by J. S. Cooper
“Hey, Blake, it’s me,” I said into the phone, trying to sound casual as Jakob drove us back to Manhattan.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“We have more information.” I paused. “It’s about Rosie.”
“Okay.” His voice was short at the mention of my friend.
“We think she might be the daughter of the attorney Larry Renee.”
“No way!” Blake’s voice sounded positively giddy and I frowned.
“That’s not something to be happy about.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“We think that Larry Renee is actually Maxwell.”
“Maxwell of Bradley, London, and Maxwell?”
“Yes.” I could feel Jakob’s eyes on me, but I didn’t turn to face him. I was confused and upset, and all I wanted was to be alone to think by myself in a hot bath.
“So what do you want me to do?”
“We want you to find any links between Rosie and Larry. Also, see if you can find any connection between Larry and Maxwell.”
“And ask him to check out Mrs. Maxwell as well,” Jakob intervened. “She obviously seems to have a role if she was threatening Mrs. Renee.”
“Yeah, see if you can find out anything about Rosie’s mom.” I shook my head in annoyance. “I can’t believe I never pushed to meet her. We’ve been friends for all these years, yet I never even really knew who she was.”
“You know, I always thought something was off with her,” Blake said matter-of-factly. “I don’t know why you never saw it.”
“There’s a lot of things I don’t seem to see.”
“That’s true,” Blake said quietly.
I blushed. “So that’s it.” I made to end the conversation. “Can you check today?”
“Yeah, I’ll head out to the library now. Though I think I’ll go to NYU’s campus.”
“You can get into the library without a student ID?”
“I can get in anywhere.” He laughed. “Do you want to meet up tonight? Maybe we can discuss what I find over dinner.”
“Dinner sounds great.” I nodded and heard Jakob clearing his throat. I looked over at him and he had an eyebrow raised. “Jakob and I would love to join you for dinner.”
“Great.” Blake sounded disappointed. “I’ll call you tonight with a place to meet. And don’t worry, Bianca, if there’s something to be found, I’ll find it.”
“Thanks, Blake. And good luck.”
“Luck has nothing to do with it.” Blake chuckled. “Do you think the Romans had the greatest empire in all of civilization due to luck?”
“I think the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Greeks, and the Mayans would all beg to differ with your statement.”
“Touché. I’m sure they would.” Blake laughed. “Don’t worry, I got this.”
“Just be careful.”
“Don’t worry about me, Bianca. Napoléon once said, ‘I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one and when to be the other.’ ” Blake paused. “And while I may not be a politician, I know how to play many different roles to get the information I need.”
“Good luck, my friend. I’ve missed you and your random quotes.”
“I’ve missed you too, Bianca. I’m glad to be able to help you with this. Stay safe and I’ll see you and lover boy at dinner later tonight.”
I turned to Jakob after I hung up. “I want you to drop me off at my apartment. I want to pick up some of my stuff to take back to your place. I didn’t take enough with me.”
“That’s fine. I’ll help you pack.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I want to take my time, see what I think I’m going to need for the next couple of weeks. I’ll be fine. I’ll come to your place once I’m done, and then we can go over everything while Blake does his research.”
“Take a cab on the way back then. I don’t want you taking the subway.”
“That’s fine.”
“Do you have enough money?”
‘Yes.” I nodded and sighed. I didn’t even want to think about money at this point.
“I don’t think you should be alone.” He sounded annoyed. “But fine, I’ll drop you off and wait for you at home.”
“Are you going to go straight there?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I need to go and see someone first.”
“I should come too. Find out what your friend knows.”
“I’m not going to see him. We can go and see him tomorrow.”
“Are you sure? We can go now if you want and then I can just go to my place tomorrow.”
“No, get your stuff now and we’ll go and see him later. Tomorrow will be good enough.”
“I’m almost scared to hear what Blake finds out.” I let out a deep breath. “I’m not sure I can take any more secrets.”
“Don’t be scared, Bianca. I’m sorry you’ve been betrayed.”
“I just don’t know what else I can find out. I just can’t believe Rosie is Maxwell’s daughter. My father knew Rosie.” I sighed. “I don’t even know if he knew who she was.” I looked out the window. “I don’t even know who I can trust. What I can trust? She’s been my friend for years, Jakob.”
“We never truly know people, do we?”
“I don’t even know if this is real.” I glanced at him as I pinched myself. “It doesn’t feel real. I don’t want it to be real. I want this to be a dream.”
“How would we know if this were a dream?” His voice sounded sad. “How do we really know what is real and what can be trusted?”
“We don’t.” I looked down at my lap as I realized how true my words were. I had no idea who could be trusted. I’d gone back and forth on my feelings toward Jakob. I wanted to believe in him from the depths of my soul, but the more I found out about everything, the more I was losing my faith in humanity.
“I’m glad it’s not a dream though.” Jakob’s voice was firm and he reached out and grabbed my hand. “Even in all this craziness, I’m glad it’s not a dream, because if it was a dream, I wouldn’t have met you and I wouldn’t have you here with me.”
“I do believe you just said something romantic to me.” I curled my fingers into his. “Who would have thunk it?”
