She

by J. S. Cooper

  “I don’t think many people did.” She continued as if talking to herself. “His first friend was your father. He thought your dad was a stand-up guy until he stole Angelina away from Jeremiah.”

  “Sorry, what?” I frowned. “Did you say my dad stole my mom away from Jeremiah Bradley? As in, my mother used to date Jeremiah before she dated my dad?”

  “Yes.” She looked surprised. “You didn’t know?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I had no idea.”

  “That’s why they set your dad up.” Penny rubbed her forehead and sighed. “I didn’t think it was a good idea, but who was I to say anything?”

  “What do you mean they set my dad up?”

  “The inventions.” Penny said matter-of-factly. “That’s why they were all in your dad’s name.”

  “Why?” My breath caught.

  “They wanted your father to be imprisoned for theft. Oliver had all the original patents and paperwork. Jeremiah wanted to teach your father a lesson about stealing from him.”

  “My father never went to jail though.” I frowned. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “Bianca, are you okay?” I heard Jakob’s voice next to me, and I wanted to scream as I gazed at Penny’s once again stoic face.

  “I’m fine.” I glared at him. “What are you doing here?”

  “Who else is here?” Penny’s eyes darted around the gate area.

  “Just me.” Jakob answered before I could mention Blake.

  “Why are you here?” Penny said, frantic now. “I didn’t tell her anything. I promise.”

  “It’s fine, Penny,” I said softly. “He’s with me. He’s on our side.”

  “The Bradleys look out for the Bradleys.” She looked into my eyes with a panicked expression.

  “I’m not here as a representative of the Bradleys, Penny. I’m here for Bianca.” Jakob sat next to me and grabbed my hand. “I know I shouldn’t have come, but I didn’t want to leave you here sitting alone. Not after what happened yesterday.”

  “What happened?” Penny asked frantically.

  I explained quickly. “Steve and Rosie tried to take me to go and meet someone, but they didn’t tell me why.”

  “Steve’s a good boy,” Penny said with a frown. “I failed him.” She pursed her lips and mumbled something to herself.

  “What did you just say?” I asked her softly.

  “I said that I regret the day I ever introduced him to Roma.”

  “She’s Larry’s daughter, isn’t she?”

  “Yes. A monster from a monster.” She sighed. “I didn’t see the signs. I didn’t believe until it was too late.”

  “Until what was too late? What happened?”

  “Like I was saying, it all started when your mom left Jeremiah for your dad,” Penny said with a hint of blame in her voice.

  “Your mom dated my dad?” Jakob looked at me in shock. “Before she dated your dad?”

  “She was just explaining that when you interrupted us.” I put my hand on his thigh and squeezed it, hard. The last thing I needed was for him to freak Penny out and make her clam up. Not when she was so close to telling me everything she knew.

  “Yes. It was quite the scandal.” Penny nodded. “Apparently, Jeremiah was extremely upset by the betrayal.”

  “So my dad loved Angelina Walker?” Jakob said thoughtfully.

  “Oh, no.” Penny laughed bitterly. “Jeremiah Bradley didn’t do love. In fact, he didn’t even particularly like Angelina, but he knew that Nick did. From the first time he laid eyes on her, Nick was in love. That’s why Jakob started dating her. He wanted to be in a position of power over Nick. He wanted to show Nick that he was number one.”

  “What?” I gasped. “That’s awful.”

  “That was Jeremiah. On the surface, he was the nicest, most welcoming person, but he always had another motivation. He was born with a hidden agenda.”

  “How do you know all of this?” Jakob asked with a frown. “Did you grow up with them?”

  “I’m sure Oliver told her,” I said quickly, but Penny shook her head.

  “Actually, no, it all came from Larry,” she said with a twisted smile. “That’s always been his problem. He’s got a big mouth. He lets certain things slip that he shouldn’t. Oh, he hid the big things, but I’m not dumb. I could figure them out.”

  “Larry told you?” I prodded, hoping she would go further in her conversation.

