by J. S. Cooper
“I can move onto my back if you want,” she said, and then gasped. “I mean, move back.” Her face turned bright red as she explained her mistake. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud as she mumbled on.
“No, you’ve done enough.” I nodded and looked down at my book to stop myself from gazing at her face. Why was I so intrigued by her? She was the last person with whom I wanted to develop any sort of camaraderie. I stifled a sigh as I sat there. I wasn’t sure why the letter had told me to come to the coffee shop. Who had wanted me to see Bianca so badly? I was about to get up and leave when Bianca picked up her bag and spilled half the contents on the ground.
“You need some help?” I stared at the papers, my eyes working over the documents quickly to see if they held any important information. I leaned forward and grabbed her lipstick and mints and handed them to her. She took them quickly and then jumped as we both got a small shock at the touch of our fingertips. I wondered if she was that jittery in bed.
“Thanks,” she said nervously, and I saw her looking around the coffee shop.
“Is everything okay?” I frowned at the worry on her face. Something seemed off and I wanted to know why she seemed so preoccupied. What did she know that I didn’t?
“I’m fine.” She stared at her computer screen again and made an odd sound as she mumbled something under her breath.
“Sorry, were you talking to me?” I asked her softly, though I knew she wasn’t.
“No, sorry. I just had an e-mail from this guy.” She rolled her eyes. “If it was from you, I wouldn’t be pressing Delete, trust me.” She made a face as she realized what she’d said. “I mean, you seem like a really nice guy.” Her voice trailed off and her face reddened again. I hid another smile and looked down at my book. I still wasn’t able to concentrate, but I didn’t want her to know that.
“I’m glad to hear that. Let me know if I can be of any help.” The words on the page all seemed to blur together, but I forced myself to keep my head down.
“Shit.” She jumped up, her hair flying as she grabbed her bag.
“You okay?” My heart rate increased as she looked at me with manic eyes and nodded toward the corner.
“I have to go. It was nice meeting you.” She gave me a quick smile, and for one brief second she looked like the woman I remembered. And then she hurried out of the coffee shop, muttering something under her breath. I watched as she left and looked toward the corner to see who had spooked her. I frowned as I saw who it was.
“What are you doing here?” I stared at him with narrowed eyes as I pulled my baseball cap off. “What’s going on?”
“I’m here on Larry’s orders.” Steve pulled off his fake mustache and shrugged. “He wants me to make sure she’s not getting too close to the truth.”
“By following her?” I glared at him. “She knows you were watching her.”
“Good.” He stood up. “We want her to know. Maybe then she’ll back off.”
“What do you care if she backs off?” I leaned toward him. “What’s in this for you?”
“What do you care?” There was a glint in his eyes I’d never seen before. “What’s in it for you, Jakob? What’s in it for you?” And then he walked out of the coffee shop quietly and unobtrusively. I stood there for a few seconds, thinking. How had he known where Bianca was going to be? And why hadn’t he been surprised to see me there? I walked out of the coffee shop and wondered if it was Larry sending me the letters. It didn’t make sense that he’d want me in close contact with Bianca. Not when he was having Steve follow her as well. Unless he was trying to set me up for something. All of a sudden, I didn’t know whom to trust. I needed to ensure that I was the one steering the ship and not the one being led to a shipwreck.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and made a call. If this next step was going to happen, it was going to happen on my timing.
“Jakob, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” David’s voice was dry as he picked up the phone.
“I think it’s time.” My voice was firm as I walked down the street and headed toward Dave’s New York, a traditional army-navy store in the city.
“Time for what?” David sounded confused, and I stifled a sigh. Sometimes I wondered how he hadn’t brought about the collapse of Bradley, Inc. already.
“It’s time for us to get on Bianca’s good side. It’s time for us to figure out exactly what she knows.”
“Okay,” David said hesitantly. “So you’re going to take her to the island?”
“Yes,” I said without pause. “She needs to be kidnapped and put into the back of a van. When she wakes up, I’ll be tied next to her.” I paused as I looked at the bright lights of the city. “We’ll be drugged, maybe a shot of something or some chloroform over our faces to knock us out for the helicopter ride. When we both come to, we’ll be on the island, tied together.”
“And you’ll figure out what she knows.”
“Yes.” I was going to figure out exactly what she knew and more.
“When?” David sounded excited.
“In a week or so.” My brain was racing as I thought of everything that I needed to do. “I need to go to the island first, set some things up.”
“What things?” he asked curiously.
“It doesn’t matter what things.” Though of course it did. I was going to plant some photos of her parents and some letters. I needed her to trust me and I needed her to open up. And I didn’t want to be the one to have to start the dialogue with her. I wanted the dialogue to start naturally. It mustn’t seem that we were connected until we picked up the clues. The clues would be an innocent way to start a conversation. If I were to just do it myself, it would seem suspicious. “Can you take care of getting her to the van when I give you a date?”
“Yes, I can.” David laughed. “Roma can help me with that.”
“Oh?”
“Turns out she knows Bianca. In fact she—”
“Good,” I said, cutting him off. I didn’t want to talk about his girlfriend now. If he found out I’d fucked her, he was liable to try to spite me and that was the last thing I needed to happen now. I needed him to get Bianca into the van and I could take care of the rest.
