Chapter 14

6 months after the murder of Joe…

Finally, the day has come. My trial for the murder of Joe has arrived. It has been a little over 6 months since it happened. I still have no regret from it.

All my wounds have healed on the outside but on the inside, I still feel damaged. Even though Celia told me about my uterus I had another test done to verify that information. I found out that the information that Celia gave to me about the hole in my uterus was correct. The hole was about the size of a quarter. This truly upset me. That I would never have a child.

I didn't know if I ever wanted to be a mom, but I at least wanted to know I had the opportunity if I ever decided that I did. The day I found out I got drunk. I was so drunk that I was crying and throwing things. I destroyed Ranger's kitchen. I broke every breakable item and then just trashed the whole kitchen.

He let me do it. He stood there and watched and didn't say anything. He allowed me to do it and then he picked me up and carried me to his bed where I slept the booze-induced hangover off. When I woke up everything in the kitchen was back to normal. You would have never known that I did anything.

That's one of the things I respect about Ranger. He allows you to vent and raise hell and never truly says anything. He lets you go with the flow. I've wondered how many times he has destroyed something before. Maybe he understands where I'm coming from.

We are currently sitting in the courtroom. Now I say we because at my defense table is myself, and my 2 lawyers. Mr. Anderson and Ms. Snyder. Directly behind me sitting in the audience is Tank, Bobby, Lester, and Ranger. Ranger has his right hand resting on my left shoulder massaging it. My mother refused to come because she still hates me for killing her precious Joe according to her. Next to Ranger is my dad.

Then on the other side behind the plaintiff are Joe's family. His mother, his 2 sisters, and his brother. Also, members of the TPD. The only member of the TPD that was not on that side was Eddie Garza and he was on my side because he is family and he truly never liked Joe anyway.

Lula and Connie showed up too, but Lula had to be escorted out because she was too loud and wouldn't be quiet. But hey that's Lula for you. She is very vocal.

The witnesses that I had that were going to testify were Bobby Brown and Celia because they were the physicians that treated me and Ranger because he was the one that found me in my apartment. I was also going to testify because I wanted everyone to know why I did what I did.

I was resolved to the fact that I was probably going to go to prison, but honestly, I was okay with that. I had made peace with it. The only regret that I have is that I won't get to tell Ranger how much he means to me. If I was found guilty maybe I could get a few minutes with Ranger and tell him then. I don't know but I was going to try either way.

The trail finally got underway. The first witness was going to be Ranger. He was wearing an Armani suit with a diamond stud in his ear. Damn! Armani Ranger is smoking hot. He is very calm and cool when he is on the witness stand. He flashes that 1000-watt smile and the women that are on the jury swoon. There are 7 women and 5 guys. I notice that Ranger makes a point to look only at the women and flash the smile each time. The women on the jury were putty in his hands and he knew it too. Of course, he used that to his advantage. Smug Bastard.

"Mr. Manoso, can you tell us what you saw when you opened the door to Ms. Plum's apartment?" Mr. Anderson asked as he paced back and forth in front of the jury box.

"Yes, when I opened the door, I saw Stephanie laying behind her couch and in front of her kitchen bar area. She was on the floor and every part of her body had a bruise on it. She was wearing a t-shirt and some shorts. She was unconscious and barely had a pulse. I knew now that whoever did this to her had beat her within an inch of her life." He spoke calmly but you could see the anger radiate off him.

"At that time that you found Ms. Plum what then did you do?" Mr. Anderson had stopped pacing to look at Ranger when he asked this question.

"At that time, I scooped her up carefully and ran to my SUV and I had one of my employees who was with me to drive us back to my company and we went to the 7th floor where my apartment is at. At the time, I had my on-site medic Bobby Brown look over Stephanie and I called my sister Celia Cortez to come and evaluate Stephanie and perform an exam on her to see if there was anything else that was wrong besides the beating that she had received." He had had his left leg crossed over his right knee with his right hand holding the leg in place. His left hand was sitting haphazardly on his left leg. He still looked like a man that could kill you in a blink of an eye. In other words, he looked like a Totally hot Badass in an Armani suit, mind you.

"Mr. Manoso why did you not take Stephanie to the hospital. Surely that would have been a better place for her than your apartment?" He already knew the answer to this question because he was my attorney, but he wanted to make sure the jury knew the answer also.

"Because I knew that if I had taken Stephanie to the hospital, it would have been all over the Burg gossip grapevine within 10 minutes if not less. Stephanie did not need the added attention. Besides I knew that my people would be discreet and would not allow any information to be leaked. "

Tears welled up in my eyes as I listened to Ranger speak. I never really knew why he brought me to his apartment and not the hospital. I always figured he did it because it was the first place he thought of. Now I know the real reason. The knowledge of his statement just increased the love that I had for him even more.

