“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.”
“I can’t believe she would do this to me.”
“Call her back, now.” His eyes flared. “Tell her you want to meet her. Don’t let her know you know anything.”
“Okay.” I dialed her number back quickly, fingers trembling. How could Rosie have lied to me? How could she have lied all these years? Was she really working with Larry? Was she really seeing David? My stomach dropped as I thought about the enormity of the lies that could have been going on for years. “She’s not answering.” I hung up and tried calling back again. “She’s not picking up.” I clutched the phone tightly.
“Let’s go.” He glanced back at the house. “Let’s get back to the city. I know someone who owes me a favor, and I think we should talk to your friend Blake. Maybe he can check out if there is a connection between Rosie and Larry.”
“Should I call him?”
“Yes, call him now. We’re going to find out exactly who Rosie is, Bianca, and exactly what role she had in all of this. Give me the envelope.” He took it from my hands. “This was definitely a setup. Larry wanted you to stop the merger for reasons that weren’t in your best interests.”
“What do you think he wanted?” I stared at the envelope in Jakob’s hands. “Why would they want me to have shares?”
“There has to be a reason why he wanted to set you up, just like he’s set everything else up. He’s been playing us, Bianca. He and his daughter have been playing all of us.” Jakob frowned. “There is one possible reason why he gave you the shares.”
“What’s that?”
“Maybe the reason has nothing to do with you getting part of the company. Maybe that was just a cost he had to pay to stop the merger. Maybe he saw you as the only way to get it stopped.”
“Couldn’t you stop it? Or David?”
“I don’t have shares in Bradley Inc.,” Jakob said softly. “It’s not my company. My father left all of his shares to David. I told you before that my mother wanted nothing from him.”
“Yes, you did tell me that.” I stopped talking as I thought. How then had Jakob made so much money? And was he mad that he didn’t own part of the corporation? He was Jeremiah’s son after all. He should have been left something.
“Larry wanted the merger stopped because he realized that it wouldn’t be beneficial to him and his daughter,” Jakob said. “And perhaps after everything he’s done, he just can’t accept that it was all for naught.”
“I guess his wife was right.” I sighed as we drove off. “Larry was evil, Jeremiah was evil . . .” My voice trailed off as I thought about what she’d said. She’d said that all three of them were as bad as each other. The third man was my father.