationship. When AJ discovered she was pregnant, she had thought it was Lester's. However, she knew Alex was the baby's father by the sixth month of her pregnancy. She told Alex, but he wasn't ready to be a father. So, she hid it from Lester. It was at his bachelor party that Alex had too much to drink and let the cat out of the bag. Lester accused AJ of trying to trap him in a relationship and of being a two-timing whore. To repay him, she emptied their joint bank account and kicked him out of the house he bought for them and, stupidly on his part, put in both their names. Ultimately, she had a home and a nice nest egg, and Lester was left alone. Alex came around, and by her daughter's first birthday, she was married to the love of her life.

AJ wondered what caused her to suddenly think about that time when Lester Santos walked into the kitchen. She felt the blood drain from her face, her palms got sweaty, and she swallowed as she looked for an escape.

"Stephanie, you remember AJ? AJ, this is my sister's associate, Mr. Lester Santos."

It took all of Lester's control to maintain his composure and not attack Ashley. Instead, he responded rudely, "What are you doing here? Looking to fuck up someone else's life?"

Stephanie was shocked at Lester's remark. She didn't understand where this outburst came from. He was in a good mood for most of the day. She looked at Lester and saw his body was tense, but his eyes showed pain. She thought back and tried to remember AJ's name. Ashley. The light bulb turned on. This was the Ashley who broke Lester's heart. She didn't know the story, but she knew that whatever Ashley did was the cause of Lester's hatred towards women. When she looked at Ashley, she realized for the first time that even though they both had curly brown hair, they had no other similarities. However, that explained how Lester sometimes treated her, especially if she wore her hair, similar to how Ashley wore hers.

"I live next door to Valerie. Our girls are friends. What are YOU doing here?"

"I worked with Agent Plum and was asked to protect her sister and nieces. But I see you are here already, so I guess I'm too late."

Valerie looked from Lester to AJ; her head turned back and forth like she was at a tennis match. She couldn't understand why they were so rude to each other. She glanced at her sister and saw that Stephanie understood the anger.

"Oh, for Pete's sake, you still can't be that angry! It was years ago!"

"Les, why don't we look outside at the perimeter? Make sure you have everything in place," Stephanie said gently, moving in front of Lester to draw his attention to her and away from Ashley." When Lester didn't move, she gently touched his arm, and he nodded, following her outside to the front of the house.

As Stephanie and Lester left the kitchen, Valerie asked her friend, "What was that about?"

AJ sighed, picked up her coffee mug, and stared into it momentarily. "That is the man I told you about. The one with whom I was engaged before I married Alex."

"Oh. But you told me things ended amicably between you. That he held no hard feelings."

"I was hoping he was over it by this time. But I was wrong."

"Maybe it would be best for you to go now. I know my sister is stressed and doesn't need any distractions."

"You're right. I'll call you tomorrow. I'm sorry, Valerie. If I knew Lester would be with your sister, I would have left long before they arrived. I'll make myself scarce while they're here."

"No, please don't. You are my best friend. I'll need your support."

"I'm still a phone call away. Listen, Valerie, unless Lester changes his attitude, this is for the best."

AJ called out to her daughters, who came into the kitchen. They were disappointed to leave but understood it was getting close to dinner time. "Valerie, please don't think too harshly of Lester. He is a good man; I wasn't a good person to him."

With a hug, AJ said goodbye and ushered her daughters outside. Only after she was in her own home did she finally take responsibility for her actions, even if only in her mind.

When Stephanie got Lester outside, she led him to the backyard. It was modest, with a patio of pavers in pale pinks and a table with chairs. A retractable awning, currently extended, covered the patio. To the right was a swing set for the girls, with a small built-in pool to the left. A five-foot white fence enclosed the yard.

"That was Ashley, the woman who hurt you," Stephanie said to Lester, not asking him a question but telling him.

"Yes, that was the bitch."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Stephanie tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure about that?"

Lester shook his head and internally rolled his eyes. He knew that Stephanie wouldn't let it drop, so he let the cat out of the bag. He shared the entire sordid story with Stephanie but was surprised by her reaction. He expected her to be angry at him for not understanding Ashley, but she looked like she was on his side.

"So, that two-timing bitch tried to set you up to marry her and take responsibility for a child she knew wasn't yours? What was she planning on doing? It's not like you had much money back then, did you?"

"Nothing like what I have now, but I had a lot for our age. My grandparents on my father's side had little money and left it to me as the sole male grandchild. I saved my army money and put everything aside for Ashley, me, and our eventual family. I bought us a house that she somehow managed to keep, and she drained our joint savings. I was almost penniless at that point. I was so fucking stupid.