"Mr. Manoso can you tell the court how long you have known Ms. Plum." Mr. Anderson signaled with his hand in front of the jury so Carlos could address them.

"I've known Stephanie a little over a year now. She is one of the best people I know, and I feel honored to have her as a friend." He looked directly at me when he said all of this.

He was a very good witness. Next was Bobby Brown and the Celia. Both elaborated on how they came about being my doctors. The pictures were shown of my injuries and Celia was the one that was questioned about the sexual assault.

"Celia, can you please tell the court how you discovered Stephanie was sexually assaulted?" Ms. Snyder was the one asking the questions for Celia because they thought it would look better if a woman was asking a woman questions and not the male attorney.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat "When I saw Stephanie she was covered in bruises. As I was examining her, I noticed when I took off her shorts that her panties were soaked in blood. Like A LOT of blood. Which scared me. I did an examination of her private area and found out that she had been raped. But wasn't raped in a normal way."

"What do you mean, Celia in a normal way? I thought there was only one way that a woman can be raped?" Ms. Snyder knew there was more than one way, but she wanted the jury to think that she didn't so there would be a reaction when Celia told her the way I was raped.

Celia made sure she looked straight at the jury of each individual person as she spoke her next words "As I was examining Stephanie, I realized the blood was coming from her vaginal area. After I got her cleaned up, I found blue paint chips and what look like metal or lead pieces in that area. Carlos, then called to have one of his men go to Stephanie's apartment to see if they could find anything that may have been used. One of the guys later reported that they found a blue Magnolite flashlight that had paint chips missing and there was blood on the handle of it."

When she said this the jury gasped and some even put their hands over their mouths like they couldn't believe what they were hearing. I realized at that time that I was crying. I had silent tears falling from my eyes and down my cheeks. Someone in the jury box must have seen me cry because at one point I had all the jurors looking at me with sadness in their eyes.

Mr. Anderson asked for a recess so I could get myself together. The judge saw me crying so he granted me a 15-minute recess. I stood up to head to the restroom and Ranger grabbed me and put his arms around me and told me to cry if I needed to that he was there.

After my crying fit, we went back into the courtroom and the trial resumed. It was now my turn to testify. I wanted to make sure that everyone heard my side of the story.

"Stephanie, I know this is going to be difficult, but can you tell us what happened on the night of January 21st, 2021?" Ms. Snyder asked as she stood in front of the jury box making sure the jury had a good view of me and my emotions.

I went about the task of explaining what happened and all the things Joe said to me. "I didn't know I had been raped until about a week later when Celia came and told me. I didn't take it very well.

My intentions were before she told me about the sexual assault were to press charges against Joe and take him to court to hopefully be able to find him guilty of assault. But after I found out about the sexual assault, I couldn't do it. Going to trial wasn't enough. I didn't feel like I would get any justice that way. "

"At the time did you know what you wanted to do?" Ms. Snyder questioned as she was watching the jury to see if they gave any reaction to what I had told them about what happened to me.

"Yes, I knew that I need to get justice. I wanted him to pay for what he did to me. I knew with him being a police officer that whatever I did had to be permanent. Where we live at there are some people, my mother included, that act like Joe was a God. He did no wrong in their eyes. The truth is he was a mean, manipulative, controlling person who thought he was supposed to get what he wanted when he wanted it." I stared at Angie Morelli, Joe's mother when I said these things.

"Stephanie this may seem a usual request but is there anything you would like to say to the court?" I wasn't expecting to be asked that question.

"When I came back to Trenton initially and I started working for Rangeman, I met Joe at a barbeque one of the guys at work had. Joe was there and he asked me to go out with him, I said no because I remembered how he use to be in the past and I did not want that again. Well, he got mad and didn't like the fact that I was working with a bunch of men. Well, he didn't say men he called them clowns, but they are far from being that. These are some of the most loyal and honorable men I've ever had the pleasure of working with. After that barbeque I started receiving envelopes on my door every day saying things like I was a sorry person, I needed to get a better job, I was worthless. Just things to shake me up. The last envelope that I received before the attack had said that I needed to die NOW. The only difference between this one and the other ones is this one had my name on it. That scared me so I reached out to Ranger, and he had a security system installed. Because of that system that is how we know where Joe was hiding and that he was the one that did this to me." I was crying and emotional as I was describing everything that took place.

"Yes, I killed Joe. I'm not denying that, but I did it out of self-defense because I was afraid that he would get a slap on the wrist because I've seen it happen too many times before. I have accepted the fact that I may be found guilty and if so, that's okay. I just know that I will never be the same. I feel like damaged goods and that I will never get to have a relationship with another man the way that I want to. I did what I felt like I had to do to get justice and I'm not sorry for it." I made sure I said the last part looking straight at Joe's mother.

