“David Bradley?”
“Who else?” I gulped. “I’m only going to ask you this one more time, Jakob. Do you know David more than you’ve let on?”
He paused then, and I saw him thinking hard. “Yes, I do.”
“Oh.” I felt the blood drain from my face. I hadn’t expected this answer.
“I can’t tell you now.” He grabbed my hands. “I need you to trust me. I will explain everything to you once we make it off of the island.”
I didn’t want to trust him. I was so angry that he’d kept something else from me. Yet, I didn’t hate him. “Answer me this,” I asked him softly, my eyes flashing. “Did something happen between you and Steve yesterday?”
“I didn’t try to kill him.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“I don’t know who he is.” He looked me in the eye. “I can tell you honestly that I have never seen that man before in my life.”
“Jakob—” I swallowed hard and stared at him for a few seconds before asking him the question that was on my mind. “Can I trust you?”
“Yes, you can trust me.” He grabbed my hand. “I promise that I didn’t try to kill Steve yesterday.”
“I didn’t date David because I liked him. In fact, I orchestrated our meeting.” I was hesitant to say much more, for fear that Jakob was going to judge me. “I wanted to meet and date Mattias, that was the initial plan, but you’d think that man was the head of the KGB. No one knows anything about him.”
“Oh?” His eyes narrowed.
“I wanted help. The Bradleys have access to information that I don’t.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“I think Steve knows something.” I took a deep breath. “I think that Steve knows the truth about what happened. He says he wants to tell me something about what happened.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” He rubbed his temples and stared back at Steve. “Do you think Steve knows David and Mattias are working together?”
“No, but . . .” I paused and looked at him. “What did you say?”
“Huh?” He frowned and took a step toward me.
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “We should be careful with Steve.” I attempted a smile, even though my brain was screaming at me. Why had he said David and Mattias were working together? I’d not mentioned anything that suggested that. What was it that he knew about David that he wasn’t telling me? I could feel my heart racing as another thought hit me. Did he know Mattias Bradley as well? I knew that I needed to speak to Steve and find out exactly what he knew. “Let’s go back to him now, so we can keep an eye on him.”
“I don’t trust him.” Jakob’s eyes narrowed. “I think we should go into the jungle.”
“Now?” I shivered at the thought of going into the jungle with Jakob.
“We need to make sure we’re safe.”
“I think it’s smarter to be closer to him, so we can keep an eye on him.” I offered him another weak smile. Please agree with me, my brain was screaming at him.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” He nodded and then sighed. “I just want you all to myself. I can take care of you better, then.”
“I know.” I looked away and tried not to throw up. My brain kept replaying what he’d just said. He’d asked me if I thought Steve knew that David and his brother, Mattias, were working together. Why had he said that? As far as I knew, David was not working with Mattias. As far as I knew, David was still my friend, and he was slightly afraid of his older brother. Why had Jakob said they were working together? What did he know? I stared at his bulging biceps and swallowed hard. What if the man I had given myself to was the man I should be running from? “You go ahead and see if you can find some wood in the jungle for a fire; I just want to wash my face off in the ocean.”
“You can do that later. I want us to go and get this wood together.” He stood resolute. “I’m not leaving the beach without you.”
“Okay, fine. I’m coming.” I took a deep breath and looked back at Steve, who was standing by the water, staring at us. “Let’s go and get this wood.”
“I’m going to ask you something, Bianca, and I want to make sure that you don’t take offense, okay?
“Go ahead.”
“Are you sure your father was sane when he died?” His voice sounded jaded. “Maybe he regretted the fact that he was dying and had no money to leave you. Maybe he regretted the fact that he’d been a poor businessman.”
“My father would never insinuate or state a fact like that unless he believed it to be true,” I said indignantly.
“Okay, I was just checking.” He kicked the ground. “So your dad was partners with David Bradley’s father?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “This I know to be true.”
“And David Bradley knows this?”
“It’s a long story. He knows some of it.”
“Does he know about the patent paperwork you have and the incorporation papers?”
“No.” I stopped. “Though, I think someone knows.”
“Why?”
“Just some funny things have been happening since I started investigating.” I looked over at him. “I think that David’s brother, Mattias, has been behind the kidnapping. I think that he’s willing to do anything to get that paperwork away from me.” I laid my cards on the table and waited to see his reaction.