Page 9 of Deception and New Direction (Ranger Shield Security #3)

JACK

I was sitting in Vince’s office with Archer and Dane , trying to figure out a few logistics for a new client.

They wanted all the bells and whistles but didn’t want to pay the price for it.

This was the one thing about owning a business I didn’t like dealing with.

Archer and Wade had the personality for these things, so I would always defer to them on how to handle problems like this.

The desk phone rang, and it said front desk. Vince hit a button to put Ruthie on speakerphone.

“Hey, Ruthie , what’s up?” he asked.

“Vince,” Cat’s panicked voice said through the phone. I saw all the guys tense and become more alert as she kept speaking. “ Something happened… Ruthie … I think she’s having a panic attack.”

The four of us were up and running toward the stairs and down to the front lobby as fast as we could.

When we got there, Ruthie was on the floor sitting upright with her back up against the side of her desk, her hands on her chest as she struggled to breathe. Dash was sitting next to her whining, clearly knowing his owner was in distress.

I’d never seen her like this, and I hated it. I tried to reach out to her, as did Archer , which slightly pissed me off, but she slapped both of us away.

“Don’t touch me!” she shrieked.

“Who. Hurt . You ?” I asked her, looking straight into her eyes.

My voice was calm, but inside, I was anything but.

“What happened, Cat ?” Archer said to the right of me.

“I don’t know,” Cat started to say, and I could see tears in her eyes along with fear.

“These flowers got delivered.” She pointed to roses on Ruthie’s desk.

“ She thought they were for me, so I opened the note, but they were for some woman named Rose , and when I gave her the card, she went pale and fell to the ground. I realized she was having a hard time breathing, and then I called you.”

“Shit,” Archer said, standing up, grabbing a tissue from the desk, and picking the card up and reading it. “ Fuck ,” he all but growled out loud.

“What does it say?” I asked him as I stood, not moving away from Ruthie but putting myself in Archer’s line of sight.

“It says,” Cat said when Archer didn’t answer, “ Beautiful roses for my beautiful Rose . I found you, and I’m never letting you out of my sight again. And it was signed just with the letter M .”

Archer looked out the windows of our building and spoke. “ Dane , can you stay down here and man the front desk for a bit?” Archer asked, and Dane nodded in return.

“Help me get her upstairs,” he said as he turned to me.

“Cat, you come with us upstairs,” Archer told her, and I saw Vince go on alert even more. Vince helped her grab her stuff so they could meet us upstairs in Archer’s office.

Not wanting Archer’s hands on Ruthie , I took the lead and picked her up bridal style, carrying her to the elevator. I could carry her up the stairs no problem, but I didn’t want to jostle her when she was already this upset.

She leaned in, and I swore sniffed my neck, but I didn’t say anything. She felt good in my arms, and that was the only thing that helped calm me down, because seeing her like that burned at my chest.

We walked into Archer’s office, and I set Ruthie down on his small couch. Her breathing had settled a bit, but she still looked pale and terrified, and her hands were still shaking a bit.

Vince and Cat followed us in as Axel , who had been down the hall, stepped into the doorway to see what the commotion was about.

Ruthie’s dog Dash was also there, trying to squeeze his way past the people in the doorway and into the room.

“Sorry. He was freaking out trying to follow her, so I brought him up,” Cat said about Dash then moved to the side to let him in.

Dash sprinted over to Ruthie on the couch and sat by her feet with his head on her knees.

“Everybody have a seat,” Archer said. “ I think we need to fill a few of you in on Ruthie’s backstory.”

“Do you want me to leave?” Cat asked, and I understood why. She technically wasn’t part of the security business. She just worked downstairs.

“No,” Archer explained. “ You work in the building too, so you should be aware of what’s going on in case trouble finds itself close to you.”

I heard what Archer wasn’t saying out loud—because Cat had spent years in the Witness Protection program. While she was no longer in any danger, none of us wanted to add to any anxiety she may have.

“Let me do it,” Ruthie spoke up, her voice a little weak. “ At least the beginning. You can help fill in some of the gaps toward the end.”