"Thank you, Stephanie, you may step down. Your Honor, defense rest." My Snyder advised the judge as she was walking back to our table.

After that, the judge dismissed the jury, and it was a waiting game for them to make a verdict. I had resigned myself that I was going to prison and like I said I was okay with that.

My lawyers figured it would probably take the jury at least 3 or 4 hours to decide on their verdict. We decided to go next door to a diner that was open 24/7. It had a cute name Called Yum Tummy. The food was good not like 5-star good, but it was good and down-home food. it was 2 pm in the afternoon, so we all ordered lunch. I ordered a bacon double cheeseburger, Cajun fries, a large chocolate milkshake, and a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.

Ranger shook his head, "Babe, you going to kill yourself eating all of that."

"Well, Ranger, I figure if I'm going to go to prison this is going to be the last good meal I have. Besides, not everyone can have a body like yours. You know dessert is at the top of my food pyramid. Your just jealous because you claim your body is a temple, but I just think you love to eat the bad foods and you just have a rep to uphold so you eat the barks and twigs as a coverup for what you really want." I laughed and threw a fry at him as I took a bite of my delicious burger.

We had just finished our food when the lawyer's got a text stating that a verdict was in.

"Damn, that was fast. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Ranger questioned Mr. Anderson

"Have no way of knowing. Sometimes it means that the jury pretty much already had their mind made up and sometimes it means that they didn't. just have to wait and see."

We all walked back over to the courthouse. Ranger and I held hands. It was so nice. Lester, Tank, and Bobby didn't say anything, but they kept looking at us and then looking at our entwined hands. With my left hand, because Ranger had my right one in his left one, I flipped all three of the other guys an Italian hand gesture. They just laughed.

We walked through the door of the courtroom. Les, Bobby, and Tank filed in on the front row again. I tried to walk to the defendant's table, but Ranger leaned down and pulled me into one of those panty-ruining kisses. Then he let me go so I could go and sit at the table by my lawyer's.

"Has the jury reached a decision?" Judge McPherson turned and questioned the jury.

"We have your honor."

"Will the defendant please stand?"

I stood as my 2 lawyers next to me stood. Ranger placed one of his hands on my shoulder and Tank placed one of his hands on my other shoulder.

"We the jury find the defendant, Stephanie Michelle Plum not guilty of murder in the 1st degree."

I couldn't believe it. Tank and Ranger squeezed my shoulders at the same time. I collapsed in my chair, and I cried. I couldn't understand how I was found not guilty. I killed Joe; I was fully prepared to go to prison.

Ranger walked around to the table and pulled me into his arms. "Babe, your free. You're going to be okay."

"But I don't understand how?

"Because they believed you and felt the same way you did." He was still hugging me when Lester tried to take me out of his arms.

"Damn, Ric learn to freakin share. We want to hug Steph too." Ranger let go but not before giving Les a death glare.

"So, glad you are still going to be with us Beautiful. Work would have been dull without you." He laughed as he passed me to Tank.

"Little Girl, I'm glad you still going to be with us. We would have to have come to prison every week to visit you and big guys like us coming to prison, yeah well that wouldn't have looked too good." He laughed as he passed me to Bobby.

"Steph, so glad you are still going to be with us. We would have missed you."

Ranger, grabbed my hand and pulled me next to him, "Now, are you three done groping and handling my woman? Because if so, we need to step."

When he said that I looked at him, His Woman? When did this happen and where was I when it happened? I'm not complaining but that was a shocker.

We piled in a Rangeman SUV and headed back to Haywood. I was exhausted didn't realize how much until we got there.

"I'm going to go and sleep guys I'm tired. Thanks for supporting me through all of this." I kissed Les, Tank, and Bobby on the cheek and took Ranger's extended hand, and went up to 7 with him.

"Babe, come sit with me on the sofa." He pulled me down to sit next to him. He pushed a curl behind my ear. "Babe, I know it's been almost 9 months since the attack happened and you've been staying here. I want you to know that you don't have to leave. I want you to continue to stay here to live with me. We don't have to do anything sexual. I'm a patient man I can wait. But I don't want you out of my life. I love you, Stephanie. I have for a while. Will you continue to live with me, and we can figure this relationship out as we take it one day at a time?"

WOW! I was not expecting that. I know Carlos is a good man and he would never do what Joe did to me. I knew I loved him; I just didn't know if I would ever be able to be physical with anyone again.

"Carlos, I love you too, I have for a while, but I want to be honest with you, I don't know how long it would be before I would be able to be sexual with you. Also, we would never be able to have a child. If you can accept that then I am willing to move in here with you, if not then I'm sorry I can't."

He pulled me to him and kissed me with so much passion that I forgot my name. Yep, that's right. Wait, what was my name again?

We pulled apart and he just smiled

"Babe."