‘Yes.” I nodded and sighed. I didn’t even want to think about money at this point.
“I don’t think you should be alone.” He sounded annoyed. “But fine, I’ll drop you off and wait for you at home.”
“Are you going to go straight there?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I need to go and see someone first.”
“I should come too. Find out what your friend knows.”
“I’m not going to see him. We can go and see him tomorrow.”
“Are you sure? We can go now if you want and then I can just go to my place tomorrow.”
“No, get your stuff now and we’ll go and see him later. Tomorrow will be good enough.”
“I’m almost scared to hear what Blake finds out.” I let out a deep breath. “I’m not sure I can take any more secrets.”
“Don’t be scared, Bianca. I’m sorry you’ve been betrayed.”
“I just don’t know what else I can find out. I just can’t believe Rosie is Maxwell’s daughter. My father knew Rosie.” I sighed. “I don’t even know if he knew who she was.” I looked out the window. “I don’t even know who I can trust. What I can trust? She’s been my friend for years, Jakob.”
“We never truly know people, do we?”
“I don’t even know if this is real.” I glanced at him as I pinched myself. “It doesn’t feel real. I don’t want it to be real. I want this to be a dream.”
“How would we know if this were a dream?” His voice sounded sad. “How do we really know what is real and what can be trusted?”
“We don’t.” I looked down at my lap as I realized how true my words were. I had no idea who could be trusted. I’d gone back and forth on my feelings toward Jakob. I wanted to believe in him from the depths of my soul, but the more I found out about everything, the more I was losing my faith in humanity.
“I’m glad it’s not a dream though.” Jakob’s voice was firm and he reached out and grabbed my hand. “Even in all this craziness, I’m glad it’s not a dream, because if it was a dream, I wouldn’t have met you and I wouldn’t have you here with me.”
“I do believe you just said something romantic to me.” I curled my fingers into his. “Who would have thunk it?”
“I can be romantic at times.”
“Once in a blue moon, I’m guessing.”
“I was pretty romantic on the island, don’t you think?”
My mind drifted back to our days in the sun and sand. How far away that seemed now. It was almost like a distant memory in my mind.
“Are you listening, Bianca, or did I scare you?”
“Sorry, what? I didn’t hear you?” I looked at him and gave him a weak smile.
“I said, we need to get you that pregnancy test.” He looked at me, his eyes blazing. “And if you’re pregnant, we should get married.”
“What?” I froze in shock.
“I know, that came out wrong. Let’s get married anyway. I don’t want you to think it’s about the baby.”
“Oh.” My heart was thudding as I gazed at him. I was excited and shocked. I was about to ask him why when my phone beeped and I stared at the text message on the screen in shock.
It’s Steve. We need to talk. Your life is in danger. I told you before to be careful who you fall for. They are all deceiving you. Maybe you’ll trust me now. Whatever you do, don’t go to David’s apartment. Delete this message and wait for my next text. I’m going to help you.
“Who’s that?” Jakob looked over at me with a curious expression.
“It’s Steve.” I stared into Jakob’s eyes in shock. “He says he wants to talk to me. He says my life is in danger and that I should be careful who I fall for. What should I do?”
“Text him back.” Jakob’s eyes were hard. “Tell him you want to meet up with him.”
“When?”
“As soon as possible.”
“He told me to wait for him to text me back.”
“Then wait. We don’t want to give him any reason to disappear again. He could finally provide us some of the answers we’ve been looking for. He can tell us if he’s been working for Larry and what Larry’s master plan was. We might have all the answers to all the questions sooner and easier than we thought.”
“Yeah, this might all be solved soon.” I looked out of the window, my brain not feeling the same hope that was in my voice. “That would be great.”
fourteen
I walked up to my apartment, waited for thirty minutes on the couch, and then left again. I wasn’t sure what made me go to David’s apartment. Maybe it was because Steve had told me not to go. Maybe I was hoping to catch Rosie and David together. Maybe I just needed that confrontation without Jakob being there. I knew Jakob wouldn’t like my going to see David behind his back, but I had bigger concerns than that. I needed to find out where Rosie was and talk to her by myself. I owed that to our friendship. I wanted to confront her alone. I saw Joseph standing at the front of the building and stopped. I didn’t want him to alert David that I was coming up to see him.
“Hey, kid,” I called out to a small boy eating a large ice cream cone.