Illusion (Swept Away 1)

“I really have no clue, Bianca.” His tone changed, and so did his expression. “Shh.” He put a finger to his lip. “I think I see a school of fish swimming toward us.”

“Are you sure?” I whispered back excitedly, and stared into the water. I could make out a dark shape moving toward us, and I prayed that it was fish and not the fourth coming of Jaws.

“I’m pretty sure.” He nodded, but he didn’t move his eyes from the fish. “When I say go, drop the shirt, push it forward and lift.”

“Okay.” I stood as still as possible and waited for his command.

“Go!” he yelled, and we dropped the shirt into the water and pushed it forward to scoop up the fish.

“We got some!” I cried out in excitement as I saw some fish trying to jump out of the shirt.

“Beginners’ luck.” He grinned at me as he tied the shirt into a little bundle.

“I can’t believe we caught four fish!” I exclaimed as we made our way back to the sand. “How are we going to eat them? Not live?”

“No.” He laughed. “We have the lighters, remember? We should be able to start a fire, and we can grill them.”

“Oh, that sounds amazing.” I made my way with him to the shore, and we both laughed as my stomach growled.

“That tasted really good. Almost as good as if it were made in a restaurant.” I licked my lips and leaned back. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He patted his stomach. “I feel pretty satisfied myself.”

“So what do you think happened to Steve?” I asked him curiously. My eyes watched his every move to see how he reacted.

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s playing some sort of game.” He frowned.

“Do you think we should look for him now? I feel like we both keep delaying the search.”

“I think that’s what he wants.” Jakob moved closer to me. “He wants us to come to us. You ever study military history as part of your degree?”

“You think he wants to ambush us?”

“I think he has an agenda.”

I closed my eyes and sighed loudly. “I wish I knew what was going on.”

“We should talk again.” His hand reached out and grabbed mine. “See if we can figure out anything else.”

“You mean the Bridgette connection?”

“Yes, the Bridgette connection.”

“I don’t know how that would be of any help.” I shrugged. “She dated my ex before I did.” I debated asking him whether he knew David, but he spoke before I could decide.

“Bianca,” he said my name slowly, and I looked at him. He was frowning and his expression looked annoyed. “There was something else in my envelope.”

“Oh?”

“A photograph.”

“A photograph of what?”

I watched as Jakob stood up and walked over to his pants. He pulled out both of our letters and a photo, which he brought over to me.

“Can you explain this?” He dropped the photo in my lap, and my body froze. The photo was of me and Bridgette smiling at a party about a year ago.

“I . . . I . . .” I stumbled over my words. “It’s a long story.”

“Bianca, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest. Did you steal your ex from Bridgette?”

“No,” I shook my head. “I swear I didn’t know they were dating when I met them.”

“Who did you meet first?”

“Technically I met Bridgette first, but I thought they were just friends.”

“Did you have a plan to meet him?” he asked me softly, and my heart sunk.

“Yes.” I nodded. “I had a plan.” I paused and reached out for his hand. “It wasn’t because I was a gold digger though.”

“So you weren’t after the Bradley family money?” His eyes narrowed, and I shook my head.

“How did you know David?” My heart started beating rapidly as I decided to stop chickening out. “When I mentioned my ex was David Bradley, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t make the connection. My brain was still contemplating the fact that I’d been kidnapped. Bridgette was my assistant. Yes, we slept together a couple of times. It didn’t mean anything. I knew that she started dating someone else, but I didn’t care,” he said with a shrug. “She was my secretary. Nothing more. It was only when I found out that she was sharing classified information with David that I fired her.”

“So you know David?” I persisted with my questioning. I wasn’t going to allow him to distract me from this questioning.

“Not very well.” He shook his head. “I know of him. I like to keep to myself.”

“I guess that makes sense, what with you being so rich.” I lay back and asked softly, “How did you make your money again?”

“I’m in venture capitalism. Buying small businesses and selling them for a profit was how I started. Now I buy larger companies and either sell them for a profit or maximize their business productivity and keep the profits for myself.”

“So you don’t care about the businesses?”

“Some of the businesses have their uses. I don’t do anything based on emotion. Every act in my life has a purpose.”

“You sound so driven. It seems so boring.”