Secretly, she prayed William would return. But if he did, she’d have to eliminate Markson.
He was receptive to her idea, turning it over in his mind before he said, “How would we con him?”
“I’m not sure exactly. But if he returns, then I can continue my Ravensdale scam, which will ultimately get me loads of money. I’m being held captive in William’s apartment. I know insider facts regarding Sins – facts that would lead to jail time for William and Charles if word ever got out.” She’d witnessed a murder that had been covered up by William, Charles, and Dechamps.
Markson’s aim abated, lowering slightly before he brought it up again. “Why do you want to work with me?”
“Because William obviously deserted me to seal my own fate. William has manipulated me, and everything between us has been a lie. But no more. I demand retribution.”
“But what if he returns to rescue you?” Markson impaled her with an icy stare – he didn’t trust her.
“That doesn’t matter. He still left me alone in the first place without knowing if you’d come back to finish us off,” she tried to convince him, depicting a woman scorned. Without giving him time to overthink matters, she added in a hurry, “By the way, how did you find out Lady Ivy is currently in England?” If Markson was able to discover it so easily, then it was only a matter of time before William did as well.
“Oh, that was just a stroke of good luck. A friend of a friend is acquainted with the Ravensdales, and he informed me. The elite themselves would never reveal personal information to just anyone. They like to feel special and be secretive. So William would never find out unless he went in deliberate search of information about her via people who personally know her.”
This was exactly the information Ivy needed.
Markson and Ivy startled when a noise resonated throughout the warehouse, and Ivy kept her hands in the air in a conceding motion, praying it was William. The door had opened again, and boots clicked off the ground.
“It’s William,” Ivy stated. “You need to leave so we can execute our plan. I’ll go back into the container.”
The sounds gained on them, and Markson lowered his gun, nodding his head for her to get into the container.
Without giving it a second thought, Ivy advanced on him and knocked the weapon out of his hand.
“You stupid bitch!” Markson shouted.
She ducked to retrieve the gun from the floor as Markson jumped on her back, causing her to fall to her knees, all but howling from the terrible pain. Then she hurriedly gripped the weapon with all her strength and managed to roll over.
Wrapping both hands around the handle, she had a steady aim while lying on her back on the cold concrete, pointing it into Markson’s thunderous face as he held up his palms while backing away from her.
Ivy determined she only had one option left to guarantee that her con with William could continue. Markson would rat her out, and she wasn’t willing to give up and lose William yet. And she also wanted vengeance against Markson for beating her up.
So she pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER 25
William
William jumped out of the car as soon as Charles braked in front of the warehouse.
“Hurry,” William whispered to Silk and Charles, and they trailed quickly.
The entrance was unlocked.
Terror crawled up his spine. He pleaded to a god he didn’t even believe in that he wasn’t too late to save Ivy.
A clank resounded through the building.
“You stupid bitch.” Markson’s voice reached his ears.
William rushed forward with his pistol in hand.
Then a shot rang out.
“Ivy!” William bellowed, running past containers toward the one she was being held captive in.
But as William rounded one container, he saw her on the floor next to the chair and the loose rope, and then he heard a thud.
Ivy’s head turned as her arms fell to the side and she lost her grip on a gun. “William?”
William cocked his weapon but witnessed a dead Markson on the ground, a crimson halo forming on his chest. He dropped his gun when Charles and Silk started to survey the area around Ivy.
William fell to his knees and checked Ivy for new injuries, frantically feeling down her body. “Are you hurt? Are you shot?”
Before she could answer, Charles barked, “Were there more people than Markson in here, Ivy?”
She shook her head, staring at William with tears leaking from her eyes.
“No,” William answered for her and cradled her cheeks. “Are you hurt?”
“No more than I already was,” she replied, whisper-soft and added pensively, “You came back.”
Something devastated William’s heart when she mentioned it with skepticism, as if she didn’t think she was worth coming back for. “Of course. I don’t break my promises. I promised you I’d get us out. Nothing could’ve stopped me from returning.” He wiped Ivy’s damp curls from her face, making sure not to touch the swollen skin around her injured eye.
“Markson is dead,” Silk stated, bending on one knee to feel for his pulse with two fingers.
“Place is clear,” Charles confirmed and came to stand beside William and Ivy, looking down at them. “Silk, lift her up. We need to get William’s wounds tended to right now. And hers as well.”
“No!” William protested. “I’ll take her.”
Charles and Silk’s gazes clashed for a second.
“William, your body is weak. Let Silk carry her.”
“I said no,” William repeated and swung Ivy up into his arms. “Silk can stay here to clean the crime scene and dispose of the body, make it appear as if nothing happened here.”
And without meeting Charles’s disapproving eyes, he went toward the entrance and to the car.
Setting Ivy in the back seat, he joined her and practically moved her sideways on his lap. And with Ivy’s head resting against William’s shoulder, they clung to one another without even realizing, William stroking her hair while taking relaxing breaths, as Charles maneuvered them back to the Loop in absolute silence.