“I can be romantic at times.”
“Once in a blue moon, I’m guessing.”
“I was pretty romantic on the island, don’t you think?”
My mind drifted back to our days in the sun and sand. How far away that seemed now. It was almost like a distant memory in my mind.
“Are you listening, Bianca, or did I scare you?”
“Sorry, what? I didn’t hear you?” I looked at him and gave him a weak smile.
“I said, we need to get you that pregnancy test.” He looked at me, his eyes blazing. “And if you’re pregnant, we should get married.”
“What?” I froze in shock.
“I know, that came out wrong. Let’s get married anyway. I don’t want you to think it’s about the baby.”
“Oh.” My heart was thudding as I gazed at him. I was excited and shocked. I was about to ask him why when my phone beeped and I stared at the text message on the screen in shock.
It’s Steve. We need to talk. Your life is in danger. I told you before to be careful who you fall for. They are all deceiving you. Maybe you’ll trust me now. Whatever you do, don’t go to David’s apartment. Delete this message and wait for my next text. I’m going to help you.
“Who’s that?” Jakob looked over at me with a curious expression.
“It’s Steve.” I stared into Jakob’s eyes in shock. “He says he wants to talk to me. He says my life is in danger and that I should be careful who I fall for. What should I do?”
“Text him back.” Jakob’s eyes were hard. “Tell him you want to meet up with him.”
“When?”
“As soon as possible.”
“He told me to wait for him to text me back.”
“Then wait. We don’t want to
give him any reason to disappear again. He could finally provide us some of the answers we’ve been looking for. He can tell us if he’s been working for Larry and what Larry’s master plan was. We might have all the answers to all the questions sooner and easier than we thought.”
“Yeah, this might all be solved soon.” I looked out of the window, my brain not feeling the same hope that was in my voice. “That would be great.”
fourteen
I walked up to my apartment, waited for thirty minutes on the couch, and then left again. I wasn’t sure what made me go to David’s apartment. Maybe it was because Steve had told me not to go. Maybe I was hoping to catch Rosie and David together. Maybe I just needed that confrontation without Jakob being there. I knew Jakob wouldn’t like my going to see David behind his back, but I had bigger concerns than that. I needed to find out where Rosie was and talk to her by myself. I owed that to our friendship. I wanted to confront her alone. I saw Joseph standing at the front of the building and stopped. I didn’t want him to alert David that I was coming up to see him.
“Hey, kid,” I called out to a small boy eating a large ice cream cone.
“Yeah?” He looked at me warily.
“I need you to go and spill that ice cream on that man.” I pointed to Joseph.
“What? For real?” The kid shook his head.
“I’ll give you twenty dollars.”
“Okay.” His eyes lit up as if it were Christmas.
“Here you go.” I handed him a twenty and sighed. I should have offered him five. Twenty seemed like an awful lot of money just to dump some ice cream. “Now go.” I watched as he ran up to Joseph and threw the cone at his face. Trust me to choose a hooligan. I saw Joseph chasing down the kid and I walked quickly to the building, avoiding looking in their direction as I hurried into the building. My heart was beating fast as I made my way into the elevator. I’d made it. I exited the elevator quickly and hurried to David’s apartment. I tried opening the door without knocking. I grinned as it opened easily. He needed to get his locks fixed. The bottom lock never locked the door unless it was slammed it hard. I crept inside the apartment and froze as I heard two voices coming from the study. I walked slowly and crept up to the door that was slightly ajar and peeked in. But no one was there.
“What are you going to do, Jakob?” David’s voice said clearly, and I froze.
“I’m still deciding,” Jakob responded gruffly.
I looked around the room in confusion. Where were the noises coming from? No one was in the room. Then I saw the small AM/FM transistor radio sitting on the floor next to the desk. I crouched down and picked it up—the sounds were coming from there.
“You’re a fool, you know that, right?” David’s voice was full of static as I held the radio to my ear. Where were they? I hurried out of the study and looked around the rest of the apartment quickly.
Beep beep. I grabbed my phone to see who had texted me.
Smart girl. It’s Steve again. I’m glad you went to David’s apartment. Go to the TV in his bedroom. Turn it to channel 1003 now. I told you to trust me.
How do you know where I am?
Don’t worry about that. Go to the TV in David’s room now.
What’s going on? I texted back as I ran into David’s room and turned the TV on.
All will be revealed in due time.
Where is Jakob? I asked, my heart pounding as I fumbled with the numbers on the remote and changed the channel to 1003.
You’ll see. Steve texted back immediately.
I sighed at the message and then looked at the TV screen. My heart dropped as I saw Jakob and David in a dark, dingy room somewhere. Jakob, with a grimace on his face, was standing next to David, who was tied to a chair and looked panicked.
“The papers were at Larry’s wife’s house, just like she said.” Jakob’s voice was cold. “You didn’t tell me she was Larry’s daughter.”
“I didn’t know at first.” David’s voice was bitter. “Not until you were on the island.”
“You know Larry is Maxwell?”
