“Manhattan.”
“Cross streets?”
“Sorry, what?”
“What’s the address?” He sounded annoyed as he looked past me to the long line of people waiting.
“Oh.” I bit my lower lip. “Forty-Second Street, Times Square.”
“You wanna go to Times Square?”
“Yes.” I nodded. That wasn’t my address, but I didn’t want to go directly home. I needed to be around lights and people. I needed to be anywhere but home right now.
“Okay, go up to that cab.” He pointed a few cabs ahead and I walked up to the cab. I looked inside and froze as I saw Steve behind the wheel. My face grew red and my body grew heavy as I stood there.
“You going to Times Square?” the man said in a slightly accented voice, and I nodded and took a deep breath as I stared at the man’s dark skin. This was not Steve. He was not Steve. I needed to stop freaking out.
“Yes, thanks.”
“Back from vacation?” he asked conversationally as we pulled off.
“No.”
“Work trip?”
“No.”
I saw him peer in the rearview mirror. “You’re not going to be sick, are you?” He frowned as he looked back ahead at the traffic, the mirror showing his furtive glances back at me.
“No, I’m not.”
“Good.” He pulled into traffic. “I don’t want to clean up any—”
“I’m not going to be sick,” I snapped, wanting him to shut up. I opened the bag again and turned on my phone. The battery was fully charged and I waited for my texts and voice mails to come through. I was positive that I was going to have millions of texts from Rosie. She must have been so worried about me. I waited for the phone to download all my messages and called my voice mail. I was surprised to hear, “You have two new voice mails.” Only two? That was weird. I pressed one to hear the first voice mail.
“Bianca.” Rosie’s voice was loud and I could hear music in the background. “The bartender told me that you left with some guy. I can’t believe you didn’t even tell me bye. Call me tomorrow with all the details. I can’t wait to hear about your wild night. Love you.” Then she hung up. I frowned as I realized that someone had told Rosie that I’d left with someone. Did she not even realize that I hadn’t been in town for weeks? But looking back, I realized that it hadn’t been weeks or months. It felt like a lifetime, but had only been about a week and a half, if that. Time had lost all meaning on the island. I pressed SAVE and then listened to the second voice mail.
“Bianca, it’s Larry. I think we should talk. Give me a call when you can. It’s about your father.” His voice sounded somber, and my heart started pounding. What could my father’s lawyer have to tell me? I pressed SAVE and then called him back right away. The call went to voice mail and I hung up. Then I decided to call Rosie, but the call went to voice mail as well. I took a deep breath and looked at the Manhattan skyline as we drove across the bridge.
My mind was running a hundred miles a minute as I realized that something still felt off. Very, very off. I didn’t know what was going on, but for some reason I knew this wasn’t the end. I made up my mind in that moment that I wasn’t going to stop my search for the truth. There were still too many unknowns, and I was going to find out exactly what was going on. I was surprised at my fervor, after everything that had happened. Maybe it was that Jakob had just let me leave, or his comments about my parents’ marriage. Maybe it was that Rosie had only called once. Maybe it was that Larry had called to talk about my father. Maybe it was everything combined. Whatever it was. I knew this wasn’t the end. I wasn’t done. I still didn’t have the truth. Yes, my heart was broken. Yes, I felt scared and unsafe. Yes, I didn’t know whom I trusted or if I could even trust my own thoughts and emotions, but I knew that I wasn’t giving up. Not now. I wasn’t about to disappear as Jakob had suggested. I was going to get to the bottom of this.
Jakob must have had a reason to kidnap me. Aside from just trying to scare me and figure out what I knew. That couldn’t have been it. My heart felt hollow as I thought about Jakob. My stomach sank as I thought about his clear blue eyes and his light kisses. I closed my eyes and thought back to my time on the island. I could almost smell the salt water and I could feel the slight sting in my eyes after swimming all day. I could remember the feel of the wind on my face as my hair hit my cheek. If I concentrated hard enough, I could feel Jakob’s lips on my skin, his fingers grabbing my waist and pulling me toward him. I could feel the heat in my stomach as his erection pushed into me. I could feel his need, his desire, his passion. My throat caught as I opened my eyes. It had all been a lie. An illusion. Jakob had never cared about me.
“I can’t get up into the middle. You have to walk. That okay?”
“That’s fine.” I pulled out my cash. “How much?”