Illusion (Swept Away #1)(7)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“Do you think you’ll get it?”

“If I have anything to say about it, yes.” She pursed her lips. “Of course, I’m not working on that deal. I’m helping James with the Bradley Inc. deal. If we get that, I think I’ll get promoted. That’s why I’ve been so busy.”

“Oh.” I looked down into my glass of wine; my heart was racing at her words. I hadn’t known she was trying to do business with the Bradley Corporation. “That’s David’s dad’s company,” I said casually, pretending that that fact was unimportant.

“Oh yeah, that’s where I saw him a couple of weeks ago. In the offices.” She made a face, and I knew that she was worried that I was still upset that we had broken up. Rosie didn’t know that I had never really had legitimate feelings for David, so his cheating hadn’t really hurt me.

“I need to tell you something.” I took a deep breath and lowered my voice. “It’s about David and, well, the Bradley Company.”

“Oh?” Her eyes narrowed, and she looked at me in interest. “What about them?”

“I think that the Bradley Company had something to do with what happened to my mother.”

“What are you talking about?” She looked confused. “What happened to your mom? She died in a car crash, didn’t she?”

“That’s the thing.” I took a deep breath, hoping Rosie wasn’t going to think I was crazy. “I don’t think she did.”

“What?”

“Remember how my dad used to work as an inventor?” I rushed out. “Well, he used to work for the Bradley Company. In fact when the company was started it was called Bradley, London, and Maxwell. I think—”

“Hold on a second.” She jumped up quickly. “I just need to go to the restroom, okay?”

I noticed someone in the corner of the bar staring at me. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I nodded at Rosie slowly as my head started to feel heavy. I was being watched. I was certain of it. I took a deep breath and looked around me. Was I being listened to as well? Part of me was glad that Rosie had jumped up when she had. Then it hit me; it was the man who’d been staring at me from behind the newspaper at the coffee shop.

“That’s fine.” I mumbled back, the words tripping out of mouth in an existential fashion. I wanted to jump up and run, but I knew that wouldn’t help. I’d ask Rosie for her advice when she came back from the restroom. I’d tell her everything that was going on and then hope she wasn’t angry at me for keeping it all from her for so long.

“Watch my bag for me.” She handed me her large black Balenciaga bag and walked away quickly. I put her bag in my lap and quickly unzipped it and placed the plastic bag with the copies of my father’s papers in it and did it back up again.

“More wine, ma’am?” I heard the voice in front of me and I felt a prick in my arm as I looked up. I didn’t see the face of the person as I looked up, because my vision became dotted. All of a sudden, I felt terribly drowsy, like I wanted to sleep. I closed my eyes for a second, and then the world went black.

The first time I regained consciousness, I could feel someone lifting me up. I tried to open my eyes to see what was going on, but my eyelids wouldn’t open, because they were too weak. The second time I regained consciousness, I could hear two men frantically whispering something. It sounded like “The plan’s changed. The plan’s changed.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I allowed the dark void to suck me back in as my brain realized that the inevitable had happened. I knew that I’d rather be unconscious than frozen in fear while being blind and speechless. The void was good for now. The void would allow me to conserve my energy and stop the panic that was currently running through my body.

I drifted back into oblivion, and all I could think about were David’s words the last time we’d spoken: You’re strong, Bianca. You can handle anything. I promise that you’ll get over this. I only hoped that I was as strong as he thought I was.

Two

My head was pounding when I finally regained full consciousness. My body felt stiff, and there was an ache in my neck. I tensed as I realized that I was in a dark, cramped space I couldn’t identify. The air around me was stuffy, and my brain still felt hazy.

I smelled him before I felt him. His scent was deep and musky, like an expensive cologne. It was then that I realized his arm was under my neck. I froze as my heart joined my pounding head, and he groaned as I rolled over and slowly crashed into his chest. My limbs felt numb, and my mind was fuzzy. I felt his fingers squeezing my neck, and I wondered if this was it. Was I going to die by strangulation? I reached my hands up to his fingers and sharply yanked them away, banging both of our hands into something hard above us.

“Careful,” he muttered, and I froze as my eyes tried to focus in the dark. He was awake, and he didn’t sound happy.

“Do I know you?” I whispered, trying to remember where I had been and what I’d been doing. My heart thudded as the faintest of memories came back to me. “Who are you?” My words sounded pained. What was going on?

“Who are you?” His voice was low, and he attempted to move away from me. “And where am I?”

“I don’t know.” I attempted to sit up but found it hard to move.

I could feel the panic welling up in me, and I tried not to scream. The last thing I could remember was drinking a glass of wine in a cute little bar on the Upper West Side while I waited for Rosie to get off work. I froze as I remembered two men frantically muttering something. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the voices I’d heard. Was this man lying next to me one of the men who had kidnapped me? And if so, why was he trapped with me?

“You don’t know who you are?” His tone sounded bemused, and I could tell from his voice that he was an arrogant asshole. “Or you don’t want me to know?”

“No, I don’t know where we are,” I said slowly, trying not to show my fear and irritation. I knew that I couldn’t show him my weakness or anger right now. I didn’t know who he was. If he knew I was scared, that might encourage him to do something bad.

I lay there and tried to think what I had learned in my self-defense classes. Don’t panic, scream loudly, and kick them in the junk is all I could remember my instructor saying.

“Damnit, Bianca,” I whispered to myself. Now I wished that I had paid more attention in the class instead of goofing around with Rosie.