The beast inside William was now calmed by her presence. She affected him in ways he could no longer negate, and denial was no longer an option, not after what they had been through during this night. This horrific night that had brought Ivy and William closer together.
***
“I’m taking her up to my apartment. Send a servant up to prepare a bath for her and me,” William instructed with an asleep Ivy in his arms as he walked inside the high-rise. Usually, he didn’t allow servants in his home, but right now, he didn’t want to do it all himself and leave Ivy alone.
“Okay, Matthew will be there shortly. And, William, the doctor is coming over to stitch up your wounds,” Charles said in a tone that left no room for argument.
“Fine.” William didn’t slow down until he was inside the elevator.
Ivy stirred in his embrace.
“Shhh…”
“Are we home?” she asked in a voice husky with drowsiness.
He didn’t even second guess that she mentioned his place as ‘home’. No, he was appeased, being back here with Ivy. “Yes, almost. Can you stand on your feet for a second so I can unlock the elevator door?”
She nodded, and he placed her on the floor, keeping an arm around her waist as he inserted the key into the lock.
Inside the apartment, he lifted her up again.
“I can walk,” she said.
But he rapidly went into his bedroom and lay her carefully on the bed.
Ivy attempted to sit up.
“No, Ivy, lie down. Rest until the doctor comes, then we’ll take a bath. Are you hungry?”
“I’m not.” She lay back down and cast him a side-look.
Finally, William stripped his soaked, dirty dress shirt, hissing when he tore the gauze off the dried blood on his skin around the wound on his ribs.
He went into the bathroom
to see the cut on his face. It wasn’t that bad, just a small one directly along his jawline.
Suddenly, he heard Charles’s voice. “William, Matthew is here.”
“Send him to my bedroom.”
“Okay, the doctor will be here in five minutes too. I’m waiting in the living room if you need me,” Charles said.
“Thanks.” William headed back to the bedroom just as Matthew entered.
He addressed Matthew as he sat on the edge of his mattress, “Can you draw us a hot bath?”
“Yes, Mr. Kade.” Matthew disappeared into the bathroom.
Now, in this quiet minute, he sensed how low on energy he was. But he didn’t get to rest yet. Turning his head, he found Ivy inspecting him.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Like shit,” she answered with a wry smile.
He was about to get the cream for the swelling around her eye when the doctor arrived with Charles. There had never been this many people in his bedroom.
“I want you to check Ivy first,” William stated, and the doctor proceeded to examine her.
As luck would have it, Ivy’s injuries would heal quickly with herbs and creams. Ivy was obviously uncomfortable being examined, so William made him hurry.
Then the doctor informed William he didn’t need sutures on his jaw and taped it shut, covering it with a compress. He did stitch the wound on his ribs and taped gauze over it, ordering William to clean the gauze and bandage daily. But Charles cut in, telling the doctor that he expected him to come and check on William every day.
The doctor left with Charles, who told William he’d return later on in the day. Also, Matthew was told to make herbal tea for Ivy and leave it on the nightstand.
By this time, it was almost noon. Finally, William and Ivy were alone.
“Come, Ivy, let’s wash.”
Together, they slipped into the bathroom where William unbuttoned the back of her dress, tugging it off. Then followed suit with his own clothes.
Steam rose up from the tub, and he held out his hand to guide her into it.
“Move up,” he said and, to her utter astonishment, positioned himself behind Ivy after she sank down into the tub.
The warm water cleansed their skin. William probably shouldn’t have taken a bath with the sutures, but he needed it to soothe his muscles.
Lazing back against his chest, Ivy let him slide his soapy hands over her shoulders, down her breasts, across her stomach, and between her thighs. Wordlessly washing the night off her body. And she reciprocated by gliding a cake of soap over his thighs.
For an infinite amount of time, they sat together, just caressing, nothing more.
He required her reassurance, wanted to feel she was here, alive. And not dead because of him, because of his irresponsible behavior of fucking her in the alley.
Tenderness that would’ve alarmed William in the past was welcomed now.
Neither spoke as he dried them off and carried her effortlessly to the bed.
“William?” she asked tentatively as he lay her on the sheets. “Please don’t restrain me.”
He started at her request. She must think him an even bigger asshole than he actually was since he wasn’t planning on cuffing her.
“I won’t.”
Then he joined Ivy, flattening his palm on her stomach as he spooned her, reveling in the warmth of her skin against his after feeling coldness for hours and hours while he ran back to the Loop.
Both drifted into a fitful slumber as their spirits coped with the demons of their ordeal.
CHAPTER 26
Ivy
Ivy woke up, well rested. Probably an entire day had passed. She remembered that Charles had checked in on William and her when night had fallen. So they’d undoubtedly slept for about twenty-four hours after living in fear for the better part of the previous day.
“Good morning,” William’s voice drawled, prickling the hairs at her nape.
He was behind her, his hand rubbing her hip.
Ivy rolled to her back as William studied her closely for a long moment.
She reached out and pushed the sheet lower to their hips. Then she touched the gauze on his ribs.
“The doctor already stopped by and cleaned it.”
