“Okay.” She quietly tiptoed to the bathroom, not wanting to argue with him, because she wanted to scrub Jeremy’s disgusting touch off. And her mind was working overtime to stay one step ahead of William.
As she bathed in the tub, she realized one thing about lies. Lies always have a way of coming out. No matter how shrewd or cunning you are, lies always resurface. They’re an undeniable force a human being cannot compete with. Typically, in the midst of your worst problems, the biggest ones come back to haunt you. A person drowns under the weight of lies, as Ivy was doing now.
Twenty minutes later, after she’d waited on the couch for William to bathe, he resumed his place at the window in only his black boxer briefs.
William leveled her with his stare. “It’s time we talk about the elephant in the room.”
Amazement clouded her features. She hadn’t expected William to bring up the stolen money, the reason he’d kidnapped her in the first place.
“Where’s my money?” he asked, folding his arms.
She worried her lip persistently.
“Ivy,” he prompted.
“Gone.”
“So I was right that you stole it. Did you steal it alone?”
“Yes, I stole it alone.” Ivy held his eyes bravely. She summoned the con woman in her and tried to push away Ivy Hunter, who’d fallen in love with William Kade.
“Did you steal it the night I kidnapped you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I had bills to pay.” That was a half-truth. Part of the money had been used to pay Ivy’s bills. Ivy stole the money, gave most of it to Sean, and then stayed to gamble. She knew Sean must’ve used that money for food and outstanding medical bills by now.
“Doesn’t your family pay your bills? Is your family’s money dwindling? Is that why Alfred’s been gambling so much?”
“No, these bills aren’t paid by the family. And yes, that’s why he’s been gambling so much.” It was easiest to confirm what he believed to be true.
“What kind of bills were they that you spent all the money in one night?”
She waved a hand as if to dismiss that observation. “Many bills, since it’s gone.”
He didn’t press that line of questioning and countered, “I want it back.” Clearly, he didn’t believe her story.
“Why? Do you need it?”
“Because it’s my hard-earned money! Do you need it? You come from a family that’s British royalty.”
“A family that’s losing its fortune. You just said that yourself.”
They shot daggers at each other.
“I still want the money back,” William finally repeated.
This is where it became tricky. “I-I don’t know how to get it back.”
“You do realize that Charles and I won’t let it go?”
“Even if it hurts me in the end?” she blurted.
William looked away, rubbing his temples. “Ivy, stop it! I kidnapped you because I want my money! I’m bad news! Do you not get that?”
Ivy closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his middle. “If you’re so bad, why are you with me? If you’re so bad, then why did you retaliate against Jeremy – for me? William, in essence, I haven’t been your captive for a while. You and I both know that. We just haven’t voiced it. Our relationship changed a long time ago.”
“But, Ivy, none of that matters.” His palms rested low around her neck. “Charles and I have a plan to execute.”
“What plan? To use me to get your money? My father hasn’t contacted you. Doesn’t that tell you how valuable I am to him? Not at all.” She kept stacking lie upon lie to convince William to allow them more time together.
William’s eyes thinned for a fraction of a second. “You’re his daughter, and he’s a British earl. Even if he doesn’t ‘value’ you enough, he doesn’t want to have a reputation that he abandoned his daughter. Charles has numerous contacts at the newspapers, not tabloids, at the legitimate newspapers, who can, and will, destroy his reputation.”
“Is this your plan or Charles’s?” she provoked him, successfully.
William pried her arms from around his waist and held her at arm’s length. “It’s our plan.”
“Are you sure? Because it seems to me that you let Charles dictate your life.”
He released her harshly. “I don’t let Charles decide everything. He’s been my mentor for ten years. He and I have a bond you upper class people can’t even imagine.”
Here it comes again: his repugnance for the upper class. If he only knew that she was the poorest and lowliest thing society frowned upon; a con woman. “I can understand it. And if he cares for you, he’d want to see you happy. Will you be happy with more money? You don’t even need the money I stole anymore. You have a gaming club and a sex club. Is it your choice or Charles’s to keep expanding this empire of yours? How much money do two people need, William?”
“I’m not defending this to you. We need enough money so that we’ll never have to worry about monetary problems again.”
“And then? You’ll have all this money but no one to share it with.”
“I’ll have Charles.”
Ivy pounded his chest once, and he caught her wrist in mid-air when she tried it a second time.
She wrenched free and spat, “Don’t be ignorant. You knew exactly what I meant. You’ll have no woman, no family to share it with.” She paused as her aggravation with him rose. “Why can’t you just admit that you have feelings for me and tell Charles that you want me to stay?”
“Because we’ve lived in a world of our own creation for months, Ivy. In actuality, I kidnapped you. I don’t aspire to the life you’ll provide me. I will not live in your world of deceptive excessive refinement. Do you want to be lurking in the shadows with me forever in Sins?” William ran both hands through his hair.
“Yes, I do. You won’t have to live in society. We’ll continue as we’ve done for these last few months. Be with me. Choose me, William,” she pleaded, perhaps even reaching him on a fundamental level: in his heart.
