Disillusioned (Swept Away 2)

“I mean it.”

“Blake, this is Bianca’s boyfriend, Jakob. I know you know about our past, but I am committed to Bianca and finding the truth. I have never hurt her and never will. You have my word on that.”

“That’s good to hear.” Blake sounded less sure of himself and I reached over and gave Jakob a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re both very sweet guys, but enough.” I laughed lightly. “What else did you find out, Blake?”

“Steve has over a million dollars in cash split among three savings accounts. He has no living family that I can see. Can you corroborate that, Jakob?”

“I don’t know about the cash.” Jakob frowned. “But I can corroborate that he has no family. Both of his parents died when he was a kid. That’s kind of why he gravitated to my father so much. My dad trusted him like a son. That’s why David and I trusted him, that’s why I had him come to the island. I thought his allegiance was to me and my family.”

“Maybe it is,” Blake cut in. “But maybe his allegiance is to David and not to you.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” I said. “David seemed legitimately perplexed to find out that Steve had gone rogue and disappeared. I don’t think he was behind it.”

“Neither do I,” Jakob added. “At first when we were on the island, I did wonder if it was my brother, but I’ve thought about it from every angle and it wouldn’t make sense. Not at all. There has to be a third party involved.”

“So was he close with anyone else besides my dad and the Bradleys?” I asked stiffly. “And do we know why we think he was close with my dad?”

“He worked with your dad in the new product development department. He was almost like an apprentice.”

“How do you know this?” I asked softly.

“The less you know about how I got the information the better. Let’s just say that there was some conflict at a company picnic one year.”

“What?” Jakob spoke up. “When was this? I don’t remember any conflict with Steve.”

“He trashed a table and threw some punch bowls on the ground after he got into an argument with the company attorney, Larry Renee,” Blake said in a rush. “Someone wanted to press charges, but ultimately they were dismissed.”

“Who wanted to press charges?” Jakob and I said at the same time.

“I don’t know,” Blake said, annoyed. “The police report didn’t list the name of who wanted to file the charge, it just said ‘complainant.’ I think the name might have been whitened out and written over. But get this—” He paused for dramatic effect.

“What?” I said hurriedly, my heart racing at this news.

“Steve wanted to file a countercomplaint. But he wanted to file murder charges.”

“Murder charges?” My jaw dropped as I stared into Jakob’s intense blue eyes. “Who did he say was murdered?” I swallowed hard as I waited for the news. Was this my first outside confirmation that my mother had been murdered?

“He stated, and I quote, ‘Jeremiah Bradley had my parents killed and I want him to rot behind bars for his sins.’ Crazy right?”

“What happened?” My voice was faint with shock. That was not what I’d expected to hear.

“The charges were dropped. I don’t see any open investigation into what he said. It was like he never continued with it.”

“If he thought Jeremiah killed his parents, why would he work for him? Why would he become like a son to him?” I shook my head and looked at Jakob to see how he was reacting. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does.” Jakob nodded slowly, his brain working in overdrive as we sat there. “It makes perfect sense if he wasn’t really and legitimately interested in being close to the family.”

“What do you mean Jakob?” Blake asked curiously. “From all accounts, he’s been working at the Bradley Corporation for years. Maybe he got drunk one day and made the accusations and then sobered up and recanted.”

“Or maybe he realized that the police didn’t believe him and the courts weren’t the way to get justice.” Jakob looked thoughtful. “Maybe he’s been playing my family all these years. Maybe he’s just been waiting on the perfect time to exact his revenge.”

“That would explain the hatred he seemed to have for you on the island,” I added. “I think that’s why I was so shocked to find out he was working for you. There seemed to be no friendliness from him to you at all.”

“We were never the best of friends.” Jakob made a face. “But I trusted him. I thought he was loyal.”

“So you guys think he’s been rogue from the beginning?” Blake sounded excited.

“Yes,” Jakob said tightly. “I think he must have been.”

“So then we need to get to the bottom of his story,” Blake continued. “We need to find out why he thought his parents were murdered by Mr. Bradley, why he turned rogue on the island, what he hoped to accomplish, and we need to know what happened at the picnic.”

“The picnic? Do you think that’s important?” Jakob sounded annoyed. “Don’t we have the information we need from that? We know what’s in the police report?”

“We know that he had a complaint at the station. We don’t know why he got angry in the first place. And we don’t know if his anger is also aimed at Bianca.”