“Jakob, young man, how are you doing?” Larry walked up to me as I stood at the bar waiting to place my order, an out-of-place Steve following behind him.
“I’m fine. How are you?” I shook his hand, faking warmth toward the man who had my mother sign papers that said she would never tell of her affair with Jeremiah Bradley in exchange for a chunk of money. She’d never showed me the agreement, but I’d found the papers in her drawer after she’d died and I hated him for making my mother feel like some sort of whore. She worked as a maid all her life and I knew that she’d been too proud to take the money, but had done so for me; even when the language of the agreement had been so degrading.
“Good.” He nodded and lowered his voice. “David told me he talked to you about Bianca London.”
“Yes, yes, he did.” I was annoyed at the mention of her name.
“She’s going to be at the shareholders’ meeting next week.” He made a face. “She asked me to get her shares, so she’s using a proxy from me.”
“Okay.”
“She wants to meet Mattias Bradley.” He looked at me and then at Steve. “She wants to ask him some questions about her father, his inventions, and why he left the company.” He looked around quickly and then spoke again. “She wants to know what happened to her mother.”
“Her mother?” I asked him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“She wants to investigate her mother’s death.”
“Her mother’s death?”
“Her mother died in a car crash.”
Steve’s eyes bore into mine with no expression as he spoke up: “Bianca doesn’t think it was an accident.”
“Okay. So what does she think happened?”
“She thinks your dad had her killed,” Larry answered, but it was Steve’s face I looked at. There was an emotion that flickered in his eyes for a brief second, and I felt myself stiffening. This was important.
“And did he?” I asked Larry, the intensity of my gaze letting him know I wanted the truth.
“I don’t know what your father did.” He shrugged. “It’s a possibility.”
“That’s why you’re worried?” My stomach dropped. If my father had killed her mother, that would make my ultimate plans more complicated.
“No,” Larry said shortly. “There are other issues to be more worried about.”
“Oh?”
“There are other things that she could find out, if she digs too deeply. Things that could bring down the whole company and disgrace the Bradley name.”
“And give her a cut of the company?” I asked softly.
“Bianca’s father was the company’s chief inventor.” Larry nodded. “She might wonder why he died with barely a penny to his name. She has his patents.”
“Why did you give her the boxes?” I asked him curiously. “Didn’t you think it might bring up some questions?”
“I didn’t realize that he’d left her a letter.”
“A letter?”
“He suspected that his wife hadn’t died by accident.” Larry’s voice was a monotone and I saw Steve looking away.
“Okay, and?”
“Look, we just need to make sure that she doesn’t uncover something she shouldn’t.” He shrugged. “This isn’t the place for us to be having this conversation.”
“Would she really want to know, though?” I leaned forward, my eyes narrowed as I gazed at him. Hearing Bianca’s story almost made me feel bad for her. She was doing what I would have done if I’d been in her shoes. The only problem was that even if she discovered the truth, she was going to be heartbroken. It would be bad for her and it would be bad for the company.
“I don’t care if she would want to know. All I care about is that she doesn’t know.” Larry’s voice was angry. “We haven’t worked this hard for it all to end this way.”
“Maybe they shouldn’t have stolen the products, then,” Steve said softly, receiving a hostile glare from Larry.
“It’s not for us to question their motivations now,” Larry huffed. “What is done is done.”
“What about the family of the true inventor?” Steve replied. “What thought was given to them?”
“That was Jeremiah’s doing.” Larry looked angry. “Jeremiah and Nicholas are the ones who stole the blueprints for the inventions. They are the ones who passed them off as theirs.”
“Exactly,” I said quietly. “So why is this Bianca London a threat? Her father was just as culpable.”
“Her father wanted the truth to come out,” Steve said, his beady eyes narrowed. “Bianca might respect his wishes and expose the truth to the world. All the dirty, dark secrets of Bradley, Inc. might come to light. Then the company would be worth nothing.”
“I haven’t worked this hard for it all to be worth nothing.” Larry stared at me.
“So what do you want to do?”
“I have a plan,” he said softly. “But we need your help.”
“You’re talking about whisking her away to my island?” I said thoughtfully.
“Yes, you can leave her there with some food.”
“By herself?” I frowned, shaking my head. “No way.”