Illusion (Swept Away Book 1) (3 page)

I
t had been four days since the note arrived. Four days that I’d been on tenterhooks wondering what was going to happen next. I’d never felt this anxious before. Or scared. However, I tried to continue living my life as I normally did. There was nothing I could do but wait and see what was going to happen next. I also knew what the next step of the plan was. I could do nothing but wait for my ex-boyfriend David to come through for me. He was my only access to more information. I hadn’t wanted to trust him, but I knew that in a game of cat and mouse the one who got the cheese was the one who took the most risks. I just had to be patient. Though, it was hard. Even watching shows on the History Channel didn’t capture my attention for long.

“I’m not dating online again,” I muttered as I deleted another rude message from a man known as Matt, or as his profile said, KnightInShiningArmani.

Online dating was something I’d been doing since David and I had broken up. At first, it had taken my mind off
everything that had gone down with David. Now, it helped me to occupy my thoughts when my mind drifted to dark areas. Generally, I enjoyed my online conversations, but there was something about Matt that had really turned me off. He just wasn’t getting the hint. I’d made the mistake of talking to him twice on the phone before deciding that I wasn’t interested in going on a date with him. He definitely looked handsome in his photos, but he’d been arrogant and demanding on the phone, and his e-mails had gotten creepier and creepier. I stifled a sigh as I saw another e-mail come through from Matt and picked up my phone to call my best friend, Rosie.

“This is Rosie speaking.” Rosie’s voice sounded tired as she answered the phone.

“Hey, it’s Bianca,” I said lightly, and walked over to my vanity. “What are you up to?”

“Just a little something called work,” she responded with a sigh. I could tell she was tired from the lack of excitement in her tone. “What’s up?”

“Want to grab a drink tonight?” I checked my reflection in the mirror and sighed. Months of facial exercises hadn’t helped to define my cheekbones at all. “Not that I need any alcohol. My face looks puffy. However, I haven’t seen you in over a month, and we need to catch up. There’s some stuff I need to tell you about.”

“I’m sure it doesn’t look puffy, and yes, we need to catch up.” Her tone changed. “I want to hear what you’ve been up to.”

“Trust me, it does,” I muttered, frowning at the bags under my eyes. “I’m going to make myself a face mask and put some cucumbers on my eyes.”

“Must be nice to be self-employed,” Rosie said jealously.

“Must be nice to have a steady income,” I responded back tartly. I’d been freelancing, writing entertainment articles for a couple of online newspapers, for about a year, and I wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision. As much as I loved movies, my true love was for the kings and queens of England, and I really wanted to become a history professor. However, freelancing gave me the opportunity to play Sherlock Holmes, or, realistically, more like Stephanie Plum. I needed the flexibility in my schedule to allow me to investigate what had happened to my mother more freely.

“Touché.” She giggled. “And yes. I’m down for a drink. It’s been a long month and an even longer day.”

“Boss back?” I made small talk even though I didn’t want to. I really just wanted to tell her about the note and the fake policeman. I wanted to tell her about the woman who watched me from across the street and the feeling I had that someone was following me. I knew this wasn’t the time though. I’d have time to tell her everything tonight.

“Yes, he’s back from Shanghai, and he’s acting like a bigger douche than ever,” she moaned. “He’s treating me like his assistant again. It’s not like I’ve been running the department for the last month or anything.”

“Drinks are on me, then,” I offered. “Maybe he’s treating
you like that because he knows you can take over his job and do a better one in a heartbeat.”

“Bianca, you think very highly of me,” she said appreciatively. “However, you can’t afford to buy me all the drinks I’m going to need tonight.” She laughed and then paused. “Ooh, you also have to tell me how your date went with that guy you met online.”

“Oh, I told you about that?” I frowned into the phone, confused. I couldn’t remember mentioning that I was going to meet Matt, but ever since I’d started doing detective work on the side, I couldn’t really remember who I was telling what. I really needed to keep a journal of the information I was giving to different people. Rosie had been my best friend for years, but I knew that she wouldn’t approve of my investigations, so I hadn’t really told her much. But I was starting to think I needed to confide in her when I saw her later.

