by J. S. Cooper
“I know. He’s an asshole.” Rosie went back to being supportive. “It’s his loss.”
“Exactly.” I sighed as I thought back to David. “Did he say anything to you when you saw him?” I asked casually.
“He said hi.” Rosie’s voice sounded awkward. “And something else, but it didn’t make sense.”
“Oh?” My fingers froze on the keyboard. “What else did he say?”
“He said that there was more than one way to skin a cat.”
“What?” I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I think he’s trying to woo you.” Rosie’s voice became thoughtful. “I guess he figured out that just apologizing and calling wasn’t going to cut it. I bet he’s going to try to step it up a notch and really try harder to win you back.”
“You think so?” I stared around my bedroom and thought for a second. This was the one room in my apartment that David and I had never really spent much time in. I lay back on my bed and sighed. “I was an idiot, wasn’t I. I should have just had sex with him. I’m sure it would have been amazing. Maybe we’d still be together now.” I felt odd saying the words, as if I were playing a part in a play. You’ve been watching too many movies, Bianca, I thought to myself.
“Don’t blame yourself, Bianca. It’s not your fault. Maybe this is what he needed, to see how much you mean to him. Maybe he’ll be all romantic now. What if he takes you on a surprise trip to Paris or something? Wouldn’t that be cool?”
“You think he’d really do that?”
“Who knows?” Rosie laughed. “Hey, hold on. I just got a package from a new and very cute delivery guy.”
“Okay.” I laughed and sat back up, still looking through my e-mails for the deleted messages from Matt. I wanted to get away from the conversation about David.
I should have known from his screen name that he was going to be an asshole. I mean, Knight in Shining Armani? Only a pompous asshole would choose such a name.
“Thank you, Billy.” I heard Rosie speaking to the delivery guy and ripping open her new package.
I smiled to myself as I imagined her decimating the package so she could find out what was inside as quickly as possible. She’d always been impatient when opening packages and presents. I only hoped she treated any packages she received from me with more care. I stared at the plastic bag on my night desk and wondered if I was making the right decision to entrust her with my papers.
“Oh my God, are you there, Bianca?” Rosie’s voice was jittery and excited.
“Yeah, why?”
“Someone just sent me a present.”
“Ooh, what did they send?”
“A Tiffany’s bracelet and a note.” Her voice was growing louder with excitement.
“What does it say?” I asked casually as my stomach flip-flopped.
“It says ‘My dearest Rosie, you don’t know me yet, but I very much want to know you. Accept this gift as a token of my friendship.’ ” She paused. “And that’s it.”
“Who’s it from?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice was low. “I wonder if it’s Joe from accounting. I’ve seen him giving me a few rather obvious admiring stares recently, ever since I got those blond highlights.”
“But you know Joe. Wouldn’t it say ‘You don’t know my intentions yet’ as opposed to ‘You don’t know me yet’?”
“Who knows? Maybe he’s slow or didn’t think it through properly.” She laughed. “Who cares? I just got a bracelet from Tiffany’s.”
“I can’t wait to see it tonight.” I was slightly envious. No one was sending me gifts from Tiffany’s. Not even David, who might or might not be trying to woo me back. I thought back to my own, more ominous note and wondered if there was a connection.
“I can’t wait to show it off.” Rosie’s squeal interrupted my thoughts.
“Okay, I have the e-mails open. Are you ready to hear the craziness?”
“Yes, let me hear.”
“ ‘Dear CreativeGirlNYC, Have you ever been to Rome? It’s such a romantic city that I would love to fly you there in my private jet. I’d like to take you to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. Then we can share pasta and drink wine as we gaze into each other’s eyes. KnightInShiningArmani.’ ”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s weird. He knows my name is Bianca, and I know his name is Matt, so why doesn’t he use our real names? And, well, we’ve never met. It’s too much too soon.”
“He’s trying to sweep you off your feet.” Rosie sounded matter-of-fact.
“Well, listen to the e-mail he sent me last night. ‘Dear CreativeGirlNYC, I was very disappointed that you canceled our date and now won’t accept my calls. I’ve been waiting for us to meet for a long time. In fact, I’ve been counting down the days until I can make you mine. I feel that you are playing games with me, and I don’t appreciate it. If you are willing to meet me tonight, let me know.’ ”
“Wow, he’s persistent.”
