“I think I’ll keep my alcohol to myself after all.” He took a step away from me.
“I know you sent me the letters.” I gasped, going out on a limb, wanting to know the truth and knowing I had to do something to distract him long enough to try to grab the flask away from him. “I know it was you.”
“He told you?” He froze, and I saw his expression change to something unpleasant. “I can’t believe he told you about the plan.”
“You’re working with David?” I frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“David told you?” He paused and took a step toward me. “What did he tell you?”
“David didn’t tell me about the notes.” I hurried out. “I didn’t know that this was part of the plan. He just told me that Mattias didn’t want me nosing around Bradley Inc., He told me that it would be smart for me to disappear for a few days. I didn’t know he was going to be the one to make me disappear.”
“David? Or Mattias?” He frowned, and that was when I knew that Steve definitely wasn’t here to protect me. If he didn’t know about David or his involvement, that meant he wasn’t here to try to help me. The fact that he brought up Mattias’s name told me everything I needed to know. That meant he was the enemy. I took a step away from him and stumbled to the ground. Steve stood in front of me, looking down with a wild gleam in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Bianca.”
“Sorry about what?” I asked and tried to jump up. I fell back again in my haste, and we both froze as we heard footsteps running toward us. I turned around and saw Jakob approaching us. “What are you doing?” I shouted at him and jumped up. My heart raced in joy, and my stomach flipped over at the sight of him.
“I couldn’t let you do this alone.” His face was manic. “I would kill myself if anything happened to you.”
“What are you two talking about?” Steve looked back and forth at us, and then his eyes narrowed as he stared at me. “You weren’t really fighting, were you?”
“Did you think you’d get away with this, Steve?” Jakob’s voice was loud and angry. “Did you think you could play this game with us?”
“You didn’t know each other when you got to the island.” Steve stared at me. “Listen to me, Bianca. This man is playing a game with you. None of this has been an accident. I’m here to protect you. I’m here to help you seek your truth.”
“He’s lying to you, Bianca.” Jakob grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. “I promise you, this man is up to no good.”
“Why don’t you tell her why she’s really here?” Steve stepped forward and pulled the knife off of the bottom of his flask before flinging the flask to the ground. He pointed the knife at me and it glittered in the moonlight, and I screamed as he ran toward us, knife high in the air.
“Shut up!” he shouted at me as I continued to scream. He lunged toward us, and I immediately noticed that he was no longer limping.
“Step back, Bianca.” Jakob pushed me behind him and lunged toward Steve. He grabbed Steve’s arm, and I watched as Steve kneed Jakob in the stomach. He doubled over, and Steve took the opportunity to right hook him in the gut.
“Jakob!” I screamed as I watched the two men fighting. I didn’t know what to do, but I nearly dropped to the ground in relief when I watched Jakob stand tall and punch Steve in the face. He grabbed Steve’s face and hit him again.
I stared at the fight and felt tears running down my face. I had never been so scared before in my life. Jakob definitely had the better build, but Steve had the knife. “Jakob, be careful!” I shouted as loudly as I could, trying to warn him as I saw Steve step forward to try to stab him.
“Run, Bianca.” His voice was hoarse, and I saw both men fall to the ground. “Run!” he called out to me again, and he turned to look up at me. I stared at him in shock and watched as a suddenly very agile Steve pushed him down and held the knife to his neck.
“Stop!” I stepped forward to hit Steve on the head, but the look Jakob gave me froze me to the spot.
“Run!” Jakob commanded once more. “Don’t worry about me, Bianca. You need to run and hide.” I stared at the two of them fighting for a few seconds and saw Steve look back at me. His eyes looked like evil slits, and I could see that he was no longer pretending to be a nice guy. “Run, Bianca!” This time I didn’t hesitate.
Eleven
As I sprinted up the sandy beach, I heard the two of them fighting, but I didn’t look back. My legs were aching, and my mind was numb, but still I didn’t stop. “Be okay, Jakob, please be okay,” I mumbled to myself as I ran.
I ran to the jungle and through the trees on the path to the shack. My mind was blank with fear, and all I could think about was the look in Steve’s eyes as he had watched me standing there. He was out for blood. I stopped as I thought about Jakob getting hurt. My breath came out fast and erratic, and I turned around. I needed to go back to the beach to help him. I needed to make sure he was okay. I couldn’t leave him there by himself. Maybe if I jumped on top of Steve, I’d be able to distract him long enough for Jakob to grab the knife.
My breathing grew heavier as I thought about the knife. When had Jakob realized that Steve had a knife? Why hadn’t he said anything before now? I collapsed to the ground, suddenly overcome by tears. I was scared, really scared. Maybe the most scared I’d ever been in my life. And I was also confused. Nothing was adding up, and nothing was making sense. I dropped to the ground and sobbed, not knowing what to do.
I heard a cracking noise above me and jumped back up. “Don’t break down now, Bianca,” I muttered to myself, and jumped up and down for energy and then dusted off my legs. I looked back toward the beach and thought for a moment. “Self-preservation, Bianca.” I started running farther into the jungle. “You can’t figure out the truth if you’re dead.” My heart wanted me to run back to the beach to help Jakob, but my brain was telling me to look after myself. I ran toward the shack, anxious to get to the hideout. I ran so fast that I tripped over some small rocks and went flying into the bush. I scraped my knee, and it started burning, but still I continued on. I almost cried in relief as I made it to the small building, which I’d been so afraid of returning to. I opened the door eagerly and hobbled inside. My eyes immediately went to the table in the corner. It was no longer empty. I walked over to it and saw a bunch of candy wrappers and a pen. I frowned as I stared at the table. I was positive that those candy wrappers had not been there before. I looked to the ground to search for anything else. There were a couple of pieces of paper that I snatched up, but they were blank. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes, trying to control my breathing. It was then that I saw something white sticking out of a piece of fabric lying on the floor in the other corner of the shack. I walked over to it and pulled the fabric up. I gasped as I saw that it was a photo. I grabbed it and stared at it, the blood draining from my face.