“Mr. Kade.”
William gripped his glass. “Miss Hunter.”
The ladies waited for an introduction while William and Ivy stared at each other.
Ivy took one sip of her drink. “Care to introduce me to your date, Mr. Kade?”
William’s lips thinned every time she didn’t use his first name. He watched her with suspicion. Ivy knew how William loathed this situation because he wasn’t in control; he had no idea what Ivy’s intention was.
Ivy needed to know if the girl was indeed his date.
“Miss Aubrey Neal, meet Miss Ivy Hunter.”
William didn’t contradict her, so Aubrey was his date.
Ivy hoped she didn’t turn green with envy.
Aubrey regarded Ivy with derision, and although Ivy did feel inferior to this upper class, golden haired beauty, she refused to cower.
“Miss Neal,” Ivy greeted.
Aubrey stepped closer to William, and William inched away slightly, toward Ivy, to Aubrey’s aggravation.
Then Aubrey touched William’s arm, looking only at him. “How do you two know each other?”
Ivy glanced at Aubrey’s hand resting on William’s feather tattoo, and she peeked at William, who was unreadable at the moment. He didn’t shake off the other woman’s touch.
“William and I go way back,” Ivy answered, gazing at William.
He returned her stare. “Yes—”
“We used to be friends. Well, more than friends,” Ivy interjected, wanting to make the situation wholly uncomfortable for William.
Silk smirked behind his fist as he fake-coughed lamely.
“Uhm…” Aubrey tried to catch William’s attention, but he was fixated on Ivy.
Ivy finished her drink smugly, sneering at Aubrey. Then she studied William, who didn’t move a muscle. “Do you enjoy reading, Mr. Kade?”
William knew exactly where she was going with the sudden change in subject.
“Okay…we’re going to dance.” Silk tugged his date with him.
“Why do you ask, Ivy?” William retorted.
“I saw you coming from the library,” she replied, thinking about how he’d fucked her against the bookcase.
“I do love to read,” William said with a charismatic grin. “I enjoyed my time in the library tonight. It’s exquisite.”
Ivy wanted William to only think of her. Her mission was to destroy his night with Aubrey. Ivy would rather make a fool of herself than allow Aubrey to return home with William.
“I was looking for you earlier, William,” Aubrey inserted herself into the conversation.
William ignored her. “Do you love to read, Ivy?”
“I do. Especially a thick book. I love hardcovers,” she returned in a husky voice.
Understanding finally dawned on Aubrey that William and Ivy weren’t talking about reading at all, but she didn’t give up on William so easily. “William, I want to dance.”
“Then go dance,” he said while still inspecting Ivy.
Ivy smiled sweetly and wanted to make William jealous, so she set her empty glass on the table as another young man joined them, a gentleman who spied Ivy with interest. Even though, Ivy wasn’t the least bit interested in him, she did flirt with him. Perhaps she could swindle some money from him.
“Good evening,” Ivy greeted him kindly and disregarded William.
“Good evening, Miss…”
“Call me Ivy.”
He dipped his chin. “A beautiful name for a beautiful woman. Ivy, I’m Ryan.”
William bristled with anger.
“Would you like to dance?” Ryan asked.
William interrupted, “Ryan, Aubrey just mentioned she wanted to dance.” William practically shoved her to him.
Ryan was confounded by the disruption, and Aubrey vibrated with discontent. Clearly, she sought to stay with William.
“You promised me the next dance,” Aubrey stated to William.
“You dance with your date, William. Have a pleasant evening,” Ivy said, and she placed her arm in the crook of Ryan’s, abandoning the table quickly.
The entire meeting left Ivy bewildered. She didn’t understand why she’d acted rashly and chosen to try to make William jealous. Although, deep down, she discerned exactly why. Because her heart belonged to William, and she wanted to know how he’d react. She still craved to know if he’d ever loved her.
Before reaching the dance floor, Ivy was pulled back by her arm and spun around to face William’s thunderous expression.