  “They called them Beauty and Charm,” she said.

  “Who?” Jakob’s voice was tense.

  “Larry and Jeremiah.”

  “No, who did they call Beauty and Charm?” Jakob questioned, and my heart almost stopped as I realized that that wasn’t the first time I’d heard that term.

  “Angelina and Nick,” she said impatiently. “Angelina was beauty, and Nick was charm. The perfect couple.” She shook her head. “But nothing’s perfect, is it?”

  “That’s what one of the notes said,” I interrupted, and looked at Jakob. “ ‘Beauty and Charm. One survives. One is destroyed. What are your odds?’ ” I blinked up at him. “That can’t be a coincidence, can it?”

  “I don’t believe in coincidence.” His eyes looked into mine intently. “Whoever sent you that note chose those words on purpose.”

  “Yes, it has to have a deeper meaning.”

  “Who could have sent it?” Jakob said, and I shook my head.

  “Maybe Larry? Or Jeremiah?” My voice sounded weak even to my own ears.

  “Jeremiah twisted up everything. And everyone,” Penny interjected. “I wish I’d never let him mentor Steve.”

  “Why did you get with Larry?” I asked her softly, not understanding how she could still be protecting the man she called a monster.

  “I didn’t realize he was bad when I met him. He was saving me. Oliver had died, and Larry appeared out of nowhere. He told me he was one of Oliver’s best friends and that Oliver had been murdered by powerful men. He told me they would come after me next, but if I left with him, he could protect me. I believed him.” She shrugged. “I didn’t have any way to support myself after Oliver passed away. I never made it as an actress.”

  “But what about Steve? Who looked after him?”

  “Steve was with a foster family.” She looked away from me, and I could see shame filling her eyes.

  “Even before Oliver died?”

  “My brother wasn’t a good father. And I was too selfish to take him on. I regret that now. Maybe he wouldn’t have so many issues.”

  “Issues?”

  “He’s crazy,” she said with a straight face. “I tried to help.”

  “How did you try to help?” Jakob asked softly.

  “I sent a letter to Jeremiah Bradley. I told him what I knew. I knew some things, you know. Some things that could ruin him. I wanted a million dollars. I was going to give it to Steve.”

  The letter! “What happened?”

  “He told me he was going to look after Steve. He told me that he’d treat Steve like his own son. He told me he’d love Steve like his own. I thought that would be good. That’s what Oliver would have wanted. It would have made his heart soar.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Jeremiah didn’t care about Steve. He just wanted to shut me up. And he did. I didn’t realize the truth until it was too late.” She buried her face in her hands. “It was too late for all of us.” She looked up and pursed her lips. “That’s why I’m going to France. I want a new life. I wanted Steve to come with me, but he said he can’t go.”

  “He knows you’re his aunt?”

  “He knows a lot of things.” She shrugged.

  The loudspeaker crackled to life: Bonsoir, ladies and gentlemen. We now welcome our first-class passengers to board Air France flight 250 to Paris. . . .

  “Penny, has Larry ever mentioned to you that Jeremiah might still be alive?” I asked her urgently. We were running out of time.

  “Jeremiah still alive?” Her eyes stil
led, and she sat upright and clutched her bag to her side. “Why would you say that?”

  “Because of the person Steve wants me to meet,” I said again, willing her to be completely honest.

  “I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I will tell you one thing though. Right before your father passed on, he came to visit me. Nick wanted to know what I knew about the fact that all the patents were in his name, even though Oliver had been the chief designer behind the self-painter.”

  “So he knew he’d been set up?” I said with a frown.

  “Your dad was a smart man. He was the one who made me realize Larry didn’t have my best interests at heart.” She leaned forward. “He said to me, be careful of those who seek to help you. They may do more harm than good. Nick was—”

  “Can you say that again?” I interrupted her.

  “He said, be careful of those who seek to help you. They may do more harm than good,” she repeated, a little miffed that I’d cut her off.

