Disillusioned (Swept Away, #2)(6)

“That there’s more to this story than just your innocent mother dying.” Jakob’s voice was emotionless. “There’s more to this story than you think you—”

“Yes, there’s more to this story. I want to know if your father had my mother killed. I want to know if you’ve been keeping it a secret. I want to know why you had me kidnapped. I want to take you down, Mattias Bradley! I want to take you and your entire family down.”

“You don’t know . . . ?” He paused as he looked at me, his eyes never leaving mine, and I could see that he was waging a battle in his mind.

“What don’t I know?”

“You really don’t know about your mother, do you?” He sighed. “Your parents, like most parents, weren’t perfect, Bianca.”

“What are you trying to say?” I asked softly. “What are you intimating, Jakob?”

“I think your mother deliberately seduced my father,” he said softly. “Your mother ruined my mother’s relationship with my father and that ruined my mother’s life.”

“No.” The blood drained from my face. “My mother wouldn’t do that. She loved my father. They were in love. You must be mistaken.”

“I don’t think so.” He looked tense. “I’m searching for the truth as well, Bianca. That’s what we both want, right? The truth?”

I nodded.

“Bianca,” he said softly, his voice cracking. “Don’t you feel this?” He put his hands up in the air and I could see his fingers trembling slightly.

“Feel what?”

“This moment. This is hard for both of us because of our feelings for each other.”

“I don’t have feelings for you,” I said quickly.

“Liar,” he whispered, and turned to look at the ocean. I stared at his profile as he stood there, lost in thought.

“No, I think that’s you, Jakob—or Mattias Bradley.”

He turned to look back at me. This time his blue eyes were calm, the storm inside his head having passed.

“I need you to trust me, Bianca. I can’t tell you everything you want to know. Not yet. I need to figure some things out first. And I need to make sure you’re safe.”

“I’ll be safe if I’m away from you.”

“I don’t think so.” He sighed. “Look, I knew Steve, and, yes, I asked him to come to the island. That was a part of the plan. He was meant to scare you so that I could protect you and we’d get closer.”

“Oh.” I stepped back, my hand flying to my mouth as I realized how perfectly Jakob’s plan had worked.

“He deviated from the plan, Bianca.” Jakob took another step toward me, and I held up my hand for him to stop. I was surprised when he stood still. “I need to figure out why. I need to know who got to him and what his purpose was for turning on me.”

“So ask him.”

“He’s gone.” Jakob ran his hand across his head. “I don’t know how or where, but he’s gone. I don’t want you to leave until I know. Please.”

“If you have any chance of me ever trusting you, you will let me leave.” My voice was as cold as the deepest ocean. “This isn’t the island anymore.” I looked around and took a deep breath. “I don’t need your help and I don’t want it. Let me go. If there is any part of you that regrets kidnapping me, let me go.”

“We need to figure out the truth, Bianca.”

“The truth is you kidnapped me. The truth is that you’re a Bradley. That’s all the truth I need from you right now.”

He shook his head slowly and sighed. “You can leave in the morning. I’ll have someone take you to the airport. A private plane will be waiting to take you back to New York.”

“You’re going to let me leave?” I was shocked that he’d taken in my words and changed his mind so quickly.

“What choice do I have?” He clenched his fists. “I was never going to physically hurt you.”

“Well, your man Steve didn’t seem to get the memo.”

“I told you, Steve deviated from the plan.” Jakob’s gaze grew darker. “I will deal with him. I never had any plan to hurt you.”

“Just to kidnap me, then?”

“I . . .” He took a deep breath. “I wanted some answers from you.”

“What sort of answers?”

“I wanted to know about your parents’ marriage.”

“Why?”

“I needed to know if your parents were responsible for my father—”

“For your father what?” I cut him off, wanting everything to make sense. I wanted the pieces of the puzzle to fit together and leave me in peace. I wanted to go back to a normal life, to a time before I’d met Jakob. I didn’t want to remember what it felt like to be with him: to be kissed by him, to be touched by him, to be filled with him. He had become such a part of me in such a short time, and I wasn’t sure how to process all the information I had now. I didn’t want to go down this path any further. I was scared to find out more information that I didn’t want to know. I was scared that my parents’ marriage wasn’t as perfect as I remembered its being. “For your father leaving your mother?”