“When?” David sounded excited.
“In a week or so.” My brain was racing as I thought of everything that I needed to do. “I need to go to the island first, set some things up.”
“What things?” he asked curiously.
“It doesn’t matter what things.” Though of course it did. I was going to plant some photos of her parents and some letters. I needed her to trust me and I needed her to open up. And I didn’t want to be the one to have to start the dialogue with her. I wanted the dialogue to start naturally. It mustn’t seem that we were connected until we picked up the clues. The clues would be an innocent way to start a conversation. If I were to just do it myself, it would seem suspicious. “Can you take care of getting her to the van when I give you a date?”
“Yes, I can.” David laughed. “Roma can help me with that.”
“Oh?”
“Turns out she knows Bianca. In fact she—”
“Good,” I said, cutting him off. I didn’t want to talk about his girlfriend now. If he found out I’d fucked her, he was liable to try to spite me and that was the last thing I needed to happen now. I needed him to get Bianca into the van and I could take care of the rest.
“So are you going to take Steve?” David sounded annoyed that he’d been cut off. “Larry isn’t sure what’s going on with him. He’s been acting funny recently.”
“I need him to come, to help me quickly create a shared connection with Bianca. Steve will be our common enemy. It will make her open up more to me.”
“She’s not dumb, you know,” David said. “And I wouldn’t try getting into her pants, either—that bitch doesn’t like to give it up.”
“I’m sorry she didn’t sleep with you, David. Does Roma know how much that upset you?”
“Jackass.” David sounded annoyed. “I’m just letting you know that I wouldn’t bother trying to win her over with sex, she’s not likely to give it up.”
“That’s the least of my concerns, David.” I was starting to feel angry. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you when it’s time. Have everything set up and ready to go. We’ll talk later about the plans.”
I hung up and continued walking down the street as if I didn’t have a care in the world, but my heart was beating fast. This was going to be the riskiest thing I’d ever done. It was likely that Bianca would recognize me now. It was likely that she wouldn’t trust me. It was likely that I wouldn’t get any truth from her. However, I didn’t care. I’d get to be with her, spend time with her. I’d get to know her. And right now that was all that mattered. Maybe the plan to seduce her and break her heart wasn’t such a bad one after all. I’d just have to make sure that I didn’t end up breaking my own heart as well.
Find out how it all began for Bianca and Jakob in the first book in the series!
illusion
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prologue
“Bianca, where are you?” His voice sounded angry, and I shivered as I opened my eyes.
I stared at the large expanse of dark midnight blue sky through the tree branches and prayed that he wouldn’t find me. I could see the white-sand beaches from my vantage point. The whole island looked so much smaller from up here. My limbs felt numb, but I was too scared to even move an inch. If he heard the rustling of leaves, he’d know where I was. I closed my eyes again and tried not to think about falling.
“Bianca, this isn’t funny.” His voice was hoarse, and I heard his footsteps moving closer to me. “Bianca, if you can hear me . . .” He paused? and his voice changed. “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be. I’m not going to hurt you.”
I heard a branch snap below me, and I knew he was close. All he had to do was look up. If he looked up, he’d be able to find me. This man who’d become my most intimate confidant was now my predator, and I was his prey. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath before looking down. An involuntary gasp escaped my mouth as I realized how high up I was. That was my first mistake.
“I’ve found you,” he said, his voice cracking as he looked up at me with dark eyes. “When will you learn? You can’t escape me.”
“Did you hurt him?” My fingers started trembling as I looked back down at him. “Tell me. Did you hurt him?”
“It depends on what you mean by hurt.” He lifted his hands up, and I saw that his fingers were drenched in blood.
I closed my eyes; I had my answer.
“I did it for us,” he said simply, and I felt my heart drop into my stomach. “Don’t you trust me?” he asked me softly as he started to climb the tree. I saw the shiny glitter of the silver knife in his left hand before he placed it into his pocket, and my heart stopped beating for a second.
“I trust you.” I nodded and waited for him to reach me.
That was my second mistake.
one
One Week Earlier