  “That’s what I thought.” I turned to Jakob. “That’s what the man said to me, the one who called me on my dad’s phone! That day the fake policeman came to my apartment after Dad died.”

  “Are you sure he used the same words?” Jakob’s eyes were burning with intensity.

  “I’m positive. This is huge. Beauty and charm and now this.” I shook my head. “Who was behind the messages?”

  “I assumed David and Rosie, but now I don’t know.” Jakob shook his head. “I really don’t.”

  “You both have to be careful,” Penny said, and I was about to answer her when I saw Blake jump up and approach us.

  “I’m sorry.” He apologized as he stopped in front of us. “But I couldn’t not come over, not with so little time left.”

  “Who is this?” Penny looked frightened as she gazed at Blake.

  “He’s a friend. What’s going on, Blake?” I frowned. Penny was even more uncomfortable now, shifting in her seat as if she were about to get up and run away.

  “Remember the letter your dad left you?” Blake said to me.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “It said, As I’ve gone through my papers and recalled various conversations from the days before her death, it has occurred to me that there may have been people that wanted to see me incapacitated. People that knew that your mother’s death would change everything in my life. My darling, I may not be able to leave you riches in the bank, but go through the papers in the box and you might find the truth,” Blake said quickly, and my jaw dropped as he repeated from memory a part of my dad’s letter. “What can I say? I have a photographic memory.” He laughed, but then his expression changed. “It was a clue, Bianca! I think that the papers he left you, the patents and all that stuff, weren’t for you to get a share of the company, but more to right the wrongs of the past. Your dad said incapacitated. We thought he meant dead. What if he meant imprisoned? He told you to find the truth in the box. We know now that the truth is that he didn’t create the self-painter. We also know that Jeremiah was conniving to get him imprisoned.” He looked at Penny and smiled weakly. “Sorry, I was eavesdropping.”

  Penny’s face was blank as she stared back at Blake. I was pretty sure she was still in shock and wondering who else was going to pop up as part of the group.

  “That makes a lot of sense.” Jakob looked at Blake with respect.

  “So then, what you’re saying is that my father wanted me to talk to Penny?” I asked, trying to follow along. I was becoming extremely overwhelmed.

  “I’m saying that we’ve been looking at the clues all wrong. We assumed that every clue was about you and Jakob. What if the clues all relate to the past? What if all the clues are about your father and mother? We know that the beauty and charm clue is about them. One is destroyed and one survives, right?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded.

  “So, who was destroyed and who survived?”

  “Well, Bianca’s mom died in the car crash, right?” Jakob said. “So presumably, Angelina was destroyed, and her dad, Nick, survived.”

  “And maybe it points to the fact that Angelina was murdered,” Blake said. “To destroy means to put an end to something.”

  “So then my mother’s car crash really wasn’t an accident . . . which is what we thought,” I chimed in.

  “Her car crash wasn’t an accident,” Penny said, and stood up. “I have to go.”

  “You can’t!” I jumped up. “I know you have more to tell us.”

  “I have to go.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Bianca.”

  “Please!”

  “I’ve helped you as much as I can.” She grabbed my hands. “That’s why I told you about Roma, the last time you saw me. You think I did that by accident? You think I didn’t know what I was doing?”

  “You knew that Roma was Rosie?”

  “I told you that Maxwell screwed us all, remember? I told you they were all thick as thieves. I told you.”

  “You knew.” I nodded. “You knew Larry was Maxwell. You were telling me that he wasn’t to be trusted as well?”

  “I knew the papers he left you weren’t to help you. They were going to harm you. I didn’t want to give them to you. I didn’t want you to fall for his trap. I told you that you shouldn’t be there. I told you.” Her grasp tightened; she was nearly crushing my fingers, but I was afraid to do anything to discourage her confession.

  “You did.” I nodded.

  “Your father wouldn’t want you to own a third of Bradley Inc.” Her voice was low. “He hated the company. He said he was manipulated, just like Oliver was. Just like Macy. Just like Joanie. Just like all of them.”