“Yeah, you told me you were going to meet that guy online, to help get over David, remember?”

“Oh, that was weeks ago, and I canceled it.” I groaned. “I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to work out.” I stared into my eyes in the mirror as I spoke. I felt bad about keeping secrets from Rosie.

“Bianca, you can’t cancel the date before you meet him. Plus, he looked hot in those photos you showed me online. All masculine and sexy.”

“Yeah, he was hot.” I nodded as I walked back to my computer. I shook my head as I sat down. I’d obviously told
her about Matt if I’d shown her photos. “He just seemed like a bit of a creep.”

“They’re all creeps.” She sounded annoyed. “Anyway, he looked cute.”

“I don’t want to date a guy who’s creepy before we even meet.”

“How was he being creepy?”

“Listen to this e-mail he sent me last night.” I sat on the bed and put my laptop on my knees. “Hold on a sec. I’m going through my trash, since I deleted the e-mails.”

“No worries.” She paused. “Hey, I wanted to tell you that I saw David a couple of weeks ago.”

“Oh?” My heart stopped for a second, and I took a deep breath. “How did he look?”

“Handsome as ever.” She paused again. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I said stiffly as an image of David crossed my mind.

I didn’t want to talk about David. Not over the phone. Not now. He was the most handsome guy I’d ever dated, with his dark brown locks and bright green eyes. He was tall and buff, and he looked like every woman’s dream. Rosie had been shocked when he’d asked me out and we’d started dating. She hadn’t known the lengths I’d gone through to get his attention. Though, to be honest, I’d never felt secure in the relationship, and when he’d cheated on me, I hadn’t been that surprised. Our relationship had been complex, and no one else knew exactly how complex it still was.

“Have you spoken to him recently?”

“Not since we broke up.” I bit my lower lip, hating to lie again. “I’ve started several e-mails though.”

“Does he still call you?”

“He called me a few times, but nothing in over a month.” I sighed. “Maybe he’s moved on.”

“He’s a dick, and you know what he was thinking with.” Rosie sounded hesitant. “I mean, I know guys have needs, but shit, he should have told you that he couldn’t wait anymore.”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to sleep with him.” I sighed. “It just never felt right. I wanted it to be special.” And it would never have been special with David, no matter how handsome I thought he was.

“I know. He’s an asshole.” Rosie went back to being supportive. “It’s his loss.”

“Exactly.” I sighed as I thought back to David. “Did he say anything to you when you saw him?” I asked casually.

“He said hi.” Rosie’s voice sounded awkward. “And something else, but it didn’t make sense.”

“Oh?” My fingers froze on the keyboard. “What else did he say?”

“He said that there was more than one way to skin a cat.”

“What?” I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I think he’s trying to woo you.” Rosie’s voice became thoughtful. “I guess he figured out that just apologizing and calling wasn’t going to cut it. I bet he’s going to try to step it up a notch and really try harder to win you back.”

“You think so?” I stared around my bedroom and thought for a second. This was the one room in my apartment that David and I had never really spent much time in. I lay back on my bed and sighed. “I was an idiot, wasn’t I. I should have just had sex with him. I’m sure it would have been amazing. Maybe we’d still be together now.” I felt odd saying the words, as if I were playing a part in a play.
You’ve been watching too many movies, Bianca
, I thought to myself.

“Don’t blame yourself, Bianca. It’s not your fault. Maybe this is what he needed, to see how much you mean to him. Maybe he’ll be all romantic now. What if he takes you on a surprise trip to Paris or something? Wouldn’t that be cool?”

“You think he’d really do that?”

“Who knows?” Rosie laughed. “Hey, hold on. I just got a package from a new and very cute delivery guy.”

“Okay.” I laughed and sat back up, still looking through my e-mails for the deleted messages from Matt. I wanted to get away from the conversation about David.

