Disillusioned (Swept Away, #2)(64)

“What is it?” She looked around suspiciously again.

“Do you know anything about Maxwell, the third partner in Bradley, London, and Maxwell?”

She stared at me for a second, her face twisting as she laughed, an odd, loud sound from her petite body.

I recoiled in shock. “Mrs. Renee?”

“They were all thick as thieves, you know. Thick as thieves and too smart for their own good. Not a one of them was good.” She glanced at me and then at Jakob. “Not a one of them.”

“Not a one of who?” I asked quietly.

“Not Bradley, not London, and not Maxwell.” She shook her head. “What a twisted, twisted web they wove.”

“But what about Maxwell?” I ignored her comments about my father. I didn’t even want to know what she was talking about. She didn’t know my father. My father was a good man. My father had been cheated on. He’d been devastated. He had tried the best that he could.

“Maxwell got the last laugh, didn’t he?” She chuckled. “He screwed us all.”

“What are you talking about?” I could feel my heart racing. “How did he screw us all?”

“What are you talking about, Mrs. Renee?” Jakob took a step forward and grabbed her wrist. “Tell us what you mean.”

“You’re Jakob Bradley.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “How ironic that you’re here with her.” She laughed.

“Mrs. Renee.” Jakob’s voice grated like a knife in the air and his expression was hostile, even arrogant, as he stared at her.

“Mrs. Renee, why did Maxwell’s wife contact you both and threaten you?” My voice cut through the tension in the room. She looked at me blankly. “When I was here last time, you said that Maxwell’s wife had threatened you.” She glanced at me again for a second without speaking, then turned to face Jakob again.

“My husband was the one who decided on the name Mattias,” she said softly. “It wasn’t your father. My husband had a thing about names. He liked to be clever.”

“Mrs. Renee—” Jakob started again.

She squared her shoulders and looked at both of us with sad eyes. “That’s my name.” She nodded her head. “You both need to leave now. Good-bye.” She turned around and walked back to the front of the house.

“Should we—” I started.

Jakob cut me off as we walked down the corridor and through the front door. Mrs. Renee slammed it behind us without another word.

“What’s in the envelope?” He pulled the envelope out of my hands.

“What are you doing?” I frowned and tried to grab it back.

“What’s in the envelope?” He glared at me and ripped it open. “Why didn’t you tell me we were coming here for a purpose?”

“I didn’t know if you would think it was a good idea, what with not trusting Larry at all.”

“I don’t trust Larry, and I don’t think that whatever is in the envelope is there for good intentions.”

“Who knows what to think now? Why did you just let us leave without interrogating Mrs. Renee a bit more?” I put my hand out. “Give me back my papers. What do they say?”

“First, Mrs. Renee was close to a breakdown. I don’t even think she knows what side she’s on right now. Trust me, I’m not done with her, but we need to give her some time. And we need to find something on her to make sure she gives us the information we need. Secondly, these are papers saying you own a thirty-five percent share in Bradley Inc.” He looked at the papers and handed them back. “Why do you have papers giving you a thirty-five percent share in my family’s company?”

“So I can stop the merger.” I repeated what Larry had asked me to do. “Larry told me to use these papers so that I can stop the merger from going through.”

“You can’t stop the merger, Bianca.” Jakob shook his head. “Don’t you find it suspicious that out of the blue Larry has now provided you with papers giving you a major stake in the company?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s realized the error of his ways. Maybe he’s trying to make amends? Why shouldn’t I use the shares and stop the merger?”

“What if these shares are a setup?”

“What if they aren’t? If the merger goes through, I might not get anything.” I thought back to what I’d read in the newspaper.

“You have a claim to Bradley Inc. in your hand now, Bianca.” Jakob’s voice was intense. “You can share in any profits that the company receives from the merger.”

“I didn’t think of that.” I gasped.

“And I think that Larry was hoping that wouldn’t cross your mind as well. He made a mistake giving you the shares. For some reason he wants you to stop the merger because it’s in his best interests, not yours.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“What is it that you want?”

“I want what my father worked hard for.”

“Do you think Larry would just hand you your shares out of the kindness of his heart?” Jakob asked me grimly. “Do you think that after all this it would be this simple?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed deeply. Why did Larry care about me getting the shares? How would this help him? “I don’t think he would hand me the shares after all these years out of the kindness of his heart, not really.”