If I can’t influence them with my status as an artist, I assure you my status as a billionaire and the heir to Talbot Industries will influence them.”

Laura saw the minute Jana knew she was defeated. She turned the burgeoning scowl into a placid smile. “Mr. Talbot, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Laura is a dear friend. I’m just surprised that these men would think to curtail her freedom as a woman.” Oh, not even Nell would have been fooled by that one.

“Well, if you think we’re cavemen now,” Cam said with a grin just before he leaned over and shoved a shoulder in Laura’s midsection. Laura found herself in a fireman’s hold before she could think to protest.

“Cam, put me down!” Laura shouted, although she was shouting it to his butt. It was a really nice butt encased in some fairly tight blue jeans. She had the sudden, wicked urge to cup that ass because it belonged to her.

That was a dangerous thought.

“No can do, baby,” Cam said with an easy confidence. “We’ve decided we outvote you.”

“I didn’t realize we were a democracy,” Laura shot back.

Rafe was suddenly on one knee. He gently pulled her head back so she was forced to look into that gorgeous face of his. His olive skin practically glowed in the low light, and those dark eyes of his got her every time. “There are many things we intend to make you understand tonight, bella. The first of which is you will not be speaking to that woman.”

Cam started to carry her out. She bounced against his body, straining to see as he walked. “Damn it, Cam. Put me down. You can’t manhandle me like this.”

“Yes, I can,” he said, a weird cheeriness to his voice. “I’m doing it right now.”

She heard the door open and close, and the world around her got a lot darker as he left the building and walked out into the parking lot.

She saw Rafe walking behind them. Maybe he was going to be more reasonable. “Rafe, this is not exactly legal.”

“Take it up with the sheriff.”

Laura strained, and she could make out Nate Wright standing in the doorway looking out over the parking lot. He did not look like a man about to arrest someone, which was surprising given his predilections.

What had gone on in that meeting? “Let’s talk about this. I’m willing to admit that talking to Jana was a mistake, but I’m not going to put up with this. We’re adults, and we should discuss this situation rationally.”

Cam snorted. “Not going to happen. You’re not in charge tonight, baby.”

The door to the SUV opened, and Laura found herself stuffed into the car. Rafe followed hard after her while Cam raced around to the front seat. Before she could scoot to the other side, Rafe pulled her close. His arms circled her.

“We’ve been going about this all wrong. We’ve been treating you like fragile glass, but you’re not really fragile, bella. You’re strong.

You’re so fucking strong. You can handle a little fight. We’re going to give it to you.” Rafe’s warm breath played along her skin. “Some of the other men seem to think we should tie you up and spank you until you submit.”

She was so going to kill Stefan Talbot.

“But I think that would cause more trouble,” Rafe concluded.

“I voted for the spanking, baby,” Cam said as he pulled out. “I thought it sounded hot.”

“We’ll see how you like it then,” Laura shot back.

“Yes, I thought that would be your reaction,” Rafe murmured as he stroked her hair. He should stop doing that. He was kidnapping her. “So Cam and I compromised.”

“We’re going to fuck you until you admit you love us,” Cam explained.

“I already admitted I love you.” Loving them wasn’t the problem.

She would love them until the day she died, but she couldn’t ask them to give up everything for her.

“Fine, we’ll fuck you until you forgive us.” Rafe’s hands delved under the collar of her blouse. She tried to move away, but he held her tight. It occurred to her that she should be fighting this loss of freedom.

When she’d first come to Bliss, she’d had terrible nightmares about being held down. Over the years, those nightmares had shifted and turned into dreams of being wrapped in Rafe and Cam. Fear had changed to longing. She still had the occasional dream that de Sade had come for her, but lately, the end had changed. Lately, when she thought she would die, the bonds that held her down became warm hands stroking her and Rafe’s voice telling her she was safe. She would look up and Cam was the one standing over her, a look of love in his eyes.

“I forgive you,” she said, emotion choking her. Damn it. If it was forgiveness they were looking for, then she would give it to them. She could give them what they needed. She could forgive them, but she was never going to…

Tears streamed down now.