“Then today, he just sent me another e-mail. ‘Answer me, Bianca. If you would like to meet for lunch we can still make it work. If not, it’s your loss.’ ”
“Wow. He does sound like a winner, doesn’t he?” Rosie exclaimed, and I nodded, though she couldn’t see me.
“Now you know why I won’t be dating online anymore.” I closed my laptop.
“We’ll find two hotties tonight and flirt the night away.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“You might finally get laid,” she said, and then giggled.
“Rosie!”
“Hey, I’m just being honest. A vibrator can only do so much.”
“I’ll see you tonight,” I groaned.
“Hey,” Rosie whispered into the phone as I picked it up.
“Hey back at ya.”
“Meet me at this new bar on the Upper West Side tonight. I’ve heard good things and want to check it out.”
“What’s it called?”
“Orange.”
“Okay. I’ll see you around six?”
“Yeah.” She paused. “Six sounds good.” Then she giggled; the noise sounded quite nervous, and I frowned into the phone.
“What’s so funny? Is there a reason why you chose this bar, Rosie?” My brain started ticking, and I took a gulp of water.
“I’ll tell you later,” she said hurriedly, and then hung up.
I checked my watch for the tenth time. It was now six forty-five, and I was starting to get impatient. I looked at the menu again, and my stomach rumbled as I read the different entrée descriptions. I was so hungry, and I could already feel the glass of wine I was sipping going to my head.
I texted Rosie a photo of the cute bartender and then rubbed my temple softly. Hopefully the surreptitious photo I’d taken would make her hurry up.
“Hey.” Rosie walked into the bar as if she owned it, oblivious to the stares of the men in the bar as she sauntered toward me. Her blond hair was perfectly coiffed and her Escada suit clung to her body perfectly.
“Hey!” I jumped up and gave her a quick hug and continental kiss—left cheek, right cheek, left cheek. “I just texted you, by the way!” I looked at her expensive suit enviously. “You’re lucky I work from home, or I’d be borrowing your clothes.” I laughed as we sat down. I instinctively grabbed to the right of me to make sure the plastic bag was still at my side. I was going to give Rosie a copy of my father’s papers to hold for safekeeping. I’d taken the originals and put them in my safety deposit box at the bank, but I wanted to make sure that I had multiple copies out there just in case.
“How goes the writing? Seen any good movies lately?” She smiled at me briefly before turning to call the waiter over.
“Depends on what you mean by good.” I shrugged. “I’ve been watching box office movies mainly, those are the reviews that get the hits. Not the art pieces we used to watch in college.”
“Good old action movies, huh?”
“Action and cheesy romance.” I smiled and picked up my glass of wine. “They all start to seem the same, but they pay well. I had an article on Channing Tatum get ten thousand views last week.”
“Well, I’d pay to see him swinging those hips.” Rosie frowned as she waited for someone to come over and take her order. “The service here sucks. I should have remembered from last time.”
“Oh, you’ve been here before?” I asked her curiously. I was pretty sure she had said this was her first time.
“Yeah, once.” She ran her hands through her hair and then leaned toward me and grinned. “I’ve missed you, Bianca. I feel like we haven’t seen each other in ages.”
“That’s because we haven’t.”
“I bought you something the other day.” She studied my face and grinned. “A book on Richard the Third and the lost princes or whatever.”
“Oh, awesome.” I leaned back in my chair. “You know that some men at the Tower of London recently found . . .”
She interrupted me and said, “So you have to tell me all about that guy online.” Then she paused and turned around. “Waiter!” she called out loudly. “Can you come over here when you have a chance? I’d like a drink sometime this year.” She turned back to me with a glint in her eyes and a small smile. “Let’s see how long he takes now.”
“He’s most probably busy, Rosie.” I shook my head at her impatience. “You’ve only been here for a few minutes.”
“Exactly, I’ve been here for a few minutes, and I’m still sober.” She shuddered. “Something is wrong with this picture.”
“You can have some of my wine if you want.” I pointed to the bottle on the table, and she shook her head.
“No, I think I’m going to get a cocktail,” she said quickly. “I need liquor tonight.”
“So how’s work?” I changed the subject and inquired about her job. I really wanted to talk about myself, but I didn’t want to be rude.
