Part 16 (1/2)

”He had his wife,” Jakob said, and she glared at him.

”That woman was not his wife. That woman was a drain on him.”

”So you befriended me to keep an eye on me?” I asked her. ”Help me to understand, Rosie. Was our whole friends.h.i.+p fake?” I bit my lower lip as I thought about all the years we'd spent together laughing, shopping, gossiping. How could all of it have been a lie?

”Bianca, why do you think I had to go on so many business trips? Why do you think I had to drink so much when I was around you? You are the most infantile, annoying-”

”Do not talk to Bianca like that!” Steve pointed the gun at Rosie, and she screamed.

”Get that thing away from me. David will be looking for me, and when he finds us, he'll kill you.”

”David?” Steve said, and laughed hysterically.

I looked at my dad then, still needing more answers. ”So are you saying Larry was the one behind everything?”

My dad nodded. ”Larry and I met in college. He was Jeremiah's friend from high school. He was never very friendly, but I thought he was just a sn.o.b. I was wrong. Larry was fiercely jealous of Jeremiah, and he hated that he made friends so quickly and easily. Larry hated having to take a backseat to Jeremiah. He wanted to be number one. He wanted everyone to know that he was rich and smart and brilliant. All of the major ideas were Jeremiah's, but Larry was the one who carried them all out. Larry fixed problems. Even problems that Jeremiah didn't know he had.” My father sighed. ”I wish I'd paid more attention to him. I wish I'd seen the signs.”

”We were all fooled,” Jakob spoke up. ”I had no idea that Larry had this other side to him. I had no idea that he even knew what was really going on. He's smart, I'll give him that. Manipulative and smart. He made me and David think it was our plan to kidnap Bianca. He made it seem like he was trying to help us get to the truth. He's the one who told me about Nick and Angelina breaking my mom's heart. He sowed the seeds and then waited for them to germinate. He was the one out for revenge, and he used us to get it. He played us all.”

”But why?” I let out an exasperated sigh. ”What did he hope to get from all of this?”

”He wanted to walk away with the company,” my father said. ”His plan was for him and Rosie to own Bradley Incorporated. That's why she's dating David. They're covering all their bases.”

”That's why they gave me the shares, isn't it? Larry wanted me to go down for fraud.” I looked over at Rosie, but she didn't react. She just stood there with a blank face.

”Yes.” My father nodded. ”He tried to do the same thing to me. When he put the patents in my name, I asked him what was going on. He said Jeremiah thought it was the smart thing to do. I didn't really know what to say, but Oliver and Jeremiah both agreed, so I went along with it. By the time I realized that Jeremiah was still angry at me for stealing Angelina, it was too late. The patents were already in my name, and Oliver had proof that he was the inventor and designer. I was going to Jeremiah's apartment that day to tell him that I wanted to come clean and that I didn't want to be a part of the company anymore. And then I walked in on him and Oliver, in bed.”

”My father really loved Jeremiah. That's what Penny told me,” Steve interrupted my dad. ”He would have done anything for him.”

”Yes.” My dad nodded. ”I should have seen the signs when I was younger. Oliver was so protective of Jeremiah, even from the beginning, but I was so focused on Angelina. I loved her so much that nothing else was important after we got together.”

I wanted to ask him why he cheated on her, then, if he'd loved her so much. But now wasn't the time or the place, and I didn't want to hurt Jakob. It was a weird situation to be in-I was in love with the son of the woman my father had had an affair with. Did it make it better that she had loved him? Had my dad been the love of Jakob's mom's life? Knowing that her poems were about him made me feel funny, awkward even. I wondered how Jakob felt. I couldn't tell anything from his face. He didn't even look shocked. Or scared. Or nervous. He looked apathetic, except when he met my eyes. Then he seemed pa.s.sionate and determined. He gave me a small secret smile as if to tell me he loved me and to stay strong. It was a miracle that I hadn't fainted when my father had walked into the room. I guess I was growing stronger day by day.

”That's what love is,” Steve said, his voice suddenly energized. ”Love is being there and doing whatever you can to be with the one you love.” All of a sudden he grabbed my arm and pulled me to the door.

”What are you doing?” I squeaked.

”Let go of her!” Jakob ran toward us, and then everything seemed to happen in a blur. All I heard was a bang from Steve's gun and my own voice screaming. Jakob fell to the ground. Then Steve fumbled with the door as I started crying. Rosie stood in the corner of the room, her eyes wide and her face white. I wasn't sure if I imagined it or not, but I thought she mouthed sorry to me.

”Steve, let Bianca go. Let her come with me,” my father said softly as he walked toward us in slow motion. The room started spinning as I heard another loud bang. I watched as my father fell to the ground, and I tried to push Steve away, but my movements seemed to make no difference. ”Jakob!” I screamed. ”Dad!” The tears were completely blurring my vision now, and I kicked Steve as hard as I could. He looked at me with murderous eyes, and I saw him pull something out of his pocket.

”Remember, Bianca, this is because I love you,” he said as the world went black.

fourteen.

I awoke to the feeling of something crawling on my face, and stifled a cry as my eyes adjusted to the dark dingy s.p.a.ce. I could see Steve standing in front of me, his eyes focused on my face as he watched me looking around the room. I tried to move my arms and legs, but found they were tightly tied to an uncomfortable chair. My whole body ached as I sat there. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came. I felt something on my face again and shook my head. A trail of water slid down my lips and I looked up. The crawling sensation was from drops of water falling from the ceiling.

I looked at Steve again, not knowing what to say. My mind was on Jakob and my dad. Were they okay? Were they dead? The thought of losing them sunk my spirits even further, and my head dropped forward. I heard Steve humming something softly as he walked closer to me. His voice grew louder and louder.