Ivy frowned since she hadn’t even heard anything.
“You slept like the dead,” he said.
“Apparently.” She kept stroking his abs, down the V and up, loving how he shivered under her touch. “Does it hurt?”
“No, the sutures can come out within a couple of days, and the skin on my jaw will heal even sooner.”
Ivy then ghosted her fingers over his bandage, stubble, and full lips as their eyes met.
William let the pad of his thumb softly rub her cheekbone. “Does your eye hurt? The swelling has subsided.”
“No,” she lied. The orbit did hurt. The eyeball throbbed and must be red, she was certain.
He confirmed her suspicion. “Your eyes are quite red, Ivy. Do you want the doctor to check again today?”
“No, it’ll lessen soon. Did you sleep well?” she abruptly redirected the conversation. Ivy didn’t want to be examined by his doctor, which is why she had been uncomfortable yesterday when he did so.
“I did.” He looked at her sternly. “After you’ve bathed, I’ll apply more cream, and you have to drink the herbal tea; it’ll help you heal. And you need to eat. I have breakfast in the kitchen. You must be hungry?”
Ivy could barely believe that she was still here, with him. With a William who acted differently, attentive, who’d seemingly come to terms with the fact that there was a brooding attraction between them.
She didn’t have a plan or any idea about how to move forward. For now, she decided to enjoy this time with him. Ivy had never been taken care of in her life, and it produced a wholly warm sensation in her body.
Her stomach rumbled right then. “I’m starving and thirsty.”
William climbed out of bed toward the dresser and slid open the top drawer.
My god, he was gloriously naked. Broad chest, athletic shoulders, and thighs and calves that were hard with muscles. She’d always been intrigued by the drawings on his arms. The tattoos that enriched his powerfully appealing physique. Those arms and hands that had moved over every part of her body. If William only knew that he was her true first lover.
Clearly, he felt no shame in her frank appraisal since he propped his hip against the dresser and arched a brow. “Like what you see?”
Ivy didn’t want to feed his ego when he was being flirty William. “Perhaps…”
“Ha! Liar.” He tossed a white dress shirt in her face. “A clean shirt for you.”
She smiled as she tugged it down, basking in this sense of normalcy under these odd circumstances.
William stepped into boxer briefs while she buttoned the shirt and stood. For a second, she felt dizzy, and William was beside her in a flash, steadying her.
“Are you okay?”
“A bit dizzy.” Her vision blurred, as it did often. She despised her bad eyesight. The blow to her head had most likely worsened her condition. “Let’s eat,” she added, not wanting to give him the chance to ask questions.
A crease formed in his forehead, but he didn’t press the matter, just led the way to the kitchen where he ceremoniously lifted her onto the counter. Beside her hip were platters of sliced fruits – fruits she didn’t even recognize – johnnycakes, cereals, toast, bacon.
Since Ivy had been there, she’d eaten more than in her entire life. Sean and she never had money to buy a lot of food, so mostly they ate stale bread and eggs. The food William had in his kitchen was scrumptious. He even came home with elk meat one night, and she absolutely devoured it. Ivy didn’t know half the food items he had in his cupboard. And his cupboards were constantly stocked. He had good taste in food.
“What do you want?”
She eyed it all. “Everything.”
“Then you shall have everything,” he s
aid as he fixed her a plate.
Ivy stared at him. Had he forgotten that, in reality, she was still his captive? Or was his guilt forcing him to act so damn charming now? Either way, Ivy wouldn’t voice those questions aloud. This worked in her favor anyway.
William handed her a full plate and a fork.
She speared the red and green colored fruits she didn’t know and gobbled every last piece of food offered, even picking up some pieces with her fingers. It was a party to her palate.
“You eat a lot for a tiny woman.” William poured milk into a glass.
Maybe he found it suspicious that she ate so much?
Most society ladies, like Ivy Ravensdale, scarcely ate a thing. And they had the finest table manners. Real ladies would never eat with their hands like Ivy Hunter. She had to remember to maintain the facade and remain a model of composure.
“I’m not that tiny,” she said with her mouth full.
Okay, she really should stop chewing and talking simultaneously.
This cozy atmosphere William was creating started to disintegrate her con act; she was distracted by his kind side. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to note her ‘lower class’ demeanor.
“Maybe not,” he conceded. “But compared to me you are.”
“That’s true.”
She worried her lip as William seemed to consider her. This was the most difficult part about conning an intelligent man like William Kade. Frequently, Ivy second guessed herself as to whether or not he was on to her.
However, he simply drank his milk and shook his head.
Then they crawled back into bed, together, both confused about what had started to develop between them, yet neither combatting their emotions any longer.
CHAPTER 27
William
Days turned into weeks of recuperating.
The cut along William’s jaw healed nicely. His sutures had been removed and left a scar on his ribs, but it was hardly noticeable.
In turn, Ivy’s face mended without leaving any marks. Seeing her unblemished eyes decreased William’s pesky remorse.
Sins of a Bad Boy (The Original Bad Boys Book 1) Page 20