  “What about Larry?” I asked softly.

  “No one manipulates Larry.” She shook her head, her eyes boring into mine as if trying to implant knowledge right into my brain. “I have to go.” She leaned over and gave me a quick hug. “I’m sorry, Bianca. Good luck.” As she pulled away, she whispered in my ear. “There’s a reason Larry’s the last one standing.”

  Then she dashed for the gate and disappeared down the jetway, leaving me to wonder: Where did we go from here?

  nine

  Nicholas London

  Decades Ago

  “We need to talk about this, Nick.” Jeremiah’s voice was calm, but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was angry.

  “I have nothing to say, Jeremiah. I don’t want your shares. I don’t want your money.”

  “You can’t live forever, Nick. You can’t provide for Bianca forever. You need money. Don’t you want to protect her?”

  “Protect her?” I said, my heart stopping. “That’s an odd choice of words.” I moved closer to him and looked him in the eyes. I no longer recognized my friend. This man was consumed by greed, by lies, and by vengeance. I saw that now.

  “Everyone has a price, Nick. Every action has a consequence.” Jeremiah shrugged and stood up. “I’m just trying to help you so you don’t make any mistakes. You need to think of your family. You’re all Bianca has left now.”

  “Yes, I am.” I stood up as well, and we faced each other as two enemies. Our friendship was now officially over. I was David to his Goliath, and I knew that I couldn’t back down.

  “Think about your actions carefully, Nick. There will come a day when you’ll die and Bianca will be all alone. Left to fend for herself.” He tilted his head. “And we all know what happens when little piggies are around wolves.”

  I turned around then and walked to the door of his office. I looked at Larry sitting in the corner, a smug look on his face, and it was then I knew—there was only one way to fix this. If it didn’t work, both Bianca and I would be imprisoned. Or dead. And I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  part 2

  ten

  Bianca London

  Present Day

  Anticipation can kill you, or drive you crazy. I was pretty confident that I was driving both Blake and Jakob crazy with my constant muttering. While our talk with Penny had been enlightening, i
t hadn’t helped us as much as we’d hoped it would.

  “Are you ready for tonight?” Jakob kissed the side of my neck as he rubbed my upper thigh in the back of the limousine that was taking us to the ball.

  “No.” I shifted on the black leather seat and turned to him. “Do you think we’re making a mistake?” I pulled out my cell phone from my purse and reread the text message that Rosie had sent that morning. I hope you got the invitation. We expect to see you and Jakob tonight.

  “Stop worrying, Bianca.” The tip of Jakob’s tongue was in my ear, and I squirmed away from him.

  “What are you doing?” I looked at him in frustration. “This is possibly the most important night of our lives. Of course I’m worried and nervous, and I don’t understand how you can be sucking on my neck right now. Is that really all that’s on your mind?”

  “Bianca, this is not the most important night of our lives. Thus far, the most important moment of our lives has been the day we met, and the most important night of our lives will be the night we’re married.”

  “You’re such a romantic.” I shook my head. “At least you didn’t say the most important night of our lives was the first night we had sex.”

  “That’s up there as well.” He grinned at me, and I felt his hand sliding up my leg. I caught it as he tried to insert his fingers between my thighs.

  “No, I don’t think so, Jakob.” I couldn’t stop myself from giggling. “I’m not about to have sex with you in the back of this limo.”

  “Hmm, that’s a good idea. That wasn’t even what I was thinking.” He licked his lips. “I was just hoping to calm your nerves.”

  “With your fingers in between my thighs?” I tilted my head up at him.

  “Not exactly.” He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “The goal was to have my fingers inside of you, pleasuring you until you came. I find that having an intense orgasm always makes you calmer.”

  “Jakob!” My jaw dropped as I squirmed. “You’re unbelievable.” I was about to say something else when the limo stopped. “We’re here?” I said in surprise as I looked out the window.