"We started dating in high school. Junior year. She was so hesitant to have a physical relationship with me. I never pushed her; I let her dictate the pace. I loved her so much. However, I always feared she would tire of being alone while I was deployed. I worried that she might stray. Ranger told me I was crazy. I wasn't so crazy after all." Lester paused, staring into the pool.

"Her husband, Alex, was my best friend. He was like a brother. We rarely were apart. I knew Ashley liked Alex when we were in junior high, but by high school, I thought she was over him. Alex never expressed any interest in Ashley. When I found out at my bachelor party, it took Ranger and Tank to hold me back. I wanted to kill Alex and had the skill to do so then. I've never been betrayed by someone before. For it to be the two people who were closest to me."

Stephanie listened as Lester spoke and felt the pain he had in his soul. She couldn't imagine being betrayed like that. She finally understood why Lester acted the way he did. "That was a shitty, fucked up thing to do to you. There was always something about her that I didn't like. I could never pinpoint why, but I could never trust her. It doesn't surprise me. You know, that bitch lied to me and Val. She said, shortly after I first met her, that she and her husband didn't get married before her daughter was born because he was stationed overseas. When I asked about it, she deflected. I once tried to bring it up to her husband, Alex, but he looked at me like I had three heads, and then she came swooping in to change the subject and whisk him away. I remember wanting to investigate her story. However, I let it go for my sister's sake because it didn't affect me."

Lester looked at Stephanie. Everyone would always say Ashley was such a good person. The circumstances of finding herself pregnant must have been difficult for her to deal with, especially at a young age. A young woman with a boyfriend in the Army away for months at a time wasn't easy. But not Stephanie. She is on his side. Stephanie continued, "She's a good liar. I'll give her that. But I won't be fooled by her anymore."

"You aren't taking her side? You don't think she was under pressure and scared?"

"No way in hell! She is the one who decided to have sex with another man even though she was engaged. She was the one who didn't insist on him using a condom, or if she did, she wasn't worried about accidents. And she is the one who chose to lie instead of coming clean. Even if she initially believed you were the father and even if she didn't know you weren't the father. The moment that she knew the truth, she should have told you. When you confronted her, I bet she didn't admit it initially." Lester nodded, "She is selfish and narcissistic, in my opinion. She had NO regard for what YOU wanted, only for what she did. I hate women like her. At least you didn't get stuck with her. Who knows if she's even being faithful to her husband."

Lester felt better and began to look around Valerie's yard. "I think I'll place cameras over there and there," Lester said, pointing to the yard's far corners. "From those locations, we can see the entire yard and the entrance into the yard. We will also have the back of the house covered. I recommend that Valerie allow me to put motion detectors on the lower windows and doors to ensure no one sneaks in. However, with the awning, I believe we should put sensors on all the windows. We should also put an alarm on the fence to know if anyone climbs over it."

Lester walked around the property, looking at the house from different angles. He also looked at the houses nearby, then Val's. "I don't see any way that someone could get a clear shot into the house from anywhere, but I'll ask Ram to have his brother stop by to confirm. He's stationed near LA, and he's a sharpshooter and will have a better risk assessment. Let's move to the front."

Stephanie was surprised at how quickly Lester switched gears to security mode. It was almost as if their conversation never happened. However, she did appreciate his efficiency and decisiveness.

Lester observed Valerie's and her neighbors' homes from the street. Living in a cul-de-sac was beneficial since it limited people who didn't belong there from loitering, but it only allowed for one way out, which he didn't like. "As in the back, we need sensors on all windows and doors. I want to upgrade her garage door opener to a more secure model. Her standard model can easily be cloned with an opener purchased at any store. Once again, I don't think there is a line of sight into Val's house, but Ram's brother will confirm."

Stephanie mentally added up the costs associated with the security measures. Neither she nor Valerie and Steven could afford this. "How much will this cost? I have a decent amount of money saved, but know I can't afford to pay for everything."

Lester looked at Stephanie. She still didn't get it. "It is free. It is not costing you anything. Don't you understand, Plum, that you are one of us, a Rangeman? We take care of our own. No price."

Stephanie felt an immense sense of gratitude towards Lester. She couldn't help the tears that began to form in her eyes.

"Agent Plum, let's not act like a girl. Pull yourself together."

Stephanie laughed. She knew now was not the time for tears, so she decided to figure out how to pay them back later. "Thank you. I truly never expected any of this."

"I know, which is why we will do it for you. Now, let's go back inside and tell your sister our plan."

While seated in one of the SUVs on the street, Willy and Jay noticed the subtle shift in how Lester and Stephanie acted toward each other. Their relationship was strained when they first saw them together on the plane. Lester had his walls up, and Stephanie tried to chip them away. However, now that tension was gone, it was replaced with another type of stress. After they shared a glance, they shared the hope that this wouldn't end in a firefight of epic proportions. Maybe, they thought, they should warn Ranger.