He messed up his hair and asked softly, “Why do you want to stay?”
“Because I love you,” she declared without thinking.
His silver-grey eyes pierced her. “Why does your foolish romanticism remain despite knowing what kind of man I am?”
Gone was the sliver of humanity he’d let shine through with her admission.
“Why do you fight so hard against loving another person? Why is it so difficult to believe that someone might truly love you?”
He snorted and dismissed her comment. “Don’t pretend to know me. It has nothing to do with that, but everything to do with the fucking fact that I don’t trust you. While your declaration is quite sweet, my dear Ivy, your story isn’t adding up.” He crowded her. “And you know it. You’re trying to distract me. I’m not stupid…”
Oh my god, Ivy had almost started to believe her own lies that she could build a life with him. And she knew very well how clever he was. However, he was partly correct. She was trying to distract him, yet the confession of love was true. Her heart had felt it for weeks.
She angled her chin up and ground out, “That’s just your trust issues talking. You trust no one but Charles.”
“There’s the true Ivy, the arrogant, blue-blooded Ravensdale.”
If he only knew how wrong he was.
He reached out to her, but they were interrupted when Charles barged through the elevator door.
Their heads turned in unison.
Charles’s expression was one that Ivy had not encountered before. He was livid.
Charles pointed his finger at Ivy. “You, go to the bedroom and close the door.”
Ivy looked at William, who nodded.
So she went and halted inside the doorway.
“I said close the door,” Charles reiterated impatiently.
Immediately, she hurled it closed and pressed her ear against it to eavesdrop on
their conversation, without luck, since she couldn’t decipher any words. She did overhear heated mumbling though.
“Fuck!” Ivy leaned back against the door, finally getting that she was out of time.
Her world was crumbling beneath the secrets and lies. And secrets, they extinguish you. You get buried underneath them, and in the end, all that’s left is your own stupidity.
CHAPTER 31
William
William watched Ivy traipse toward the hall. He didn’t believe her story; something was off. Her answers didn’t all make sense or add up to her actions. The love part, he believed. The money part, he doubted. To this day, he couldn’t pinpoint what wasn’t quite right with her. She was so damned unreadable most of the time.
“I said close the door,” Charles repeated, glowering at William.
When they heard her obey, he walked right up to William. Charles and William were of similar height, so they were face-to-face.
“Why do we have a tortured Jeremy Dechamps in your private room?”
“Is he still alive?” he retorted insolently.
“William, don’t push me!” Charles whisper-shouted.
“Because he fucking raped Ivy!”
“What?! When?”
“He tried to, I mean. He had her bound to a cross, and he fingered her until she bled, Charles.”
“You found them together in Sins?”
“Yes.”
Neither backed down as they went head-to-head.
“But do you grasp what you’ve done?” Charles demanded.
“I gave him what he fucking deserved. I’m just sorry I didn’t kill him.” William’s lips thinned.
Charles merely considered him for several long seconds, mouth agape, brows pulled together. Then he cradled William’s cheeks, imploring, “Do you see what Ivy does to you? How she affects you? You cut off a man’s fingers – for her! On top of that, you let her witness it all! How can you be so reckless?! I have spent ten years training you. I have spent a fortune to ensure that you’ll have a good life, even after I’m gone. But not to have you throw it away for some random girl! You’re my son. I will not allow her to destroy you. To destroy what we’ve been building for years!” He lowered his arms.
Charles’s eyes pooled with moisture. Not once in the years that William had known Charles had he seen him this emotional. It dumbfounded William; it pained him.
William swallowed. “I can take care of the Jeremy situation. Don’t worry. He doesn’t have the balls to come after me. I’ll have Silk release him.” And he added, “She won’t destroy me.”
“She’s already in the process of doing so,” Charles replied. “And did you forget about our deal with Jeremy’s father? Do you think he’ll supply us with liquor once he discovers what you’ve done to his son?”
“He probably won’t, but he also won’t go to the cops. We are aware of the skeletons in his closet too. Dechamps knows that if I go down, I’ll drag him with me. Furthermore, we don’t even allow alcohol in Sins these days, so we have a vast supply for the gambling club.”
A loaded sigh escaped Charles’s lips. “Luck is certainly on your side.”
“You taught me to analyze every aspect before acting on impulse. Yes, I acted in anger. But I didn’t just carelessly jeopardize our clubs, or our lives, Charles. I’d never do that.”
Charles backed down and sat on the edge of the coffee table. “I think you truly believe that. But, William, you’re not seeing what I am.” He pointed toward the bedroom. “She has gotten to you like no other woman ever has. I’ve known you since you had your first woman. Back then, you were a scoundrel. A rogue who never cared about who he slept with. You just used and then forgot women. But since the day that she entered your life, you haven’t been with anyone else. I can understand the intrigue; she’s beautiful in an exotic way. And she’s gotten under your skin because she is the first girl to not drop to her knees for you.”
“That’s true. But it’s more than that. She… She’s just different. I can’t explain it.”