”Hush little baby, don't say a f.u.c.king word,” he sang in an ominous voice, twisting the lyrics to the old nursery rhyme. His voice was the only sound in the small damp s.p.a.ce aside from a low rattling in the corner; I didn't want to know what or who was making that noise. Steve's fingers ran down the side of my cheek, and I kept my expression blank and my eyes downward as I sat there uncomfortably. The room was cold and dark and smelled of mold. I coughed as the mildew filled my lungs, and my body s.h.i.+vered on the old rickety chair I was tied to. I wanted to beg Steve to let me go. I wanted to plead for my life, but I didn't. I didn't even bother trying to scream; no one would hear me. No one would be coming to my rescue now. It was just the two of us. After everything, it had come to this. Me and Steve. Not even Jakob could save me.

Numbly, I thought of Blake. Maybe he could team up with Rosie and come to my rescue. I almost laughed then. Rosie wasn't my friend. She'd never been my friend. She hated me. She'd set me up. She was never coming to save me. And Blake, well, there was nothing he could do by himself. My head dropped forward with fatigue. I just wanted to sleep and forget that any of this had ever happened. I wanted to forget, not because I was scared of this moment or of Steve, but because my heart ached for all the moments of the last week, for the devastating truth that I'd had to accept. My heart was laden with guilt and regret for the actions that had brought us here. This moment was fate: cold, hard fate, and I knew that there was nothing either of us could say or do to escape the tangled paths of our forefathers. If only my father hadn't met Steve's father. If only he hadn't introduced Oliver to Jeremiah. If only he hadn't dated my mother. If only someone had realized how evil Larry was. But it didn't matter. Not now. And not ever. For there was no way to go back. No way to change the past. And if we changed the past, then there would be no me and Jakob. No true love filling my heart, even as I sat there with pain weighing me down. And I knew that even after everything, I wasn't sure I would have changed a thing.

”I didn't want everything to go like this.” Steve held the gun to my head. ”You understand that, right? I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want it to come to this.” His voice broke as he spoke, and I nodded my understanding, my throat too constricted to speak.

”A life for a life, right?” His voice sounded broken and raw. ”That's what they say, right?” His voice echoed his sorrow. He didn't want to do this, but I knew he thought he had no other option. I couldn't allow myself to look up at him. All I could think was, Is this how it's all going to end for me? Is this how my story's going to end?

”He shouldn't have done that to my parents, Bianca.” His voice was pained. ”He ruined my life.”

”I understand,” I said softly, my voice cracking as I spoke. I did understand. I didn't know if I could blame him. ”It's not your fault.” I took a deep breath and tried to reason with him. ”But my father wasn't the one to blame. My father didn't do this. It was Larry.”

”You're making this hard for me, Bianca.” He sighed and kneeled next to me, moving the gun away from my head. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. His eyes bored into mine, and I could see the regret s.h.i.+ning at me. Regret and another emotion I recognized. My heart thudded as I stared back at him. I still had a shot at changing my story. The emotion in his eyes was one I knew well-adoration. He had feelings for me. That was the opening I needed to try to change his mind.

”You don't have to do this,” I said softly. ”You don't have to go through with it.”

”I do,” he said, but his voice was unsure as he gazed at me, his eyes scrutinizing my face. ”I know what I have to do, but I wanted to make this last moment special. I wanted it to just be you and me, just once. The two of us together-alone. Without Rosie or Jakob or even your dad.” He sounded wistful as he spoke. ”So yes, I have to do this, but at least when I do, it will be special. Something the both of us will share and never forget.” He laughed then. ”Though I suppose in death, one will forget anyway.”

”Steve,” I said, my voice cracking as I swallowed hard. ”Don't do this.”

”I have to.”

”No. If you do, we can't be together.” I nearly choked on the words, but I knew I had to say them. It was my only chance.

”You would want to be with me?” He froze. ”After all this?”

”Yes.” I nodded and made myself smile. ”We're meant to be together, don't you see that?”

”It was always you, you know.” His fingers touched my leg. ”From the first time I saw you, I knew. You're here because your father told me I couldn't have you. He told me that we weren't destined for each other. After all I did for him! After all the lies I told. The secrets I kept. I'm responsible for you still being alive. I'm the one who deserves you. Not Jakob.”

”So then don't do this,” I pleaded with him. ”This doesn't have to be the end for us. This can be the beginning.”

”A new beginning?” He spoke softly, his eyes glazing over as he considered what I'd said.

”Maybe this is why everything happened,” I said, my voice shaky. ”Maybe we're meant to be together. Maybe this was fate's cruel joke on us. Maybe this was the only way.”

”Maybe.” He nodded and stepped back. My body was trembling as I waited for him to decide what he was going to do next. ”You really think we're soul mates?” He stared at my lips, and it took everything in me not to shudder at his gaze. And then suddenly there was a loud bang. I screamed. He fell forward, his head hitting my lap hard, and I screamed again.

”No!” Tears fell from my eyes as a pool of red blood filled my lap. I felt momentary relief that it wasn't me he'd shot, but seeing him like that made me feel sick to my stomach. ”No!” I screamed, and looked into his face. What had just happened? I wasn't even sure. Had he shot himself? He gazed at me with a weak smile, the life draining from his face.

”Your father did this to us,” he mumbled. ”He did this to me.”

”No,” I whispered, my stomach churning as I felt a wave of arctic coldness fill me. ”I'm sorry,” I said honestly. This wasn't how it was supposed to end.

”Hush, my little baby, don't say a f.u.c.king word,” he said again, though this time his voice was but a whisper in the coldness. ”This is how it should be.”

”Steve?” I shook him as I stared around the room, desperate to find the source of the gunshot. ”Steve!”