“Since when are we not a couple?” He munched on his toast and stared at me, his eyes sparkling like diamonds.

“Since when are we?” I took a bite of toast and stared back at him.

“Oh.” He grinned. “I guess you want this to go the old-fashioned way?”

“What old-fashioned way?”

“Bianca London, will you be my girlfriend?” He leaned forward and licked some crumbs off my lips.

I swallowed hard. “Well, if you’re asking . . . ,” I mumbled breathlessly.

“I’m asking.” He smiled.

“I suppose so,” I murmured, excitement coursing through me. Was this real?

“Hmm, no need to sound so excited about it, Bianca.” Jakob laughed drily.

“I’d love to be your girlfriend,” I said shyly. “I’m just a little taken aback.” I grinned at him.

“That’s settled, then.” He grinned and made a face. “At least one item of ten billion is settled.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit fast?” I asked softly, wanting more from this moment than a piece of toast and a that’s settled.

“What’s a bit fast?”

“This whole boyfriend-and-girlfriend thing. I mean, you haven’t even told me when you started to have feelings for me or what you think of me or where you think this is going or what happens next or anything,” I blurted out.

He groaned. “Oh no, you’re a typical girl, aren’t you?” He grinned at my frown and sat next to me at the kitchen table. “Okay, here goes: I thought you were cute the first time I saw you in the coffee shop, I had inappropriate thoughts of you when we were locked in the back of the car. When I told you about my mother on the island, I knew I wanted to be in a relationship with you. I don’t know where this is going. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I don’t believe in marriage. I’m of two minds about true love and soul mates, and I’m not the sort of guy who’s going to want to talk about our relationship every weekend.”

“Okay.” I looked down, feeling slightly disappointed.

“That okay didn’t sound too enthusiastic.” He grimaced.

“Well, did you expect it to be? No one would exactly call you a romantic.” I rolled my eyes and sipped on my coffee.

“Bianca, the first time I saw your face I was taken aback by the feelings that invaded my body. It was the first time I’d ever been drawn to someone just with a glance. When I sat down at the table with you, you made me laugh as you mumbled to yourself, and I knew right away that you were someone different, someone special. As I got to know you on the island, I was attracted to your body and to your brain and I have been captivated by you ever since. There has not been a morning that I’ve awoken since meeting you that I haven’t thought about you. This is a bloody mess of a situation and I’m a bloody mess of a man and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I wish I could promise you a happily ever after. I wish I could sing sweet nothings into your ear, but I can’t. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Our pasts are so intertwined. Our whole histories are opposed. Even now, we’re both seeking the truth and vengeance for our families. How can we live with each other if we’re the products of the people who brought each other down?” He stroked the side of my face.

I could feel tears falling from my eyes as I turned to him. “So why even bother asking me to be your girlfriend?”

“Because I wanted you to know for one brief moment, before everything exploded and got bad again, that I really care about you. I want you to know that in a perfect world we’d be together and we’d be happy. That’s what I wish we could have. I want it to be as simple as Bianca and Jakob, Jakob and Bianca—but it’s never going to be that way for us.”

“It could be,” I whispered, and grabbed his hand. “We could forget everything. We could just move on and pretend nothing ever happened. We could tell David that—”

“Bianca.” Jakob closed his eyes. “We will never be able to forget this and just move on. There are still so many unanswered questions. We owe it to ourselves and each other to figure this all out.”

“Even if it ruins us?”

“We didn’t have a beautiful beginning.” He shrugged. “It seems only natural that we won’t have a beautiful ending.”

“So we just settle for a beautiful middle?”

“No.” He leaned forward and kissed me hard, his eyes burning into mine. “We settle for an explosive middle. We settle for a middle that makes up for the end of the world. We settle for a middle that we can carry to our graves.”

“I’m scared, Jakob.” I kissed him back. “What are we going to find out?”

“I wish I knew.” His eyes darkened and he held my hands. “I just want you to remember that I never intended to hurt you. I never intended for any of this to happen.”

“I know.” I nodded. And I did. A new honesty was in Jakob’s eyes, one I’d never seen there before. True emotion shone through from his soul to mine. Whatever we found out together might break us apart forever, but it wasn’t either of our faults. We were innocent parties caught up in the webs our parents had weaved. “I loved my father,” I said tenderly. “I loved my father so much, but I wish he’d let this all die with him.” I rubbed the tears from my eyes. “I wish he’d just let me be.”