Charles observed the sky outside the window for a moment, lost in thought, then glanced back at William. “She can’t be trusted; I’m positive of that.”
“I realize that, Charles. You don’t need to convince me,” he admitted.
“This is becoming too dangerous. We need to end it.”
He preferred not to, but he finally accepted that it was the best option. “I agree.”
Charles stood. “Tomorrow we set up a meet with Alfred Ravensdale.” And he headed to the door. Before he stepped inside the elevator, he said, “I am sorry that she had to be the one to captivate you.”
“So am I,” William muttered, resting his ass against the windowsill.
Enduring this inner conflict tore William up, but he resigned himself to consent to the decision. She did have a destructive power over him, and this needed to end. Yet he couldn’t bear not being with her for one more night, so he walked to the bedroom. A place that was hazardous to go to. But he couldn’t seem to steer his ship away from the rocks of her shore.
CHAPTER 32
Ivy
Ivy sat with her head bent down when the door creaked open, and she looked up with blurred vision.
William edged closer and kneeled before her, thumbing away the tears flowing down her cheeks. There was such an undercurrent of sorrow on his face.
“I’m going to end this tomorrow, Ivy. I’m going to your father.”
Her world stopped with those words.
Ivy ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, breathing in his scent and resisting the urge to sigh. She couldn’t withstand more of his interrogation and tried to avoid him picking up the conversation where they’d left off before Charles barged in.
“I want you to erase Jeremy’s touch.”
No other words were needed, and he accommodated her plea.
William’s mouth found the curve of her throat, and his tongue teased out to drag along the line of her pulse. His fingers worked to unbutton the dress shirt she wore, sliding it off her shoulders.
As he stood, she hooked her fingers inside his boxers and tugged them down, skimming her hands over his rigidly sculpted chest and stomach.
Not for a moment during their ministrations did their eyes leave each other.
Then she lay back on the center of his bed and he settled over her, nestled between her legs. He braced one hand on each side of her head and dropped his mouth to just below her ear, running his tongue along the delicate skin there.
Ivy wrapped her arms around his neck while rubbing her soaking sex against his hard length and stroking his shoulders. Her heart slammed in her chest as emotions tightened her throat.
William moved a palm down her side, over her stomach, and down her center, circling her clit with his finger and thumb in the most intense way. She didn’t feel any pain down there from what had happened earlier that night.
He eased himself off Ivy and rolled her to her stomach to kiss his way down her spine and to her ass, where he bit her, like he always did, branding her, and she loved it. Then he licked her once.
Again, he steadied himself on top, but she turned her head to say, “William, I want to see you.”
He shifted them back into their original position, dragging her against him and spreading her legs. She was wide open as he teased the head of his cock at her entrance and sank inside, inch by inch. One of his hands came around her middle, behind the small of her back, and the other hand weaved into her hair.
Ivy arched her back as he slid in and out and trailed her fingers down his face, hooking her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips as their lips touched. His tongue slipped into the depths of her mouth.
They fucked in the same rhythm as they kissed.
Although their movements were slow and deliberate, there was a fraught hint to the way they touched each other. It wasn’t fucking; they were making love. It was a goodbye, and they both felt it without speaking the words.
She could feel the thudding of his heart, sense its increase in tempo as she met his thrusts with soft moans. Her whimpers urged him on.
Both his hands cupped her ass, and he slammed harder, deeper. She felt his touch in every nerve ending of her shaking body as she screamed his name while riding the tide of pleasure. Her whole body tensed, quivering.
He trembled as he came with a growl of ultimate bliss, gripping the flesh of her ass while he slanted his mouth over hers.
Their kiss was the exact opposite of their lovemaking. It was frantic. The saddest farewell.
Ivy kept stroking his hair as he rested his head on her chest.
For ages, they lay in that position, holding each other.
Ivy found comfort in his arms. She knew it was the last time he’d touch her like that. Once he uncovered the truth, he’d probably kill her.
Her escape plan assembled in her mind throughout the night while sleep was all but nonexistent.
CHAPTER 33
William
“What did Silk do with Jeremy last night?” Charles wanted to know as they strolled just down the street from the high-rise where carriages and vehicles bustled toward the park.
“He bandaged Jeremy’s hand, gave him painkillers and a sedative, and locked him up. Silk believes I should rethink my decision to let him go. According to him, releasing Jeremy can only lead to more trouble. He says a guy as vindictive as Jeremy will strike back somehow.”
William had left his bed that morning before Ivy awoke and checked in with Silk. William didn’t want to talk to her; he needed to extricate himself from her clutches in order to execute his plan with Ravensdale.
“He makes a good point. Let’s not forget that Jeremy is a privileged young man. He’s not wily enough to look at the big picture to see how vengeance could get him killed.”
“Perhaps.”—William rolled his sleeve up to his elbow, exposing his tattoos—“I’ll talk to Jeremy later, before I make any decisions.”
They stopped because they were splitting up to go in different directions.
Sins of a Bad Boy (The Original Bad Boys Book 1) Page 24