Illusion (Swept Away 1)

“Are you scared, Bianca?” His voice dropped, and his eyes glittered into mine as he took a step toward me.

“No,” I lied, staring at his face, trying hard not to show him that I was unsure as to how I felt about him.

“That’s a pity. You should be.” His eyes fell to my legs and then back up to my eyes. He shifted the rock into his right hand, and his left hand reached up to my face. His fingers ran down my cheek, and he sighed. “I think there’s a lot to be scared of on this island.” His thumb moved to my trembling lips, and then his arm dropped back to his side. “You shouldn’t be so trusting, Bianca.”

“I’m not.” My lips trembled as I stared at him. My eyes wouldn’t leave his face or chest, and I could feel the blood in my veins heating up.

“Keep looking for rocks. I’ll be right back.” He took a step back, and I watched as he walked back up the sand to where he had left Steve.

I shook my head as my fingers ran to my lips. I closed my eyes for a second, remembering the feel of his fingers on my lips. I groaned as I realized that I was in trouble. My tongue flicked out of my mouth, and I licked the faintest taste of him off my lips. I turned around and groaned again. I was in really big trouble. I continued looking for rocks and tried to distract my mind from my attraction to Jakob.

There had been something odd in his questioning. Why had he been so concerned about my parents’ marriage? Did he know what I was investigating? I closed my eyes and prayed that when I opened them I would be back home in my apartment. Everything was getting so confusing. At first, when I’d read through the papers I’d found in my dad’s box, I’d been bored. Then I’d read through them again, and my curious nature kicked in. There had to have been a reason why my father had thought they were important. There had been some papers related to a corporation my father had been part owner and founder of, some patents for a bunch of different inventions, and some paperwork that called for a dissolution of the company and a request for all three founders to exit the company with what they had brought to it originally. My father had wanted his patents back, Bradley was to take his money, and the third party—someone called Maxwell—was to receive only a percentage of the profits from the previous year. The dissolution had never been signed, but it was drafted a week before my mother’s death, if the time stamp was anything to go by. There had also been a report from a private detective about my mother’s car crash. A report that suggested my mother hadn’t died in an accident, but the report had ultimately resulted in an inconclusive answer.

I thought back to the corporation my father had been a part of: Bradley, London, and Maxwell. I was pretty sure that this was the corporation that was now called Bradley Inc. I’d found the Bradleys, but I’d had no luck finding the Maxwells. Running into David and catching his eye had been the best thing I’d done thus far in the investigation, but I’d soon realized that he knew nothing about the family business. It was his brother, Mattias, that now ran the company. It was his brother who had access to all the secrets of the company. It was his brother who I had yet to see. I could find no public information on him anywhere, not even Google. This had been the reason why I’d divulged some information to David about who I was. I wanted—no I needed—to gain access to Mattias. But it hadn’t worked out that way. I was starting to wonder if fate had changed its plan for me and was handing me something on a silver platter. I took a deep breath and tried to stop my shaking fingers. In that moment, I wished that I could talk to David more than ever. No matter what had happened in the past, he would know exactly what to say to calm me down.

“Okay, I found another two.” Jakob walked up to me with two more rocks in his hands. “You take this one and follow me back to Steve.”

“What are we going to do with them?” I asked him again, feeling annoyed and curious.

“All will be revealed soon enough,” he replied, and handed me a fairly large rock. “Let’s go.”

“I’m coming.” I rolled my eyes and followed him back to the sand.

We walked back to Steve, whose face was shining a bright red. I could tell that he was going to have a terrible sunburn on his face and grimaced as I realized that I was probably as burned as he was. My skin wasn’t used to such direct sunlight.

“How’s that hole looking?” Jakob dropped the rock on the ground a couple of feet away from where Steve was frantically digging.

“Not that great.” Steve looked surly and tired.

“We’ll help. Come on, Bianca.” Jakob dropped to his knees and looked up at me. “Start digging.”

“Digging?” I sighed and dropped down next to him. “Why are we digging?”

“You’ll see.”

“I’m tired,” I groaned and wiped a mass of sweat off my forehead.

“We need this hole to be about three to five feet, so let’s get to work.” He immediately started throwing sand behind, and I joined him. The sand grains felt cool next to my fingertips, and I dug quickly.

“The sand is getting colder and colder,” I commented out loud.

“That’s because we’re getting closer to the water,” Jakob answered and gave me a small smile.

“What water?” Steve asked, and I pointed to the ocean. He looked like he wanted to ask another question, but he didn’t. I looked up and saw Jakob giving me another small smile.