Sophie Oak - Lost in Bliss

She’d left without a goddamn word. Didn’t he have the right to be angry?

She wouldn’t be safe until he took down the Marquis de Sade.

She’d be looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life.

Rafe walked through the door.

“And you’re sure you haven’t had any communication with…” Joe stopped in the middle of his sentence, his face serious as he glanced up at Rafe.

The small room was filled to capacity. There was a long wooden table. A recording device was sitting in the middle, the red light flashing, indicating that it was on. Laura’s golden-blonde head was turned away from him, but there was no mistaking who sat beside her.

Cam’s broad shoulders filled up too much space. He’d obviously moved his chair so he could sit as close as possible. Cam’s hips brushed against hers.

Rafe felt a burning jealousy fill his soul.

“Special Agent Kincaid, it’s nice of you to join us,” Joe said with a welcoming smile on his face.

On the other side of the table, Edward Lock sat beside Joe.

Edward was an older man, but there was nothing soft about him. He kept in shape, both body and mind. He was studying Laura, his razor-sharp gray eyes assessing her the way he would an unsub. Rafe had the sudden urge to punch him in the face.

“Come and join us, Special Agent,” Joe offered. There was one chair left to the right of Joe. “I was just filling in Special Agent…I mean Laura on the case. It’s been a while. We’ve been catching up a bit while we waited on you.”

Laura finally turned, her blue eyes shifting up. Her face was utterly blank, but he didn’t miss the way her hand curled around Cam’s.

Fucker.

Rafe had a choice, and it was so clear to him now. He had to choose between the career he’d spent years building and the woman he’d obsessed over. She seemed to have already made her choice. It should be simple. She’d chosen Cam. Rafe could move to the FBI side of the table with no remorse, just a never-ending ache in his heart. She’d made her choice without even bothering to listen to his side of the story. It was the same thing she’d done when she’d walked out of the hospital. She hadn’t bothered to let him know if she was alive or dead. She hadn’t given him a single thought.

He could choose his career with the same ruthless selfishness that she’d used when she’d walked away.

Rafe walked around the table, pulled out the chair—and moved that fucker, because he was done with picking his job over the needs of his heart.

She’d walked out on him and ripped his heart in two. She was currently choosing his best friend over him without giving him a chance to explain, and he would sit at her side until he keeled over because he loved her. He knew that now. He knew it in a way he couldn’t have known before she’d left. The last five years had taught him something. He was ready for a marriage. He was ready to move on to a place where his job was something that took care of the people he loved. Hell, that was all this place had been for the last five years, anyway. It had become a place that paid for Cam to look for Laura.

He and Cam had been functioning as a unit. Rafe wanted his place acknowledged.

Laura slid a glance his way.

Rafe kept his eyes on Joe. “Perhaps you would like to bring me up to speed, Special Agent. Special Agent Conrad told me some new evidence has come to light that makes the unit believe de Sade is working again and taking an interest in former Agent Rosen.”

“He had her panties, Rafe,” Cam said with a brutal frown.

Laura sighed. “Yes, I wish the bastard hadn’t kept those.” At least Cam was looking at him. There was a file in front of Joe that Rafe reached for. There was a stack of photos. On top was an evidentiary photo of a small, pink piece of silk.

“Do you recognize this?” Rafe asked, not quite able to look at Laura.

There was a long, charged pause. “Yes.” Edward sat forward now, pushing his glasses up his elegant nose.

“You were wearing these when the Marquis de Sade took you?”

“She said she recognized them,” Cam said with a frown.

“I need a formal acknowledgement that these belong to you, Miss Rosen,” Edward said with his usual condescension. “There’s no point in denying it. We’ll have DNA confirmation by tomorrow. There was a drop of blood on the waistband and other biological excretions on the lining of the drawers.”

Laura flushed, and Rafe thought seriously about putting the Harvard-educated agent’s nose through the back of his head.

“They were mine,” Laura said with a huff. “I was wearing them when he took me. He gave me some form of sedative. When I woke up, he’d taken my clothes off. Hopefully the next package contains a Michael Kors dress. I miss that dress. It made my boobs look spectacular.”

