Emilie crinkled her brow in confusion but leaned over her computer to execute the command. A few key taps later, the image on the screen was the spitting image of Diana.
Rafe put a hand over his chest, wondering if it was possible to die from shock. All this time and he’d had the key to the case living right under his nose. In his bed. In his heart.
She’d lied to him, betrayed him, and then tried to leave him behind only to come back and ensnare him even deeper. The haunted look in her eyes, it was no wonder it captivated him. It was the same haunted stare that had been with him for ten long years. The eyes that had made him question everything he thought he knew.
The eyes that now made him want to be a better man so he could deserve her love.
“I think I know how to bring the Vandergraffs in.”
The room went completely quiet. Emilie sat forward, anticipation on her face.
“You do? How?”
That snapped Rafe out of his delusion. If they were going to end this, for his sake and especially for Diana’s sake, it had to be done right. She was a victim in this whole thing and had been from the very start.
She’d been thrown into hellish circumstances the day she’d been born to a megalomaniac, sadistic monster like her father and then raised with two twisted brothers. But there were others who wouldn’t see it that way.
There would be people here in the FBI who saw her as just one more criminal and try to find a way to hold her accountable for the actions of her family.
Rafe wasn’t going to let that happen. Diana had been brave enough to come back to him even though she’d been afraid. All she’d cared about was making sure the information she’d taken didn’t fall into the wrong hands. She’d tried to leave him because she was worried about his safety. Hell, as little as she was, she’d jumped on a guy’s back to fight because she was worried about him.
He had to find a way to keep her protected in all this.
“I think I know a way to bring them in,” he repeated. “But first I need an immunity deal.”
Chapter Nine
“Why is it you need immunity, DeMarco?”
Rafe’s gut twisted as he stared up at the photo. Diana. She was the girl from all those years ago. Some of that pain she carried around was because of him.
There was the part of his brain that had to replay everything that had happened with them since he’d met her. Every conversation, every look, every touch. How much of it had been real?
He shook his head. No. What he felt had to be real. She’d come back for him when she hadn’t needed to and the anguish in her face when she’d told him she had secrets, no one could fake that. He knew her by now. This was what she’d been hiding. This was why she was afraid. And she’d come here today to turn herself in for him. To keep him safe.
There was no way he was going to let that happen. At this point, he could give two shits what happened to him. But he sure as shit was going to protect her. But he knew he had to tread lightly. Rafe glared at Emilie. What had he done wrong? Shit, what had he not done wrong? The thing was he would gladly go to jail a thousand times over if it meant protecting Diana.
Turning his attention to Emilie, he said, “Nice try. Not for me. In case you forgot, we’re on the same side. I’ve got a vulnerable witness in my protection. And if you come at her this aggressively, she’s going to be in the wind.”
Interpol chick leaned forward, planting her hands on the center table and giving him a priceless shot of her quite spectacular tits. Too bad the view left him cold. “I’m curious. First how you came up with this magical witness just now? Because in the weeks I’ve been here, you haven’t said a word. I’m also curious about this witness floating on the wind and if you’re going to assist her with that.” She shrugged. “Because I must tell you, in terms you’ll understand, that would be a felony. If you have a witness, you need to turn her over to me. She can blow this Vandergraff investigation wide open.”
Rafe bit his lip to hold in a smirk. If only Emilie knew that she’d already seen the witness once, briefly. He doubted she’d make the connection from this old picture to the girl she’d seen ducking down the hall in his condo.
“Are you kidding me? I’ve been chasing this witness all over town as it is. And if we don’t get an immunity deal going, the witness is going to walk and you’ll have nothing. So if you want to have access, you’ll have to go through me.” Shit, he was losing it. But if Emilie Durand thought she was going to waltz down and take Diana from him, she had another think coming. All that woman cared about was cracking her case. She didn’t give a shit who she got killed in the process.
Emilie shoved herself back from the table. She scowled while she paced. “You’re obstructing an ongoing investigation. Do you know how long I’ve been chasing them? And you have the ticket and you won’t share?”
Alan held up his hands. “Everyone relax. Ms. Durand, calm yourself. Because at the end of the day, your investigation is on the Vandergraffs, not whatever witness Rafe has brought in. If we get the Vandergraffs, we might even get Boris too. That Russian has been on all our watch lists for a long damn time. There are a lot of open investigations we could close. So if I were you, I would listen to what Rafe’s witness has to say. Those three alone will make your entire career. You really want to spend it going after one of my agents?”
Rafe breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been sure if Alan would back him up. Especially since Rafe had been blowing him off for weeks.
Then Alan turned his attention to him.
“And DeMarco. What the fuck? You have a goddamned witness? You’ve had one all this time, and you didn’t say anything? This is not an undercover assignment. You said you were done with those. You asked me to bring you in from the cold. Was I wrong to bring you in? Was this whole thing a fucking mistake, bringing you back and resurrecting your ass? I know you wanted to see your family again. Tell me I wasn’t wrong, Rafe. Tell me I made the right fucking choice, because to keep a witness from me is not a wise move on your part. Were you in the underbelly too long? Have you somehow forgotten that you are supposed to be the good guy?”
Rafe calmed the urge to knock Alan the fuck out. Alan had been a good handler. They’d been through a lot together. But Rafe wouldn’t hesitate to clock him if he at all insinuated that he hadn’t been a good agent all this time.
Through clenched teeth, he muttered, “Not a mistake. And you’ll forgive my lack of trust, considering how Interpol has been turning up at my house hinting that I’m somehow involved in something with the Vandergraffs.”