“I wasn’t expecting Alfred to return my message within an hour this morning, so I’m annoyed I can’t join you, but I can’t cancel this appointment with the accountant,” Charles apologized once more that William had to confront Alfred alone.
“I’ll handle it. Don’t worry. I’ll return as soon as I’m done.”
Charles tipped his hat. “Good luck.”
William headed to Alfred’s townhouse to end what had started on a random night when Charles and William were low on cash and made a rash decision to kidnap Ivy.
This was what it all came down to, what they had worked toward. Well, what he was supposed to have been working toward, but Ivy had distracted him nicely for a long time.
He breathed in the fresh air and walked on.
***
“Mr. Kade,” William was welcomed into the extravagant brown-brick house by a skinny footman.
“Mr. Ravensdale is already awaiting your arrival in the formal room. Please follow me.”
William trailed him through the decadent hall adorned with Turkish carpets. Massive oak dressers decked with fresh flowers in porcelain vases lined the wall.
William couldn’t imagine Ivy living here.
The wall was filled with pictures. He glanced at them as he passed the frames and frowned when he didn’t see Ivy in any of them. William looked up and down, keeping up with the man, searching for her face. But she wasn’t captured in any of the photos.
“Mr. Kade has arrived.” The servant stood in the doorway and extended his arm.
William entered as Alfred made an attempt to stand up from his sofa. “No need to stand on my account, Ravensdale.”
They waited until the servant closed the door as he left, giving them privacy.
Alfred waved his hand toward a chair opposite the sofa. “What do you want, Kade? I receive a message from Charles first thing in the morning to request a meet, and then he sends you?”
William sank down on the cushion, resting his ankle over his knee. “I think you know why I’m here.”
Alfred leaned back, placing his arm along the back of the sofa. “I haven’t been in the gambling club.”
“I know. But you still have an outstanding debt with us.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did you come to collect now? Because I can tell you that I don’t have it yet.”
“I was afraid you’d say that, but we’ve given you enough time, wouldn’t you say?”
Alfred played it cool, but the tapping of his foot on the carpet betrayed his nervousness. “So what do you want?”
William leaned forward, placing his elbows on his thighs and clasping his fingers together. “Aren’t you missing something?”
A wrinkle appeared in Alfred’s forehead. “Missing? No.”
This was not the answer William expected. “I have your daughter.”
His brows hit his hairline before he frowned. “What do you mean you have my daughter?”
“I have Ivy.”
“Did you kidnap her?” he retorted and stood ramrod straight.
This was certainly not the reaction he was expecting. How can he not know that his daughter has been missing for months? William didn’t move a muscle and calmly repeated, “I have Ivy.”
“That’s impossible. Not even you and Charles have power that extends all the way to London.”
London? What the hell was he talking about?
William concealed his complete surprise and was starting to feel as confused as Alfred.
For a second, he closed his eyes, and the last few months flashed behind his lids.
Ivy was often unreadable.
Ivy was unladylike.
Ivy didn’t have a strong British accent.
Ivy cursed like a man.
Ivy’s attitude shifted so often.
Ivy was so receptive to his debauchery.
No pictures of Ivy in this house.
The truth slammed into him ruthlessly, crumbling him. William felt the stab of her disloyalty and betrayal. Rage rumbled like an unquenchable fire. The woman in his apartment was not Ivy Ravensdale at all. That ever present sensation that something didn’t add up with her had found its validation.
He snapped his eyes open to an Alfred that had started to pace, yet he didn’t come near William. As sweat trickled down William’s neck, he managed to keep his composure unruffled.
Audaciously, William eased back into the chair and moved his arms to the armrests, stretching his long legs, ankles crossed. Since he didn’t actually have Ivy Ravensdale as a captive, he needed to change the plan right then and there.
“Stop pacing, Alfred.”
“I’m going to contact London right now.”
“No,” William stated, “You’re going to sit.” He pointed to the sofa.
Alfred hesitated, with nostrils flaring, and then he obeyed William and sat. “Do you have her? Where? How?”
“I don’t have Ivy. But, I do know where she is now, don’t I? This is your last warning though. I’m giving you two weeks to pay up, or this threat will become reality. Trust me, Charles’s power does extend to England. You’ll never know if Ivy is truly safe as long as you owe me money.” And he ended the conversation.
It took all his strength, but he didn’t barge out of there like he wanted to. No, he strolled out the same way he came in. And the minute his feet hit the pavement outside, William bolted to his apartment, in a hurry to get to Ivy and aggravated that he hadn’t taken the car.
Who the fuck was the woman he’d kidnapped?
***
The return journey had given him time to collect his thoughts. He had a million questions for Ivy, or whatever her name was. As he marched down his own street, he remembered Ivy’s strange reaction to Jeremy Dechamps and how quick she had been to persuade William not to give Jeremy a chance to speak. Jeremy might know more about this woman.
Instead of rushing up to his apartment, he hurried to his private room on the second underground floor.
