“I can’t believe we caught four fish!” I exclaimed as we made our way back to the sand. “How are we going to eat them? Not live?”
“No.” He laughed. “We have the lighters, remember? We should be able to start a fire, and we can grill them.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing.” I made my way with him to the shore, and we both laughed as my stomach growled.
“That tasted really good. Almost as good as if it were made in a restaurant.” I licked my lips and leaned back. “Thank you.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He patted his stomach. “I feel pretty satisfied myself.”
“So what do you think happened to Steve?” I asked him curiously. My eyes watched his every move to see how he reacted.
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s playing some sort of game.” He frowned.
“Do you think we should look for him now? I feel like we both keep delaying the search.”
“I think that’s what he wants.” Jakob moved closer to me. “He wants us to come to us. You ever study military history as part of your degree?”
“You think he wants to ambush us?”
“I think he has an agenda.”
I closed my eyes and sighed loudly. “I wish I knew what was going on.”
“We should talk again.” His hand reached out and grabbed mine. “See if we can figure out anything else.”
“You mean the Bridgette connection?”
“Yes, the Bridgette connection.”
“I don’t know how that would be of any help.” I shrugged. “She dated my ex before I did.” I debated asking him whether he knew David, but he spoke before I could decide.
“Bianca,” he said my name slowly, and I looked at him. He was frowning and his expression looked annoyed. “There was something else in my envelope.”
“Oh?”
“A photograph.”
“A photograph of what?”
I watched as Jakob stood up and walked over to his pants. He pulled out both of our letters and a photo, which he brought over to me.
“Can you explain this?” He dropped the photo in my lap, and my body froze. The photo was of me and Bridgette smiling at a party about a year ago.
“I . . . I . . .” I stumbled over my words. “It’s a long story.”
“Bianca, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest. Did you steal your ex from Bridgette?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I swear I didn’t know they were dating when I met them.”
“Who did you meet first?”
“Technically I met Bridgette first, but I thought they were just friends.”
“Did you have a plan to meet him?” he asked me softly, and my heart sunk.
“Yes.” I nodded. “I had a plan.” I paused and reached out for his hand. “It wasn’t because I was a gold digger though.”
“So you weren’t after the Bradley family money?” His eyes narrowed, and I shook my head.
“How did you know David?” My heart started beating rapidly as I decided to stop chickening out. “When I mentioned my ex was David Bradley, why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t make the connection. My brain was still contemplating the fact that I’d been kidnapped. Bridgette was my assistant. Yes, we slept together a couple of times. It didn’t mean anything. I knew that she started dating someone else, but I didn’t care,” he said with a shrug. “She was my secretary. Nothing more. It was only when I found out that she was sharing classified information with David that I fired her.”
“So you know David?” I persisted with my questioning. I wasn’t going to allow him to distract me from this questioning.
“Not very well.” He shook his head. “I know of him. I like to keep to myself.”
“I guess that makes sense, what with you being so rich.” I lay back and asked softly, “How did you make your money again?”
“I’m in venture capitalism. Buying small businesses and selling them for a profit was how I started. Now I buy larger companies and either sell them for a profit or maximize their business productivity and keep the profits for myself.”
“So you don’t care about the businesses?”
“Some of the businesses have their uses. I don’t do anything based on emotion. Every act in my life has a purpose.”
“You sound so driven. It seems so boring.”
“It’s not always boring. Sometimes I buy some cool companies. Last year I bought a vineyard and a chocolate factory.”
“I love wine and chocolates.”
“I love the money both companies are now making me. I keep companies based on the value they add to my portfolio.”
“That sounds like a lot of hard work.”
“I like hard work. My mom taught me that the only thing that matters in life is hard work.”
“What about love?”
“Love is for fools.” His tone was derisive. “All love does is make people weak.”
“So you don’t believe in true love?”
“There is no true love. One person always loves the other one more. One person always gives up something. Human beings will do more for money than for love.”
I thought about his words and felt sad. “My parents were really in love, but it was cut short.”
“Death is a sad part of life.”
“Yes, it is.” I sighed. “I still believe in love though.”
“You’re the sort of girl who could make me believe in love as well,” he whispered into my ear. “But don’t start getting any ideas.”
“Are you becoming a softy, Jakob?” I smiled at him, and my insides felt warm.
“I don’t think anyone could ever accuse me of being soft.” His hand rubbed my back. “Not inside the office and definitely not in the bedroom.”
“You’re a regular lothario, huh.”
“I don’t sleep around, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“You don’t sleep around?”
“I don’t do relationships, but I’m not a man whore. I’m not in and out of bedrooms. I don’t have a revolving door or a little black book.”
“That’s hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“You seem like you’d have a lot of ladies,” I mumbled, feeling slightly taken aback by the intense expression he had on his face as he stared at me.