“Ryan, dance with Aubrey,” he ordered while glowering at Ivy.
Ryan viewed all three people but did as told, probably scared of William’s imposing presence.
Aubrey went off with Ryan with a skulk, and William heaved Ivy toward the balcony.
“You’re making a scene,” she chided.
“I don’t give a fuck. You started this.” He pointed outside, directing her to move.
They treaded from the ballroom, and Ivy turned to face him in the center of the balcony. “What?!”
“What?! Let me explain. First”—he strode to her in one long step—“you run out after we have sex. Second, you taunt me when you see me with Aubrey. And third, you provoke me by leaving me again with another man.”
She felt the blood drain from her face but was still mad about his date. “You’re here with a date. You fucked me while you are here with a date!”
He rolled his shoulders as though they’d suddenly grown tense. “She’s not a real date, Ivy.”
“Is she what you meant when you said that you’ve moved on? Did you move on with her?” She jerked her chin toward his date dancing with Ryan.
William didn’t bother to look at Aubrey. “No! She’s nobody.”
Ivy gave him a sad smile. “She’s with you, so she’s someone.”
“Do you want to beat around the bush and talk about unimportant people, or do you want to discuss us?”
“Is there an ‘us’?”
William lifted Ivy on her tiptoes as he gripped her shoulders. “There will always be an ‘us’. Our lives became inextricably intertwined the day I took you. Do you not understand?!”
A long hesitation, while her throat tightened a little. “I-I…”
“You left me in the library. Not the other way around. I know you understand that you don’t really need to fear me. Speak, Ivy. Say what you want to say.”
How desperately Ivy wanted to confess, but she was terrified of his reaction. She didn’t trust William. He lusted for her, but did he love her enough to forgive her everything once he learned the entire truth? “I don’t know if I can.”
His harsh sigh echoed in the night as he dropped his arms. Ivy had never seen William look so forlorn.
“I’ve been searching for you for six months. I’ve been in agony wondering whether or not you were okay. Do you think you were the only one who fell in love? You aren’t. I did as well. I love you. I fucking missed you so much that I couldn’t even sleep in my own bed!” He brought up his hands and cradled her face, his thumbs stroking her cheeks and slipping down to caress the corners of her mouth. “I made a mistake the way I handled the situation the day you left; I get that. But if you walk away from me now, you will make an even bigger mistake.” His forehead dropped to hers.
“You don’t get what I’ve been through,” she whispered brokenly. “No one feels the depth of your pain, only your own heart. No one feels the depth of my pain but me.”
“I feel it. Because it’s the exact same pain I experience when being apart from you.” He sounded genuine.
His breath fanned her cheeks and Ivy blinked, two tears tracking down and dripping over his thumbs. Ivy rested her palms on his chest, gliding up to his neck as she memorized his dimple and every line in his handsome face. Mustering all her courage, she told him part of the truth. “I’m going to be blind soon, William.”
His eyes turned enormous at her admission. “What?!”
“Please, let me say what
I have to say because if I don’t do it now, I won’t be able to get it all out. I won’t see a thing. I’ll be living in darkness forever. I can never give you what you want. I can never give any man what he wants. No one wants a wife they’ll have to take care of daily. I won’t be able to do anything by myself.”
William carefully considered his answer.
However, before he could comment, Ivy spoke as she forced his hands from her face, holding them tightly in hers. “You’re correct; I don’t really fear you. I was afraid of what you would think of me once you learned about my condition. But you also broke me the day I had to leave you. You and I have a past that’s messed up, William. I know that I’m a young girl, but you’re a boy in so many ways too. I don’t want a life with you where you’ll be with other women once you’ve had enough of my blindness. I can’t take the risk of having my heart broken by you again. I won’t survive that. It’s time we stop playing games and accept that there isn’t a future for us. I told you yesterday that I’m tired of these games. Too much has happened for us to be together, and I don’t know if you’ll love me when I’m blind and dependent on you. It’s too difficult for me to be around you. Let me go.” Ivy pressed a kiss to his mouth and released one of William’s hands.
