Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The Plum characters belong to Janet Evanovich. I do own Sofia.

Chap 1. The Past

I just have to say, thank you Joleen for editing this for me. I hope you guys enjoy it.

"Mon coeur, mon amour…" Sofia sang as we sat in the car. She was using her binoculars to spy on our latest cheating husband in a small neighborhood in Brooklyn. My ass was numb from the two hours of sitting while waiting for something to happen. Sofia kept singing softly. What she was singing? I didn't know since I don't speak French. While waiting for her to change the music, I reflected on my friend. She's very different from Lula. Sofia, a New York City bounty hunter and part-time private detective, is half-Arabic and half-Latin. She has long yet black hair, which falls into waves flawlessly over her shoulders and down to her waist. I still wonder why we became such good friends. I guess it's because Sofia is eclectic, always surprising, never boring. She was accepting, and understanding. In Sofia's life, there are not limits to anything. There's only freedom, a world full of possibilities. The freedom I always craved and I never could get in the 'Burg.

I started thinking about what brought me to this place sitting by Sofia. It all started with me breaking up with Morelli, the day before we were to be married, which made it permanent. I left a note on his kitchen counter detailing the reasons why I couldn't marry him. I took Rex and few pieces of clothing in a duffle bag and went to Ranger's apartment.

I didn't tell Ranger my plans. I just told him I wasn't going to marry Joe because it wasn't fair. I begged him to make me forget the pain. I wanted him to take me into his arms and squeeze me. I was hurting Morelli even though I loved him. I still love him. I'm just not in love with him. I tried to seduce him, but I think he just took pity on me and carried me to his bed. We made love and he asked me to say his name, to call him Carlos. I screamed his name before I collapsed on him. The pain was forgotten. A few hours later, half way through our lovemaking I told him that I loved him and he froze.

I thought everything was going to hell from then on, but my words fueled the passion we felt for each other (at least that's how I want to remember it). We came together and he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close to him while I cried. In the morning, he went running and I came down to the fifth floor to say goodbye to the Merry Men. I didn't tell them I was leaving forever. I left and I didn't look back.

It was a week after I left Ranger that I met Sofia. I was having lunch in small café in Portland, Maine. Then, suddenly I heard gunshots. I saw the commotion. She said 'bond enforcement' and I was up. I didn't even stop to think about it. It came naturally. She shot me by accident. She took me to the hospital, yelled at me for jumping in the line of fire, and asked me if I needed a place to stay. I still have the mark on my arm as souvenir.

A month later, I learned I was pregnant. Just my sweet luck! I knew for sure that I couldn't go back home, I couldn't face him. Nonetheless, I knew I had this wonderful token of what we had that night and I wasn't going to give it up. Therefore, when I left Trenton four years ago, Sofia was like an angel fallen from heaven. I was searching for a new life, a way to hide away from my past, from…Ranger. She gave me a new social security number with the name of Michelle P. Mazur on it, and instantly I had a new life. My dad is the only one who knows where I am and why. Although he doesn't like it, he understands and supports me.

"Yep, he's cheating," Sofia raised her Nikon D90 and started taking pictures of a man swallowing a woman in red. This is just one of the things we do as private investigators. I was coming along because my expertise of finding cheating husbands. I rolled my eyes unconsciously.

Sofia looked at me funny, a sly smile playing on her lips. She put down her camera and started the car.

"You're very silent Steph," she said as she turned in the next intersection.

"Ricky's birthday is coming up," I told her. I really do not know why I said that, my son's birthday was a month away. I guess I just wanted to keep my thoughts to myself. "Could we pass by Starbucks? I want one of those new lemonade drinks."

"Stephanie, I know very well what's on your mind" she scolded me. "If he's still looking for you, it has to mean something."

"I wish he would just give up," I said, but I didn't truly mean it. Ranger has been looking for me since I left four years ago. The search was intense at first. I had to stop using my credit cards. I didn't know how much longer the whole cat and mouse thing was going to last. I knew at one point they had found me, but then I met Sofia.

"Right," she hissed, "they are just one bridge away, querida."

I knew better than to argue with her, she knew all of my secrets. She is my only confidant. She knows that sometimes I bring Rex and Ricky into my room so I don't feel alone. Once when I was sick with the flu, she spent the whole night listening to me mumble in my sleep about how much I miss my family. She buys me a bottle of Bvlgari for my birthday every year. I spend Christmas with her family. She taught my son Spanish for God's sake!

Sofia's pager went off; she looked at it and frowned. She made an illegal u-turn while looking at her phone and cursed.

"What's wrong?"

"Marcus is dead," she hit the palms of her hands on the stirring wheel and pressed her foot down on the gas. The car yanked forward burning rubber.

"This is fucking atrocious!" I cried. I couldn't believe it, "a good cop is now dead, and three dirty cops are still out there helping The Link. How can these things happen?"

When we arrived at the crime scene, it was noon. The car where the body was found was parked on Riverside, overseeing New Jersey. Sofia walked under the police tape and showed her identification to one of the cops. I saw her greet Marcus's brother, Samuel, another vice officer. A few minutes later, they both started walking towards me.

Samuel greeted me with a nod of his head, "we have a problem." I noticed he looked shaken, making him appear years older than he was, and scared.

"Marcus' daughter has disappeared." My eyes widened, and I bit my lip hoping it was only coincidental. Leticia is only sixteen.

"Michelle, Marcus thought Leticia's boyfriend was working for The Link." Samuel said desperately. "Marcus was going to confront him, tell him to back off. He left the house and didn't come back. Leticia disappeared a few hours later. She asked her mother if she could go to the movies with her boyfriend, but she hasn't returned."

I wanted to curse, punch something, or even kill someone. A young girl, a girl I know, might have fallen victim of human trafficking.

"The boyfriend's name is Louis F. Kennel," Samuel said. "Marcus thought he was supposed take a group of girls off to New Jersey."

Sofia opened Kennel's file and gave it to me.

"Samuel wants us to help. Kennel's from Trenton," she flipped the page and showed me his address. He was from the 'Burg. "You know Trenton, you know the 'Burg. I think it's time to go back home."

I looked from Sofia to Samuel. There was hope and expectation in their eyes. I looked down at the file again. Looking at the picture of Leticia, I knew I couldn't refuse. Well, it was time to face my fears. It has been a long time coming.

Stephanie: Please leave a review

Sofia: Yes, you should.