“So are you going to take Steve?” David sounded annoyed that he’d been cut off. “Larry isn’t sure what’s going on with him. He’s been acting funny recently.”
“I need him to come, to help me quickly create a shared connection with Bianca. Steve will be our common enemy. It will make her open up more to me.”
“She’s not dumb, you know,” David said. “And I wouldn’t try getting into her pants, either—that bitch doesn’t like to give it up.”
“I’m sorry she didn’t sleep with you, David. Does Roma know how much that upset you?”
“Jackass.” David sounded annoyed. “I’m just letting you know that I wouldn’t bother trying to win her over with sex, she’s not likely to give it up.”
“That’s the least of my concerns, David.” I was starting to feel angry. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you when it’s time. Have everything set up and ready to go. We’ll talk later about the plans.”
I hung up and continued walking down the street as if I didn’t have a care in the world, but my heart was beating fast. This was going to be the riskiest thing I’d ever done. It was likely that Bianca would recognize me now. It was likely that she wouldn’t trust me. It was likely that I wouldn’t get any truth from her. However, I didn’t care. I’d get to be with her, spend time with her. I’d get to know her. And right now that was all that mattered. Maybe the plan to seduce her and break her heart wasn’t such a bad one after all. I’d just have to make sure that I didn’t end up breaking my own heart as well.
Find out how it all began for Bianca and Jakob in the first book in the series!
illusion
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prologue
“Bianca, where are you?” His voice sounded angry, and I shivered as I opened my eyes.<
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I stared at the large expanse of dark midnight blue sky through the tree branches and prayed that he wouldn’t find me. I could see the white-sand beaches from my vantage point. The whole island looked so much smaller from up here. My limbs felt numb, but I was too scared to even move an inch. If he heard the rustling of leaves, he’d know where I was. I closed my eyes again and tried not to think about falling.
“Bianca, this isn’t funny.” His voice was hoarse, and I heard his footsteps moving closer to me. “Bianca, if you can hear me . . .” He paused¸ and his voice changed. “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be. I’m not going to hurt you.”
I heard a branch snap below me, and I knew he was close. All he had to do was look up. If he looked up, he’d be able to find me. This man who’d become my most intimate confidant was now my predator, and I was his prey. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath before looking down. An involuntary gasp escaped my mouth as I realized how high up I was. That was my first mistake.
“I’ve found you,” he said, his voice cracking as he looked up at me with dark eyes. “When will you learn? You can’t escape me.”
“Did you hurt him?” My fingers started trembling as I looked back down at him. “Tell me. Did you hurt him?”
“It depends on what you mean by hurt.” He lifted his hands up, and I saw that his fingers were drenched in blood.
I closed my eyes; I had my answer.
“I did it for us,” he said simply, and I felt my heart drop into my stomach. “Don’t you trust me?” he asked me softly as he started to climb the tree. I saw the shiny glitter of the silver knife in his left hand before he placed it into his pocket, and my heart stopped beating for a second.
“I trust you.” I nodded and waited for him to reach me.
That was my second mistake.
one
One Week Earlier
“Can I have this seat?” A deep voice interrupted my typing, and I stifled a sigh.
“Uh, sure,” I replied, without looking up. I had to finish my latest movie review in the next ten minutes and e-mail it to my editor if I wanted to get paid for the article.
“Can I have some space on the table?” His voice was dry as he spoke again, and I pulled my laptop toward me quickly, my eyes never leaving my screen. “I don’t mean to disturb you,” he continued, and this time I ignored him completely. I didn’t have time for chitchat. Not when I had to finish an article on Adam Sandler’s latest movie and persuade viewers to go and watch it without completely lying about my feelings toward the acting and the poor jokes.
I typed away as quickly as I could, but I could feel that the man was staring at me. I bit down on my lower lip to stop myself from looking up at him and asking what his problem was. It wasn’t his fault that I was on high alert and anxious. I knew that I couldn’t have an expectation of privacy if I was working at a coffee shop, but I didn’t normally have to worry about a stranger talking to me. People in New York never talk to strangers, not unless they are tourists.
I sighed and looked up. “Did you need help with something?” My breath caught as I stared at the man’s face. He was handsome, or appeared to be under the Yankees cap that covered half of his forehead. His blue eyes looked into mine with a bright light, and I could see a hint of a smile on his full pink lips. I licked my lips unconsciously as I stared at the man across from me and attempted to brush my messy hair back. “I can move onto my back if you want. I mean, move back,” I stuttered as he stared at me with his lips twitching slightly. “I don’t mean I’ll go on my back or anything, I mean I can move farther back, if you need more space.” My face burned red as I tried to explain myself.
“No, you’ve done enough. Thank you.” He nodded and looked down at his book in a dismissive fashion. Served me right, I suppose. I hadn’t really given him the time of day, and it would be way too obvious if I tried to start up a conversation now. I looked at my watch and then back at my article; I had five minutes to sum up a lackluster review of a movie I’d thought was inane. If I didn’t send it over, I wouldn’t get paid. And now that this was my only form of income, I needed to get paid. I went back to typing, though my mind was partially on the man I was sharing the table with. His knee was rubbing against mine, and I couldn’t help but laugh at myself for the slight thrill his touch was giving me.