Unlocking the door, he was confronted with a pale Jeremy, awake and still secured to the chair. His wrists were tied to the arm handles, and he was still gagged with the satin rope, but his knuckles had been bandaged, just as Silk had said he’d done.
William stood before him as he looked up. “I’m going to remove your gag to ask you some questions. Don’t scream; it’s no use. No one can hear you down here.”
Jeremy just glared at him with tired eyes.
“Nod if you understand?”
Jeremy nodded, and William loosened the knot of the gag, releasing it from his mouth.
“The woman, who is she?”
“You fucking cut my fingers off… I have no career anymore!”
“Are you going to answer my question, or should I gag you again?”
Silence bristled between them, so William moved to retie the gag.
“No! I’ll answer,” Jeremy said.
“Who is the woman?”
“Ivy?”
What? William’s bewilderment only amplified.
“Ivy who? How do you know her?”
“She’s Ivy Hunter.”
So, her first name actually is Ivy.
“And…” William prompted, circling his wrist, prompting Jeremy to talk faster.
“I know her because she stole my wallet and the money in it from me once.”
Mystified still, William demanded, “Why did she steal your wallet?”
“Because she’s a con woman. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but you only had ears and eyes for her. Is she swindling you?”
William disregarded his question. And he knew that Jeremy was telling the truth. Undeniably, she was a con woman. He should’ve trusted his gut instinct instead of letting his cock lead the way. She had planted a wallet in his jacket the second time they met. The robberies in the gaming club and the fight club must somehow also have been her doing.
Maybe she isn’t working alone?
“What else do you know about her?” William probed.
“Does she have any partners in crime?”
“I don’t know. I only met her that one time at the party where I caught her. Instead of confronting her there, I followed her to some seedy part of the Loop.”
William needed more answers. He was nonplussed as an array of feelings stirred his insides. And much to his chagrin, those feelings stemmed from his obsession with Ivy. She had conned him.
He dashed out of there to the elevator, to question Ivy Hunter.
CHAPTER 34
Ivy
When Ivy woke up, William was already gone.
If he was with Alfred Ravensdale, her cover could’ve been blown by now. She bathed in a rush, then ate cereal, strawberries, and biscuits from the kitchen. She ate as much as she could since she didn’t know how long it would be until her next meal and she needed all her strength.
Then she checked all the cupboards to locate the dollar bills she’d hidden after she stole them from the gambling club. She’d even hidden some bills under the sofa cushions.
Back in William’s bedroom, she checked herself in the mirror. Luckily, William had bought her many ankle-length dresses. She put on a lilac one with a tight bodice that flared at the hips, concealing the bills inside the bodice, and wore boots that would be comfortable while running.
Darting back to the living room, she once again investigated every inch of the elevator door, attempting to discover a way to open it, to no avail.
With nowhere to go and nothing to do but wait until William returned, Ivy was in a state of utter panic. Biting her nail, she sat down in the windowsill, viewing a world she’d be forced to live in again. Where she’d be Ivy Hunter, nothing more than a simple con woman. Forever living from day to day, wondering how, and for how long, she’d be able to continue to deceive people, because the time she had left to be a con woman diminished with every passing day.
Her musings were disturbed by the elevator mechanism turning.
Ivy leaped to her feet when William stepped inside the apartment.
Undoubtedly, he’d gone to Alfred. William advanced on her like a lethal, barely restrained predator.
“I’ve spoken to your father.” William snared her wrist, crooking her arm at the elbow, and held her wrist in a deadlock between their chests. “Who are you?”
“Ivy.” She had to tilt her head up as he towered over her.
He gave her a knowing smile – a disdainful smile – that made her insides twist into a knot.
“Don’t you fucking dare play any more of your games! I know you’re Ivy; you’re just not Ivy Ravensdale.”
How did he know her first name was Ivy? “Hunter.”
“Tell me, Ivy Hunter, who are you?” He tightened his grip on her wrist, examining her closely.
She understood exactly what he meant, and Ivy decided to be forthcoming. “I’m a con woman.”
William steeled his jaw. “Explain to me how you ended up here, because I sure as hell don’t understand it. And if you lie, I’ll know. Trust me, I haven’t only spoken to Alfred.”
Uh-oh, what did that mean? Had he found Sean? Or interrogated other people she’d scammed?
“Talk!” he roared, and she flinched.
She jutted her chin out and bravely revealed, “I’m Ivy Hunter, a con woman that you mistook for Ivy Ravensdale, and I never corrected you.”
“What were you doing that night we kissed in the gambling club?” William’s seething breath fanned her cheeks.
“That’s the night I stole your money. What I disclosed about the stolen money was partly true. I stole it from Charles’s office, then I hoped to win some extra by playing blackjack.”
“I have a feeling that our meeting each other was never a coincidence. I want you to tell me your con from the start. And tell me who your accomplice is. It’s probably that boy I saw you talking to. Your so-called ‘suitor’,” William fumed, raking his hair back with one hand while he kept her wrist trapped in the other.
William had been piecing the puzzle together.
Alarm pounded in her chest as she finally declared the entire truth, “We met that night at the Rutherford’s party because I’d watched you. I’d been studying the victim of my next scam – you.”
