Disillusioned (Swept Away, #2)(18)

“Steve tried to kill him.”

“What?” David’s face paled. “No, that’s not possible. That must have been part of the act.”

“I don’t think so.” It occurred to me that neither David nor Jakob seemed to understand what had motivated Steve. “Are you lying to me, David?” My eyes narrowed and I could feel a new power surging through me. I would figure this out and get to the bottom of the situation.

“I swear to God. I don’t know what Mattias is up to. I can’t believe he would do all of this. You didn’t deserve any of it, Bianca. I wish I could have protected you. I should have known better.”

“How were you to know your brother was a sociopath?” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Exactly.” David looked distraught. “I would have trusted him with my life. He’s my blood.” Idiot. I tried to hide my disdain for David from my face. How had he not realized I was being sarcastic?

“Do you know the attorney for Bradley Inc.?” I asked softly, then sipped some water.

“The attorney?” David frowned. “No, why?”

I bit my lower lip, considering, trying to decide whether to tell him about Larry’s disappearance. I had to make a judgment call. Did I trust David? I knew the answer was no, but I also knew that I had to, a little bit. He was the soft brother. He looked devastated by what had happened. I knew he wasn’t capable of the deception Jakob had pulled on me, especially not with our history.

“When my father died, my father’s attorney gave me some papers. I just recently found out that my father’s attorney was also the attorney for Bradley Inc., and, well, he’s gone missing.”

“Oh?” David sipped his wine and his eyes widened. “That doesn’t seem like a coincidence, does it?”

Bingo, Sherlock. “No, it doesn’t. I’m worried that something bad has happened to Larry.”

“Do you know his last name?” David looked thoughtful.

“Renee.” I stared at his face to see if his expression changed. “His name is Larry Renee.”

“Never heard of him before.” David shook his head, his expression blank.

“I think Mattias kidnapped him as well,” I prodded on, hoping to see some sign of activity in David’s brain. He couldn’t be this clueless, could he?

“I wouldn’t put it past him.” David licked his lips. “Has he contacted you?”

“Who?”

“Mattias.”

“No,” I lied, though I wasn’t sure why. “I don’t know why he would contact me.”

“He knows you know that he is Mattias, though?”

“Yes, he knows.” I nodded. “He confirmed it.”

“What happened on the island, Bianca?” David looked curiously at me. “What did my brother do to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve changed.” His fingers circled the rim of his wineglass. “You’re more confident now.”

“More confident?” I was surprised by his statement.

“Yes.” He nodded. “Though, I suppose, you needed confidence to outwit Steve and Mattias.”

“Who says I outwitted them?”

“You made it off the island.” His face was solemn.

“You don’t think that was their intention?”

“I know Mattias well.” He half smiled. “In fact, I think I can say with certainty that I know him better than anyone else in the world. I don’t think he intended for you to make it off the island. At least not right away.”

“So why did he let me go?” And why do you seem to think he had more nefarious reasons for taking me to the island if you thought he wasn’t really going to kidnap me?

“He knew he had to. If Steve had started doing crazy stuff, he knew it wasn’t safe on the island anymore.” David’s eyes narrowed. “So he took you to one of his hotels in the Caribbean. He wanted to keep you there, but you found out the truth. Once you’d made him out to be Mattias, you called me, scared, and that’s when you knew the truth. He didn’t take you off the island to save you, Bianca. He most probably wanted to keep you in that hotel with him. He knew that you trusted him at that point, but then it blew up in his face. His lies came to surface and he had to let you go.”

“Why did he have to let me go?”

“He must have known that I knew what was going on—he knew that I would save you. He knew that he couldn’t keep you there against your will anymore.”

“So he let me go because I called you?”

“I think you’re safe because of me, yes.” David nodded, a smug smile on his face.

“You think he wanted to harm me?” I said softly, not wanting to believe it.

“I don’t know.” David sipped some more wine. “I know Steve wasn’t there with the best of intentions.”

“Yeah.” I frowned. Steve seemed to be the spanner in the works again. I was even more confused now. Whom was Steve working for? And why did David keep bringing Steve up? “What else do you know, David?”

Beep beep. My phone vibrated in my handbag and I reached in and grabbed it.

I thought I told you not to see David, the text read, and I frowned.