“Go ahead,” Archer replied softly to her, and I hated that these two were so close and not me. I knew that shouldn’t bother me because they clearly hadn’t been more than friends, but it still irked me because he had a closeness to her that I wanted. I sat down next to her on the couch as she spoke.

“My real name is Rose Rice ,” Ruthie said softly but not quietly. “ I was supposed to be a boy. The ultrasound said so. When I came out a girl, my father was unhappy to say the least. Only sons would do for Floyd Rice , and he spent every day for the rest of my life under his roof telling me so.”

What the hell? First off, who would care as long as the baby was healthy, and even if you did care, who would say that to their own child? My anger was building up, and I definitely growled aloud. Ruthie looked over at me and put her hand on top of mine. Instantly some of my anger faded away.

“My brother Jason was two years older than me. Then my mom had me. She had complications with her pregnancy, so she couldn’t conceive any more after me.

My father only tolerated me but put my brother on a pedestal.

My mother always tried to tell me that my father was just old-fashioned and thought girls were high-maintenance.

Even though my dad hated me, my mother loved me and always made sure to tell me. ”

She stopped, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

“My mom died when I was fourteen. Complications due to anesthesia when she was getting a colonoscopy. When my mom died, my father’s indifference toward me turned to obvious disdain and mild animosity.

That or he simply ignored my existence. My brother Jason wasn’t a dick to me like my father and he helped take care of me after my mom died.

Not in the sense of feeding me— I was old enough to do most of that stuff on my own—but rather making sure I got to school every day or had money to buy shoes and such. ”

She turned to me now and spoke. “ I didn’t have the same type of relationship that you have with Ellie .

But he was very good at redirecting my dad when he would get belligerent or drunk and take his anger out on me.

He never hit me or anything else physical.

Just a lot of verbal abuse and neglect. Jason kept my dad from taking it too far. ”

I hate that she brushed that off like it didn’t matter. Verbal abuse and neglect were still abuse. They may not cause physical scars, but non-visible scars were definitely there.

“My father owned a pawn shop and worked there with my brother and my brother’s creepy friend Mal .

Right before I moved out, Mal started coming around the house more often.

I’d find him in my room or always staring at me, and it really freaked me out.

The moment I graduated high school I moved out.

I already had a pretty decent job and had been saving up for rent and moved in with my best friend. ”

I hated both of these men already, and I didn’t even know them.

She sat there telling this story, twisting her hands back and forth in her lap.

This was not the Ruthie I knew. She was strong, full of piss and vinegar, and loved to throw attitude all around.

The woman in front of me was scared, nervous, and fragile.

Sensing how upset she was, Dash jumped up into her lap and snuggled into her—all sixty-five pounds of him.

“My father and brother were also big into greyhound racing,” Ruthie said, looking at Dash . “ Which I hated because I knew the ones that didn’t win would sometimes get abused. Which was why I jumped at the opportunity to get Dash ,” she said, looking down at her dog, petting him in her lap.

“Anyway…” She looked back up at the room.

“ About a year after I moved out, Mal started showing up at the hair salon where I worked and asking me out or having flowers delivered. Red roses.” Her voice quieted a bit but was still full of disgust. “ He used to say exactly what was on the note. Beautiful roses for my beautiful Rose .”

Her body visibly shivered as she said that out loud.

“My boss at the salon was really supportive about it when I told her I kept trying to turn him down but he wasn’t getting the hint.

She must have had a word with him or had the police do it because a month later he stopped coming around.

All he did, though, was switch to my apartment.

A year after I moved into my apartment, my roommate moved in with her boyfriend, so I lived by myself.

I switched units so I only had a one-bedroom, which was more affordable, but I gave my brother a key just in case he ever needed it.

Mal must have swiped it, because several months later, I came home to nicer gifts like jewelry being left with the roses on my kitchen counter with notes from Mal . ”

“The hell?” I growled. “ He broke into your apartment?”

“Let her talk,” Archer interrupted me.

“He claimed he got the jewelry for practically nothing at the pawn shop and he wanted me to have nice things. I finally told my brother that Mal was creeping me out and to tell him not to come to my place anymore. He just brushed it off, but I had the locks changed anyway.”