William released her wrist harshly but continued to stand right in front of her. “Go on!”
“I believe you saw me kiss another man in one of the rooms. I stole his wallet that night. But I was mostly attending that party to see you in action. I-I…” she stammered while his icy stare remained unrelenting. “It actually wasn’t the first time we’d met.”
He cocked his head.
“We met ten years ago. I was so young then. I don’t even know if you remember. You beat up a boy in an alleyway when he threatened me.”
William failed to hide his astonishment. “That was you?”
“Yes.”
Lightning fast, he slammed a palm against the window next to her head, as if her revelation had made him even more upset. “Continue your story.”
“We met that day. My accomplice, who’s my brother, Sean, and indeed the man you’ve seen me talking to in the fight club, also met Ben that day.”
She saw immediately that William recognized that name, confirming her suspicion that there was some unfinished business between Ben and William, which must have been the reason why Ben had chosen William as a victim. Ben had told Ivy that he’d always have the upper hand with William but never explained what he meant by that.
“Ben, Sean, and I are orphans who con, scam, and steal to survive. A year ago, after you and Charles were in the newspaper being interviewed as two of the most successful entrepreneurs in the Loop, Ben and Sean wanted to con you. I found out then that Ben already knew you.”
“How did Ben know me?” he demanded.
“Ben had mentioned that he knew you when you were younger.”
“And?” She swore she saw a flicker of apprehension in his eyes, but he quickly schooled his expression into bland inquiry.
“And nothing. He’s never said anything more about you.” His questions were confusing Ivy, making it difficult for her to tell her story. “Anyway, I was ordered to study you and realized it would be too difficult to get close to you. At parties, you were standoffish. Or you had been up until that time you suddenly came to me at the Rutherford’s party, so I wasn’t prepared to talk to you. I’d just decided that scamming you held too high of a risk. And then, the next time we met, when I had schemed my way inside another one of the upper class parties, you suddenly called me Lady Ravensdale. I never contradicted you. You were teasing me consistently that night during our dance, so I just placed the wallet in your pocket because it’s my nature. After I informed Sean and Ben about our interaction and our dance, we decided to call the whole thing off. However, I needed money, William. And we knew you and Charles were loaded. I’d overheard Charles one time telling you about a stash he kept in his office, so I stole it the night you caught me playing blackjack. Then I couldn’t refrain from gambling a little.”
William lowered his arm and stepped back, eyeing her and raising both brows, silently ordering her to continue.
“Your kiss that night scared me. It made me feel things… I don’t know. I needed to run away from there, so I did when Charles called to you. Then you just kidnapped me right on the street, and next thing I knew, I woke up in your private room down below.”
“What were you doing near the Ravensdale’s house that night?”
“Was I near their house? I have no idea where these people even live. There’s no connection between me and the Ravensdales. I was simply walking to my part of town, and I always walk through the nicer streets as long as I can because it’s safer. You or Charles must’ve seen my nametag with ‘Ivy Ravensdale’ at one of the parties. I stole her tag because I liked having my real first name on it.”
“Why not tell me you weren’t his daughter that first night? Somewhere along the line, you decided to con me after all.�
��
She wanted to look away from his penetrating stare, but it seemed impossible.
“At first, I was confused and scared. Then I was too curious for my own good. One moment, you frightened me. The next moment, you were seducing me. I had been truly attracted to you.”
He held up a hand. “Don’t talk about that!”
“It’s true.” She almost stomped her foot. “I willingly stayed here, in your fascinating world. You brought me here, and I had a better life with you, William. There was no con going on except that I never told you I’m not Ivy Ravensdale… I fell in love with you.”
“If there’s no con, why did you talk to your accomplice? Why has he been in the fight club?”
“He’s my brother. He’s been worried about me, and I wanted to tell him that I’m alive and well.”
“Ivy, Ivy…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Last chance to tell the entire truth. Up until now, I’ve been blinded by your distracting beauty but no more!”
Ivy recoiled at his harsh tone. “Okay, okay. He’s the person who’s been mugging people in the clubs.”
“He and Ben?” William filled in.
“Yes.”
“And you.”
She didn’t deny nor confirm. Weary of all the secrets, she kept quiet while tears pooled in her eyes.
Both of them were still for what seemed like an eternity. Then William sank down onto the edge of the coffee table, rubbing his chin while he glared at her.
“You’re a pretty shrewd con artist; I have to give you that. Now take off your clothes,” he ordered, suddenly.
“What?”
“Take. Off. That. Dress.”
In defeat, she did as told. Sliding the straps off her shoulders to pull down the bodice, she lowered her lashes in shame when the dollar bills fell to the floor along with the dress.
“Have you stolen anything else?” he asked calmly, not even surprised about the money on the floor.
“No.”
“What. Is. Your. Con?” The muscle in his forehead ticked.
Uneasily, she stood in front of him in her underwear and boots; she knew he wouldn’t let her have the dignity of covering herself up again.
Sins of a Bad Boy (The Original Bad Boys Book 1) Page 25