“Bella?” Rafe forced her face up.

“I don’t forgive me,” she choked out. “Oh, god, I don’t forgive me.”

She let Rafe pull her into his arms, his warmth surrounding her.

She was here when all those other women were gone from this earth.

Why was she the only one? And how could she have walked away?

She’d run so fast and so far, but he’d caught up with her, and what had that cost all of them?

“I should have stayed,” she whispered against the fabric of Rafe’s shirt.

Strong hands stroked her. “Bella, you can’t blame yourself.” Couldn’t she? The sight of those girls haunted her. She’d known he was lurking, and she’d chosen to hide. She’d picked her pain over what she’d known was right. God, she’d never cried. Five years and she’d never cried.

At first it was all about surviving. It was all about putting one foot in front of the other and making it through the day without blowing her brains out. She’d walked out because she couldn’t deal with Rafe or Cam. She hadn’t been able to face them, much less choose between them. She’d made it through the interviews by pretending it had happened to someone else. She had pushed it back until she told herself it didn’t touch her anymore, but now she could see it had affected her every minute of every day.

“He hurt me.”

A stupid assertion. Obviously he’d hurt her, but she’d never said it so simply. She’d told them the clinical details of what had happened to her. She’d explained how he’d bound her and how she’d gotten away. She’d described the knife he’d used on her in technical details, but not how it had felt when he’d shoved it in her torso. He’d used a small knife, and he’d cut her over and over. It had been enough to hurt, but not kill her right away. She’d never told them how she’d felt.

She’d never told them how she’d felt when she’d woken up from anesthesia and the doctor had told her that he’d been forced to perform a hysterectomy in order to stop her internal bleeding. There had been numerous other things, but that was all she’d heard that first night.

“I’m so sorry, bella.”

She could feel something wet on her forehead. Tears. Rafe was crying with her. Big, strong Rafe was crying. She clung to him. If he could cry, she could, too. She could be brave enough to do it.

“He made me feel so small.” She’d been insignificant. She’d been nothing but a body bound to a slab. An insect to dissect. She’d been nothing to him. Hours of torture had led her to the conclusion that she was nothing.

When the Marquis de Sade had left her alone abruptly, it had taken everything she had to fight. She’d gotten one hand free by working it out of the binding. She’d used her own blood to do it.

She’d found a towel and shoved it against her belly to hold herself together. She’d found the door that led out to the warehouse he was using and made her way to the street. All the way she’d wondered if it was even worth it. Her feet had moved as though the will to live was something that put her on autopilot. How long had she been on autopilot?

“You weren’t small, baby.” Emotion choked Cam’s throat as he drove toward her cabin. “You were loved. No matter what he did to you, you were loved. So fucking precious to me.”

“To both of us.” Rafe’s hands tightened as though he was scared to let her go. “He can’t take that from you. He can’t make you small.

You’re Laura Rosen…Niles…whatever you want to call yourself, but you are loved. Always loved.”

It hadn’t happened to someone else. It had happened to her. It wasn’t technical. It was visceral and emotional, and she’d ignored it for far too long. It was still happening to her because she wouldn’t let these two men in. She’d lied to Logan. She’d lied to Rafe and Cam.

She’d lied to herself. She wasn’t pushing them away for their own good. She was letting that fucker win because he was affecting her life.

Laura cried because she’d held it in for so long. She’d sat up alone at night, a pain in her chest that wouldn’t let her go. She released it now because for the first time in years, she was finally safe. The danger might not have passed, but she was safe.

She was loved. No matter what he did to her, she was loved.

“I can’t have babies,” she sobbed. That hurt so much. He’d taken that from her. He’d taken her babies. All that mattered was the fact that she would never have a family. The tears became a flood.

“We can. We can do anything we want,” Rafe promised, rocking her gently. “You can’t carry them, but we can find a surrogate. We can adopt. Bella, if you want a family, we’ll have one.” Was it really that simple? If she let go of the pain, could she have what she wanted? She loved Bliss, but she needed these men. In the end, if she had to choose, she would choose them.