It was all Rafe could do not to laugh. That was his Laura. She was rebellious to the end. She’d faced de Sade and lived. She could certainly handle the FBI. She didn’t need him to be her protector. Was that what she’d tried to tell him by walking away? Had she really simply not wanted him after he’d failed her so miserably?

“Why Brad? Why would they send it to Brad and not me or Rafe?” Cam asked.

“Well, son,” Joe said, leaning forward. “I think this boy likes to screw with us. He genuinely enjoys playing the game, and you aren’t FBI anymore. I have to ask you something, Cameron. Have you talked to that reporter at all? Have you mentioned Laura’s whereabouts to anyone at all?”

“He barely managed to tell me,” Rafe muttered.

Cam’s face reddened, and Rafe didn’t miss the way Laura’s hand tightened over Cam’s. She seemed to be reminding him he was on a leash.

Edward tapped his long fingers along the table. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves with accusations. The Marquis de Sade is nothing if not organized. It wouldn’t shock me at all to discover he’s been watching. This is all a game to him. He would keep tabs on the major players. Despite Briggs leaving the FBI, I think the killer would still watch him. After all, he’s a potential link to the most important person in de Sade’s life—Laura Rosen, the one who got away.”

“It doesn’t make a lick of sense,” Cam said, his previous irritation seeming to dissolve into frustration. Laura had handled him perfectly.

“He’s been quiet for years. He gets one sniff of her and he’s back?”

“It’s possible that the incident with me threw him off his game,” Laura said. “Serial killers have been known to stop killing for years and then start up again.”

Edward adjusted his glasses in that scholarly fashion that set Rafe’s teeth on edge. He was always so far above everyone else. “I believe he simply entered another portion of the game and changed his tactics a bit. He’s smart. “

“Yeah, you’ve said that before,” Rafe replied. Edward had always seemed fascinated with this particular case. Edward had also been the one to declare that Laura’s profile was amateur and unworthy of real assessment.

Joe sighed as he looked around. He finally focused in on Laura.

He pushed the folder toward her. “I would like for you to look at what we’ve gathered since you left. I would really like your take on this.

You, of all the people in the world, know this guy. Help us. Help us catch him.”

“She needs to stay out of this,” Cam said.

Laura let go of his hand. Her fingers crept across the table toward that folder.

Rafe’s heart rate shot sky high. “She needs to come into protective custody. We need to get her out of here.” Laura’s eyes never wavered from that manila folder. Her hands caught it, and she slid it toward her. “I’ve tried hiding, Rafe. It didn’t work. What I’m rapidly discovering is that no matter how hard you try to hide, your past always catches up to you.” Joe’s face was in a brutal frown. “We need her, Rafe. You have to see that. She’s the closest we’ve ever come to catching him. He wants her.”

Laura casually opened the folder. “He’ll come for me.” Cam looked at Rafe over her head. His blue eyes were practically begging Rafe to do something, anything.

Rafe’s fists clenched into tight balls of anxiety. He’d brought her to this. “You are not using her for bait. I won’t allow it.”

“You don’t allow or disallow anything, Special Agent Kincaid.” The fine edge of authority bit through the air. Joseph Stone had been a special agent in charge for a very long time. He hadn’t gotten there by allowing his underlings to tell him what to do, but Rafe didn’t have a choice.

“Nor does he have any control over me.” Laura’s voice had gone cold, professional. She opened the file, and Rafe knew he’d just lost this little war. “I’ll need an hour or two to go over this. I know this isn’t standard procedure.”

“Letting a witness read confidential files?” Joe relaxed back into his chair. “No, but you’re not just any witness. You know I never agreed with the decision to fire you.” She waved it off. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it.” Joe and Edward got up.

“I’d like to be alone,” Laura said, never looking up from the file.

“Laura,” Cam started.

But Rafe knew she was done for now. He would have to find another way to get to her. If he pushed, she would retreat even further.

It was time to regroup.

“Come on, brother,” Rafe said. “Let’s go see what’s going on out there. She’s safe enough in here.”

The door closed between them. Rafe prayed it hadn’t closed forever.

An hour later, Laura finally closed the folder and tried to take a deep breath. It felt like the walls were closing in on her. Five years.