“Challenging.” She shrugged. “We’re attempting to get the account of one of the top financial companies in the States. I can’t tell you the name for legal reasons, but let’s just say if we get it, we will be one of the top advisement companies in the world.”
“Do you think you’ll get it?”
“If I have anything to say about it, yes.” She pursed her lips. “Of course, I’m not working on that deal. I’m helping James with the Bradley, Inc. deal. If we get that, I think I’ll get promoted. That’s why I’ve been so busy.”
“Oh.” I looked down into my glass of wine; my heart was racing at her words. I hadn’t known she was trying to do business with the Bradley Corporation. “That’s David’s dad’s company,” I said casually, pretending that that fact was unimportant.
“Oh yeah, that’s where I saw him a couple of weeks ago. In the offices.” She made a face, and I knew that she was worried that I was still upset that we had broken up. Rosie didn’t know that I had never really had legitimate feelings for David, so his cheating hadn’t really hurt me.
“I need to tell you something.” I took a deep breath and lowered my voice. “It’s about David and, well, the Bradley Corporation.”
“Oh?” Her eyes narrowed, and she looked at me in interest. “What about them?”
“I think that the Bradley Corporation had something to do with what happened to my mother.”
“What are you talking about?” She looked confused. “What happened to your mom? She died in a car crash, didn’t she?”
“That’s the thing.” I took a deep breath, hoping Rosie wasn’t going to think I was crazy. “I don’t think she did.”
“What?”
“Remember how my dad used to work as an inventor?” I rushed out. “Well, he used to work for the Bradley Corporation. In fact when the company was started it was called Bradley, London, and Maxwell. I think—”
“Hold on a second.” She jumped up quickly. “I just need to go to the restroom, okay?”
I noticed someone in the corner of the bar staring at me. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I nodded at Rosie slowly as my head started to feel heavy. I was being watched. I was certain of it. I took a deep breath and looked around me. Was I being listened to as well? Part of me was glad that Rosie had jumped up when she had. Then it hit me; it was the man who’d been staring at me from behind the newspaper at the coffee shop.
“That’s fine.” I mumbled, the words tripping out of mouth in an existential fashion. I wanted to jump up and run, but I knew that wouldn’t help. I’d ask Rosie for her advice when she came back from the restroom. I’d tell her everything that was going on and then hope she wasn’t angry at me for keeping it all from her for so long.
“Watch my bag for me.” She handed me her large black Balenciaga bag and walked away quickly. I put her bag in my lap and quickly unzipped it and placed the plastic bag with the copies of my father’s papers in it and did it back up again.
“More wine, ma’am?” I heard the voice in front of me and I felt a prick in my arm as I looked up. I didn’t see the face of the person as I looked up, because my vision became dotted. All of a sudden, I felt terribly drowsy, like I wanted to sleep. I closed my eyes for a second, and then the world went black.
The first time I regained consciousness, I could feel someone lifting me up. I tried to open my eyes to see what was going on, but my eyelids wouldn’t open, because they were too weak. The second time I regained consciousness, I could hear two men frantically whispering something. It sounded like “The plan’s changed. The plan’s changed.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I allowed the dark void to suck me back in as my brain realized that the inevitable had happened. I knew that I’d rather be unconscious than frozen in fear while being blind and speechless. The void was good for now. The void would allow me to conserve my energy and stop the panic that was currently running through my body.
I drifted back into oblivion, and all I could think about were David’s words the last time we’d spoken: You’re strong, Bianca. You can handle anything. I promise that you’ll get over this. I only hoped that I was as strong as he thought I was.
about the author
J.S. COOPER is the New York Times bestselling author of multiple indie-published books, including the Ex Games series, the Private Club series, and the Martelli Brothers series. Born in London, she now lives in the US, where she is currently working on the next book in the Swept Away series.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/J-S-Cooper
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SimonandSchuster.com
Also by J.S. Cooper
The Swept Away Series
Illusion
Charade
Disillusioned
The Ex Games
The Ex Games 2
The Ex Games 3
After the Ex Games
The Private Club
The Private Club 2
The Private Club 3
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Jaimie Mancham-Case
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First Pocket Star Books ebook edition June 2015
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Cover photograph © Mayer George/Shutterstock
ISBN 978-1-4767-9102-9
contents
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Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Illusion Excerpt
Prologue
Chapter One
About the Author
