Disillusioned (Swept Away 2)

“What?” I felt the blood drain from my face.

“Bianca, Rosie is David’s girlfriend.” Jakob paused.

“No.” I shook my head. “She can’t be. It’s not possible.”

“Oh, shit, and I think I have something else. I think Roma stands for Rosie Maxwell. Ro Ma—she takes after her father, likes names to have a significance.” He looked at me with intense eyes. “Your best friend, Rosie, is Larry’s daughter.”

“Oh my God.” I stared at Jakob in shock. It all made sense now. Why she’d chosen that bar. Why she’d gone to the bathroom and not had any of the wine. Why she’d so easily believed the bartender when he’d told her I left with a guy. The way she kept bumping into David, even after we broke up. “Shit, she even told me she was working on a deal with Bradley Inc., but she said she didn’t get it. Oh my God.”

“She must have been working with her dad. That’s why the kidnapping plan worked out so perfectly. We had someone on the inside helping out.”

“I can’t believe she would do this to me.”

“Call her back, now.” His eyes flared. “Tell her you want to meet her. Don’t let her know you know anything.”

“Okay.” I dialed her number back quickly, fingers trembling. How could Rosie have lied to me? How could she have lied all these years? Was she really working with Larry? Was she really seeing David? My stomach dropped as I thought about the enormity of the lies that could have been going on for years. “She’s not answering.” I hung up and tried calling back again. “She’s not picking up.” I clutched the phone tightly.

“Let’s go.” He glanced back at the house. “Let’s get back to the city. I know someone who owes me a favor, and I think we should talk to your friend Blake. Maybe he can check out if there is a connection between Rosie and Larry.”

“Should I call him?”

“Yes, call him now. We’re going to find out exactly who Rosie is, Bianca, and exactly what role she had in all of this. Give me the envelope.” He took it from my hands. “This was definitely a setup. Larry wanted you to stop the merger for reasons that weren’t in your best interests.”

“What do you think he wanted?” I stared at the envelope in Jakob’s hands. “Why would they want me to have shares?”

“There has to be a reason why he wanted to set you up, just like he’s set everything else up. He’s been playing us, Bianca. He and his daughter have been playing all of us.” Jakob frowned. “There is one possible reason why he gave you the shares.”

“What’s that?”

“Maybe the reason has nothing to do with you getting part of the company. Maybe that was just a cost he had to pay to stop the merger. Maybe he saw you as the only way to get it stopped.”

“Couldn’t you stop it? Or David?”

“I don’t have shares in Bradley Inc.,” Jakob said softly. “It’s not my company. My father left all of his shares to David. I told you before that my mother wanted nothing from him.”

“Yes, you did tell me that.” I stopped talking as I thought. How then had Jakob made so much money? And was he mad that he didn’t own part of the corporation? He was Jeremiah’s son after all. He should have been left something.

“Larry wanted the merger stopped because he realized that it wouldn’t be beneficial to him and his daughter,” Jakob said. “And perhaps after everything he’s done, he just can’t accept that it was all for naught.”

“I guess his wife was right.” I sighed as we drove off. “Larry was evil, Jeremiah was evil . . .” My voice trailed off as I thought about what she’d said. She’d said that all three of them were as bad as each other. The third man was my father.

“We don’t know that your dad was bad as well, Bianca.” Jakob squeezed my hand.

“Mrs. Renee said they were all bad.” Pain rippled through me. “What could my father have done, Jakob? I don’t know why or how he could have been involved in all of this.”

“It could be a trick, Bianca. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe they want you to doubt your father and yourself.”

“Why did my dad leave me that letter? What was he hoping I’d figure out?” My voice cracked as my emotions overcame me. “I always thought my parents had the perfect marriage and it was stopped short by my mother’s accident. But what if all that was a lie? What if they never had a perfect love and a perfect life?” I put my face in my hands.

“It’ll be okay, Bianca. We’ll get to the bottom of everything, I promise you. We won’t stop until we have all the answers.” Jakob held me close to him, but all I could keep thinking was Is this something I really want to know? What had my father been involved with? What had gone on all those years ago between Bradley, London, and Maxwell? Somehow I had a feeling that Rosie was just the tip of the iceberg.

“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.