“I’ll be safe if I’m away from you.”

“I don’t think so.” He sighed. “Look, I knew Steve, and, yes, I asked him to come to the island. That was a part of the plan. He was meant to scare you so that I could protect you and we’d get closer.”

“Oh.” I stepped back, my hand flying to my mouth as I realized how perfectly Jakob’s plan had worked.

“He deviated from the plan, Bianca.” Jakob took another step toward me, and I held up my hand for him to stop. I was surprised when he stood still. “I need to figure out why. I need to know who got to him and what his purpose was for turning on me.”

“So ask him.”

“He’s gone.” Jakob ran his hand across his head. “I don’t know how or where, but he’s gone. I don’t want you to leave until I know. Please.”

“If you have any chance of me ever trusting you, you will let me leave.” My voice was as cold as the deepest ocean. “This isn’t the island anymore.” I looked around and took a deep breath. “I don’t need your help and I don’t want it. Let me go. If there is any part of you that regrets kidnapping me, let me go.”

“We need to figure out the truth, Bianca.”

“The truth is you kidnapped me. The truth is that you’re a Bradley. That’s all the truth I need from you right now.”

He shook his head slowly and sighed. “You can leave in the morning. I’ll have someone take you to the airport. A private plane will be waiting to take you back to New York.”

“You’re going to let me leave?” I was shocked that he’d taken in my words and changed his mind so quickly.

“What choice do I have?” He clenched his fists. “I was never going to physically hurt you.”

“Well, your man Steve didn’t seem to get the memo.”

“I told you, Steve deviated from the plan.” Jakob’s gaze grew darker. “I will deal with him. I never had any plan to hurt you.”

“Just to kidnap me, then?”

“I . . .” He took a deep breath. “I wanted some answers from you.”

“What sort of answers?”

“I wanted to know about your parents’ marriage.”

“Why?”

“I needed to know if your parents were responsible for my father—”

“For your father what?” I cut him off, wanting everything to make sense. I wanted the pieces of the puzzle to fit together and leave me in peace. I wanted to go back to a normal life, to a time before I’d met Jakob. I didn’t want to remember what it felt like to be with him: to be kissed by him, to be touched by him, to be filled with him. He had become such a part of me in such a short time, and I wasn’t sure how to process all the information I had now. I didn’t want to go down this path any further. I was scared to find out more information that I didn’t want to know. I was scared that my parents’ marriage wasn’t as perfect as I remembered its being. “For your father leaving your mother?”

“It doesn’t matter.” His eyes narrowed. “I have other things to take care of first.”

“What other things?”

“I need to find out who got to Steve and why . . .” His voice trailed off and he looked out to the ocean. “I suggest you leave well enough alone, Bianca.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Stop being Nancy Drew. Take this opportunity and disappear.”

“You think I’m playing a part?”

“I don’t even know what you’re doing, Bianca.” His lips thinned. “In other circumstances, I would have been curious. Now, I don’t care.”

“You don’t care?” Hurt coursed through my veins.

“You tricked me once, Bianca. I won’t let you trick me again.”

“How did I trick you? What are you talking about?” My head was running in circles at his words. He was a master manipulator, that was for sure. He even had me questioning myself and my motives. He seemed genuinely confused as to why Steve had become more sinister. I was pretty confident that Jakob was legitimately perplexed as to why Steve had turned on him. Though, I didn’t know if I was smart to trust my instincts. I’d already been wrong once.

“Let it go, Bianca.” He sighed. “I can’t let my feelings for you stop me from doing what I need to do.”

“What do you need to do?”

“As much as you don’t trust me, I don’t know if I can trust you.” He glanced at me for a few seconds again, and his eyes ran up and down my body, unable to hide his lust.

“Fine, then neither one of us trusts each other.” I glared at him, my heart beating fast as he gazed at my legs.

“Come with me. Could we spend one more night together?” he asked softly, his tone smooth.

“What do you mean, come with you? Are you joking?” I shouted. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

“This is confusing for me as well.”

“I don’t care what this is for you, you liar.”

“Bianca—”

“Don’t say my name!” I screamed.

“I wish I understood you.” He seemed sad. “I wish I understood who you really are.”

“I wish I knew who you really are as well, Jakob.”

“We’re like the mountain and the treacherous deep blue ocean,” he said wryly.