Disillusioned (Swept Away, #2)(65)

“Think, Bianca. Please. This could be a setup.”

“How? What sort of setup is giving me my rightful shares? Maybe he knew that he was about to go down and wanted me to get a claim to what was mine before he went to jail?”

“I sincerely doubt that those were his intentions.” Jakob shook his head. “And at this point, we don’t really know what your rightful shares are or were.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Let me see those papers again.” He grabbed them from my hand and read them more carefully this time. “These were signed off by David.”

“So?” I was upset at the snark in his voice when he had said rightful.

“So why would David sign off on papers giving you a major interest in the company?”

“Maybe he felt guilty as well?” My stomach churned as I spoke. I knew David didn’t even have the capacity to feel guilt. And if he did, he didn’t go along with a kidnapping to prevent me from getting access to any shares to signing over shares in less than a few weeks.

“Think, Bianca, think. Larry has a daughter, a long-lost daughter, called Roma. Roma came into his life a few years ago. Roma came into my brother’s life a few years ago. Roma is dating my brother.”

“Do you think David knows who Roma is?”

“No.” Jakob shook his head. “I don’t think he knows there’s a connection, but I could be wrong. I mean, this is all larger than I thought it was in the beginning.”

“So we need to find Roma now?”

“Hold on.” A light went off in his eyes as he stared at me. “Do you have your phone on you?”

“Yes, why?”

“What did Mrs. Renee just say?”

“What? That Larry had a daughter?”

“No, no. I think she gave us a clue.” He snapped his fingers. “She made it a point to tell me Larry was the one who chose Mattias’s name.”

“Yeah, so?”

“She also made a point of saying ‘that’s my name’ right before she left.”

“And?” I was confused.

“Give me your phone.” He grabbed it from me and typed something in. “?‘Reborn’!” he exclaimed.

“What?” I was even more confused than I’d been before.

“Renee means ‘reborn.’?”

“Okay, so?”

“So what if Larry’s last name wasn’t really Renee?” Jakob grabbed my hand and dragged me to the car with him. “What if he changed his name?”

“To Renee?” I frowned.

“He likes symbolism, so maybe he thought Renee was smart.”

“I guess so.” I nodded. “I guess it could make sense. He was reborn as a new person.” Then it hit me. I suddenly understood what Jakob was saying. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

He nodded. “What if Larry was Maxwell?”

“But why would he change his name?”

“That’s what we need to find out. He has to be Maxwell, though. It makes the most sense. That’s why I always thought he was with the company from the beginning, even though he only started as an attorney when Maxwell left.” Jakob was about to say something else when my phone started ringing. “Here you go.” He looked at the screen as he handed it to me. As soon as he saw the screen, he blanched and the phone fell to the ground as he stared at me in shock.

“What is it?” I bent down and picked up the phone—somehow it had escaped significant damage. I had a missed call from Rosie. “What’s wrong?”

“The—the photo on the screen when the phone rang.” He stumbled over his words.

“Yeah, I like to do phone indicators in my phone book.” I nodded. “So?”

“Do you have any photos of your friend Rosie that I could see larger?” he asked urgently.

“Let me check.” I frowned. “Why?”

“Just pull one up,” he demanded.

I went to my photo album and opened it quickly. “Here you go.” I showed him a photo of Rosie and me at a bar a couple of months ago.

Only his sharp intake of breath betrayed his concern. “Bianca—Rosie is Roma.”

“What?” I felt the blood drain from my face.

“Bianca, Rosie is David’s girlfriend.” Jakob paused.

“No.” I shook my head. “She can’t be. It’s not possible.”

“Oh, shit, and I think I have something else. I think Roma stands for Rosie Maxwell. Ro Ma—she takes after her father, likes names to have a significance.” He looked at me with intense eyes. “Your best friend, Rosie, is Larry’s daughter.”

“Oh my God.” I stared at Jakob in shock. It all made sense now. Why she’d chosen that bar. Why she’d gone to the bathroom and not had any of the wine. Why she’d so easily believed the bartender when he’d told her I left with a guy. The way she kept bumping into David, even after we broke up. “Shit, she even told me she was working on a deal with Bradley Inc., but she said she didn’t get it. Oh my God.”

“She must have been working with her dad. That’s why the kidnapping plan worked out so perfectly. We had someone on the inside helping out.”