I should have known from his screen name that he was going to be an asshole. I mean, Knight in Shining Armani? Only a pompous asshole would choose such a name.

“Thank you, Billy.” I heard Rosie speaking to the delivery guy and ripping open her new package.

I smiled to myself as I imagined her decimating the package so she could find out what was inside as quickly as possible. She’d always been impatient when opening packages and presents. I only hoped she treated any packages she received
from me with more care. I stared at the plastic bag on my night desk and wondered if I was making the right decision to entrust my papers with her.

“Oh my God, are you there, Bianca?” Rosie’s voice was jittery and excited.

“Yeah, why?”

“Someone just sent me a present.”

“Ooh, what did they send?”

“A Tiffany’s bracelet and a note.” Her voice was growing louder with excitement.

“What does it say?” I asked casually as my stomach flip-flopped.

“It says ‘My dearest Rosie, you don’t know me yet, but I very much want to know you. Accept this gift as a token of my friendship.’ ” She paused. “And that’s it.”

“Who’s it from?”

“I don’t know.” Her voice was low. “I wonder if it’s Joe from accounting. I’ve seen him giving me a few rather obvious admiring stares recently, ever since I got those blond highlights.”

“But you know Joe. Wouldn’t it say ‘You don’t know my intentions yet’ as opposed to ‘You don’t know
me
yet’?”

“Who knows? Maybe he’s slow or didn’t think it through properly.” She laughed. “Who cares? I just got a bracelet from Tiffany’s.”

“I can’t wait to see it tonight.” I was slightly envious. No one was sending me gifts from Tiffany’s. Not even David, who might or might not be trying to woo me back. I thought
back to my own, more ominous note and wondered if there was a connection.

“I can’t wait to show it off.” Rosie’s squeal interrupted my thoughts.

“Okay, I have the e-mails open. Are you ready to hear the craziness?”

“Yes, let me hear.”

“ ‘Dear CreativeGirlNYC, Have you ever been to Rome? It’s such a romantic city that I would love to fly you there in my private jet. I’d like to take you to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. Then we can share pasta and drink wine as we gaze into each other’s eyes. KnightInShiningArmani.’ ”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s weird. He knows my name is Bianca, and I know his name is Matt, so why doesn’t he use our real names? And, well, we’ve never met. It’s too much too soon.”

“He’s trying to sweep you off your feet.” Rosie sounded matter-of-fact.

“Well, listen to the e-mail he sent me last night. ‘Dear CreativeGirlNYC, I was very disappointed that you canceled our date and now won’t accept my calls. I’ve been waiting for us to meet for a long time. In fact, I’ve been counting down the days until I can make you mine. I feel that you are playing games with me, and I don’t appreciate it. If you are willing to meet me tonight, let me know.’ ”

“Wow, he’s persistent.”

“Then today, he just sent me another e-mail. ‘Answer me,
Bianca. If you would like to meet for lunch we can still make it work. If not, it’s your loss.’ ”

“Wow. He does sound like a winner, doesn’t he?” Rosie exclaimed, and I nodded, though she couldn’t see me.

“Now you know why I won’t be dating online anymore.” I closed my laptop.

“We’ll find two hotties tonight and flirt the night away.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“You might finally get laid,” she said, and then giggled.

“Rosie!”

“Hey, I’m just being honest. A vibrator can only do so much.”

“I’ll see you tonight,” I groaned.

“H
ey,” Rosie whispered into the phone as I picked it up.

“Hey back at ya.”

“Meet me at this new bar on the Upper West Side tonight. I’ve heard good things and want to check it out.”

“What’s it called?”

“Orange.”

“Okay. I’ll see you around six?”

“Yeah.” She paused. “Six sounds good.” Then she giggled; the noise sounded quite nervous, and I frowned into the phone.

“What’s so funny? Is there a reason why you chose this bar, Rosie?” My brain started ticking, and I took a gulp of water.