“What?” David’s jaw dropped. “That bitch never told me!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her.” Jakob walked to the side of the room and I could barely see him in the darkness.
“You got what you wanted. You can’t keep me here,” David grunted. “You won’t get away with it.”
“It’s nearly done now.” Jakob slammed his hand down on the table. “Everything is working out perfectly. I’ve done what I had to do. What’s hers is mine and what is mine will be hers.”
“What do you think she’ll do when she finds out?” David’s voice was low and he smirked at Jakob from his seat. “You’ve got me tied up here so I can’t leave, but you’ll have to let me loose at some point.”
“We’ll see about that.” Jakob’s voice dropped to a low rasp and I shivered. “I might never let you loose.”
“Bianca will find out, you know.” David sounded scared now. “She’ll find out the truth.” My heart stopped as I watched them both. What truth was David talking about?
“What truth is that, dear brother?”
“She’ll find out that the kidnapping was your idea.” David’s voice cracked as he struggled in his seat. I could see the tightness of the rope around his wrists and I felt my own wrists scratching as I remembered the feeling.
“Why would she find that out?”
“I think it would make a big difference to her to know I wasn’t the mastermind behind the kidnapping. When she finds out it was all your idea. Did you like tying the rope around her body and her wrists?” David hissed. “You’re a sick fuck, aren’t you? I know she has a cute little—”
“Shut up.” Jakob slapped David across the face and I gasped. I was starting to feel woozy from watching the screen and took a step back.
“Or what? You’re going to kill me?” David laughed. “Killing me won’t stop the truth from emerging. Wait until she finds out that it was you who wanted her out of the way. Wait until she finds out that it was your company that bought Bradley Inc. That it’s you who doesn’t want her stopping the merger.”
“That kills you, doesn’t it, baby brother?”
“You were always jealous of me and what I had.” David spat at him. “I had everything that you wanted. I even had her.”
“You never had her.”
“That’s what she likes to say, but I fucked her in every hole she has and she loved it. She was begging me for more when I had her in the bed.”
“You sick fuck.” Jakob slapped him again and David laughed.
“She’ll never trust you, you know. Not now and not ever. Not when she finds out exactly what you did. Not when she finds out why.”
“What are you talking about?” Jakob’s voice went cold as ice. As did my face as I took a few steps closer to the TV screen.
“I’m talking about her father.”
“What?” Jakob grabbed hold of David’s shirt. “Think very carefully before you speak next, little brother.”
“I’m talking about your whore of a mother and Bianca’s father.” David laughed. “Does Bianca know that her precious father was the one cheating?”
Jakob stood there still as a statue and my hand flew to my mouth to stifle a gasp. All of a sudden my father’s grief made a lot more sense. Larry’s wife had been right. They’d all been evil.
“And not only that . . .” David’s eyes narrowed. “Does Bianca know exactly what happened to her father? I think she’d be interested in finding out more about his death. Don’t you?”
“What do you know about her father’s death?” Jakob tightened his hold on David’s shirt.
“I spoke to Larry, who spoke to Steve. I know who Steve was working for,” David spat out, and then smiled a wide, evil smile. “And all hell’s about to break loose, dear brother.”
“You spoke to Larry?” Jakob’s voice dropped. “If you want any chance of getting out of here, you better tell me what game he’s pl
aying.”
“Death was just the beginning,” David said slowly, and I froze at the familiar words. “You’ve been a bad, bad boy, Jakob.”
“What does that mean?”
“You thought the target of everything was Bianca.” David laughed. “But you were wrong. The target has been you, all along.”
“What?”
“It’s game, set, and match, Jakob. You’re going to lose everything. Once Bianca knows the truth about what you’ve done, it will be all over for you.” David laughed. “It will be all over.”
The screen went blank and I stared at the black and gray lines, my mind buzzing. What the fuck was going on?
Beep beep. I grabbed my phone, expecting another text from Steve. I needed to see him right away. I needed to find out what he knew. I clutched my head and rubbed my temple as I felt a huge migraine hit me.
Bianca, we need to talk now. Blake’s name flashed on the screen. You and Jakob need to come and meet up with me. I think you’ve both been set up.
I was about to call Blake when I heard the door behind me closing.
“It’s me, Bianca,” said the familiar voice. “I’m here.”
I turned around and took one look at the person in front of me before the world turned as black as it had the day I learned my father had died. I fainted clean away.
Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next installment in the tantalizing, heart-stopping Swept Away series by New York Times bestselling author J.S. Cooper
Resolution
Coming Summer 2015 from Gallery Books!
prologue
“Hush, little baby, don’t say a fucking word,” he sang in an ominous voice as he twisted the lyrics to the old nursery rhyme. His voice was the only sound in the small damp space aside from a low rattling in the corner, and I didn’t want to know what or who was making that noise.
I kept my face stiff and my eyes downward as I sat there uncomfortably. The room was cold and dark and smelled of mold. I coughed as the mildew filled my lungs and my body shivered on the old rickety chair I was tied to. I didn’t even bother trying to scream—I knew no one would hear me. No one would be coming to my rescue now. It was just the two of us. After everything, it had come to this.