“Loser,” I whispered to myself under my breath as I wrapped up the article and attached it in an e-mail. I knew that I was sending the e-mail without rereading the article one more time so that I could try to chat with the man. Though I really had no business trying to flirt with a strange man in a coffee shop. I was about to ask him what he was reading when I got the strangest sensation that someone was watching me again. And this time I knew it wasn’t the man sharing the table with me. I looked around the coffee shop and saw an older-looking man sipping his coffee and staring at me over a newspaper. As soon as our eyes made contact, he looked away and back down at his paper. I felt my heart racing as I stared at his coffee cup on the table. It wasn’t from this coffee shop. I pressed Send on my e-mail and grabbed my bag up from the floor in a panic, spilling half of its contents on the ground.
“You need some help?” The man looked up from his book and then stared at the ground. He leaned down and picked up my lipstick and some mints and handed them to me. Our fingers brushed each other’s as I took my belongings from him, and I felt a dart of electricity running through me at his touch.
“Thanks.” I stared into his deep blue eyes and nodded quickly.
“Is everything okay?” His eyes crinkled in concern, and I was about to answer, when I felt the man in the corner staring at me again.
“I’m fine.” I looked back down at my computer screen and stifled a groan. I’d received another message from Matt, a guy I’d spoken to a couple of times on the computer, yet had decided I didn’t want to meet. I opened the e-mail slowly, not really wanting to read what he had to say. I’d much rather be talking to the hunk in front of me. I read the e-mail from Matt quickly and then deleted it without responding. He just wouldn’t leave me alone. “Stalker,” I muttered under my breath, and looked up again to see the hunk staring at me.
“Sorry, were you talking to me?” His lips were twitching again, and I shook my head.
“No, sorry. I just had an e-mail from this guy. If it was from you, I wouldn’t be pressing Delete, trust me.” I groaned out loud as I realized what I’d said. “I mean, because you seem like a really nice guy.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Let me know if I can be of any help.” He went back to his book, and I was about to ask him a question about what he was reading when I felt the man in the corner staring at me again.
“Shit.” I jumped up and grabbed my bag, hitting the hunk in the shoulder as I moved.
“You okay?”
“I think I’m being followed.” I said as I shook my head and nodded toward the corner where the man watching me sat. “Sorry, I have to go.” I grabbed my laptop and pushed it into my bag. “It was nice meeting you.” I gave him a quick smile and ran out of the coffee shop. “This was our serendipity moment. I hope we meet again,” I muttered as I gave the hunk one last look before darting down the street. I continued running down the street until I could no longer run anymore. I stopped outside a donut shop and leaned back against the wall, breathing deeply. I looked left and right to make sure I didn’t see the man who I was pretty sure had been following me and then rubbed my forehead.
“You’re going crazy, Bianca,” I said to myself as I straightened up and started walking at a normal pace. I started laughing as I reached the subway station and went down to catch my train. Not one person had looked at me like I was crazy as I’d run down the street. Even though I’d been running like I was in the 100m sprint finals at the Olympics. That was part of the beauty of living in New York City. You could be who you wanted, and you weren’t judged. The other side of the coin, the side of the equation that made me stop smiling, was the wonder of what woul
d have happened if the man had been following me. Would anyone have come to my aid? I walked on to the subway and held on to the pole without looking at anyone. As I stood there I thought about both men in the coffee shop; one I’d wanted to get to know better, and the other I hoped I never saw again. I shook my head as I realized how different I was now. My life had changed completely in the last year and so had I.
I never thought I was particularly brave until recently. I don’t enjoy watching horror movies. I sleep with all my doors double-locked, and I go through and check that all my windows are closed tight every night before I go to bed—and I live on the eighth floor of my apartment building. No, I’m not someone who anyone would call brave and definitely not an amateur sleuth. I’ve always been someone who likes to keep to herself. Some people would call me quiet, but those are the ones who don’t know me well. Inside, I’m a dynamo of activity and fun.
I used to be the sort of person who froze when she heard a creak in the floorboards or heard a sudden scream. My father always used to call me his frightened little rabbit when I was growing up. I heard the term a lot, as there were always sudden and unexplainable noises in New York City. I don’t think he realized that it was his overprotectiveness that led to my lack of trust of most people. However, my whole demeanor changed when my father died. The first twenty-five years of my life faded into obscurity when my father died.
My father died of a broken heart. Or rather I should say he died with a broken heart. I don’t think he ever got over my mother’s death. I’m not sure that I ever got over it either, even though I was a young girl when she was killed in a car accident. Her English ancestry was the reason I studied British history in college, and my love of her memory was the reason why when I was given my father’s secret box, I knew I had to do something about its contents. My mother’s death changed my father’s life, and my father’s death changed mine. The moment I read his letter to me was the moment I felt steel implanted in my backbone. It was the moment I knew that I wouldn’t allow anything to frighten me until I found out what really had happened to my mother.
