“Are you saying you’re rich?” Rosie’s eyes lit up.
“What?” I frowned, too caught up in my own story to follow her train of thought.
“If you’re a part owner of Bradley Inc., that would mean you’re rich rich rich!” she gushed.
I gave her a weak smile. Was that really her response to everything I’d just said? Then I remembered something she’d told me before I’d been kidnapped. “Didn’t you tell me you were working on some deal for Bradley, or trying to land some big deal?”
“Yeah, we were.” She nodded. “We had a few meetings, but we didn’t get the contract.”
“Did you meet Mattias Bradley, then?” I stared at her face thoughtfully.
“No.” She shook her head and stared right into my eyes. “I wish I had, though. I would have slapped him hard for you.” She grabbed my hands and squeezed them. “So what are you going to do now? Call the police?”
“I don’t think I can call the police.” I shook my head. “My story sounds fantastical. What would I even say? No, I need to think of something else.” I closed my eyes for a few seconds and tried to ignore the image of Jakob’s face in my mind. “Something doesn’t seem right.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.” I opened my eyes slowly and bit my lower lip. “Everything doesn’t add up.”
“What was Mattias like? Did he hurt you?”
“No, he didn’t hurt me.” A dagger of pain ran through me. “I don’t know what to say about him. I don’t know how to feel. He was nice—different, but nice. And he was handsome—oh, boy, was he handsome. He had piercing blue eyes that seemed to see into my soul. His arms were sinewy and strong, and his chest was hard as rock, but so soft to the touch.” My voice trailed off as Rosie’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean, ‘soft to the touch’?”
“Nothing.” My face turned bright red.
“Bianca London!” she screeched. “You hooked up with him?”
“I . . .”
“You hooked up with the man who kidnapped you?”
“I didn’t know then that he was the one who kidnapped me.” I bit my lower lip. “I thought he was an innocent bystander like me.” Rosie was already looking confused, so I told her everything from the beginning—from waking up with Jakob on the beach, to Steve’s arrival, all the way to our rescue and the phone call I’d heard in Jakob’s hotel room.
I shook my head angrily. “I should have known better. I should have known it didn’t make sense.”
“So . . . was Jakob good?”
“Rosie!” I exclaimed loudly as I blushed. “He was the best.”
“Oh.”
“I know.” I shrugged. “Isn’t that life?”
“I can’t believe he slept with you, knowing he’d kidnapped you.”
“Do you think he cared?” I shook my head. “He had me fooled, especially when Steve came.”
“Did Steve try and harm you then?” Rosie asked softly. “You must have felt so betrayed to learn that Mattias knew Steve before he came to the island.”
“I was. I couldn’t believe that he could have lied to me so thoroughly. I couldn’t believe that he could have held me in his arms and made me think that . . .” My voice caught and I took a deep breath. “I’ve never felt so disillusioned in my whole life, Rosie. I’ve never trusted someone so much, only to have them turn on me like that.”
“Did you really trust him, though?” she asked skeptically. “I mean, you didn’t really know him.”
“When I gave myself to him, it was with complete trust. Yes, I had some fears, yes, I wasn’t sure who he was, but deep inside I was positive he was a good guy. I was positive he would never hurt me.”
“Men lie all the time,” she sneered. “They say they love you, that they want to take care of you, but it’s funny how quickly they forget about you.”
“Or it’s just one big lie.” I nodded. “My heart is broken. I feel like Liesl in The Sound of Music when she realizes her beau is a Nazi.”
“Huh?” Rosie frowned. “Who?”
“What was his name again? Was it Friedrich?” I thought carefully. “No, Friedrich was her brother. You know who I mean, they sang the ‘I am sixteen’ song.”
“Bianca, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Do you remember when Maria and the von Trapp family perform that song, toward the end of the movie, and they’re hiding out? And Liesl’s boyfriend or crush or whatever finds them and she says, ‘Please don’t say anything,’ but he betrays her and calls the rest of the Nazis over to take them in. Rolf! That was it, his name was Rolf.”
“Okay.” Rosie stared at me as if wondering if I’d lost it.
“My point being”—I sighed—“that I was betrayed and you can’t trust anyone. Not even someone you think has your back. Not even someone you think you love.” I jumped up then, not wanting to talk about it anymore.