Since he was still stunned by the impact of her revelation, she took the opportunity and fled. William held on to her hand as she passed him, yet he didn’t turn around. She continued until their entwined fingers drew apart, and she increased the distance between them.
CHAPTER 46
William
Let me go.
Never!
William didn’t watch her leave the balcony or else he would’ve chased her. And he decided to follow Silk’s advice – give her time. He reckoned that she would cave soon. Ivy couldn’t stand seeing William with another woman, that much was apparent. After all, her jealousy had brought her back to him tonight after they’d fucked.
William crossed to the balustrade and propped his forearms on it. He’d already figured out that she had bad eyesight with the way she always squinted her eyes and didn’t see him until he stood close to her. But he didn’t realize it was leading up to a total loss of sight. William knew for certain that she was being truthful. In the months she was with him, her eyes were red often. And she always said she hated the dark but escaped through the passageways like a warrior. She evidently meant she hated the dark she was going to live in indefinitely in the future because of her impending blindness. William remembered how she begged Markson not to hit her head; that probably worsened her affliction. And he gathered that her condition must heighten the pallor in her normally sparkling blue irises.
It troubled William that Ivy thought he couldn’t handle her blindness. Her admission didn’t scare him away. Quite the opposite; William desired to take care of Ivy even more. His admiration for her doubled. She belonged with him. He owned her. And he would never let her go.
***
William was a fighter. He could take a punch like the best of them. Fighting bruised his body in black and blue, yet it didn’t hurt as much as love. Love marred him. It damaged his heart and soul. Her love smashed his heart with an irrevocable pain like no punch or kick had ever triggered. Not having her love wrecked him to his very soul.
Which was the reason why William couldn’t stay away from Ivy for longer than a day. Not even twelve hours after he’d fucked her in the library, he was pursuing her on the street, the midday sun brightening his path as he kept a reasonable distance behind the other pedestrians.
The wind whirled beneath Ivy’s floral dress that floated behind her on the ground, and William wondered where she was heading off to. Ivy had a definite destination, and William disliked the idea of her still conning. One day, someone might catch and hurt her, just like what had happened with Jeremy Dechamps.
Unexpectedly, Ivy stopped near a brown-brick townhouse and searched the area.
William rushed back and hid around the corner of another building, spying on Ivy, who jumped over the fence and prowled to the side of the house, standing underneath a window and peeking inside.
She was planning a new con.
When Ivy disappeared into the garden, William couldn’t see her anymore, so he sped across the street to where the guard Silk had hired sat in his black car.
“Mr. Kade.” The guard was one of the best from the gambling club and had already seen William following Ivy.
“I want you to find out who lives in the house Ivy’s spying on,” William ordered.
“Yes, sir. I’ll do that as soon Ivy is back home.”
“I’ll send another guard to take over your shift later.” William paced away to meet his private eye.
***
“Did you find Ben?” William demanded without greeting the private investigator, who was waiting for him inside his office.
“No, sir. He’s not living with Ivy and Sean anymore since two nights ago. And he hasn’t been staying in any hotel or inn; I checked all the names he uses. All that’s left is for me to question other con men. Maybe they’ve seen him.”
William tossed the stack of envelopes that he’d retrieved from his mailbox onto his desk and sunk into his padded desk chair. “Then start questioning people.”
The man nodded and exited the office.
William guessed that Sean had heard Silk yell that Ben betrayed him and Ivy, and either Sean kicked him out, or Ben fled the apartment. However, William didn’t trust Ben one bit. The fact that he didn’t return to William to collect his compensation for telling William that Ivy was at the country dance two nights ago confirmed that Ben had a hidden agenda. Or his plan had blown up when Silk told on him. Either way, William needed to have a chat with Ben.
Silk barged inside the office. “Hey, you’re back.”
“I left Ivy while she was spying on some family.”
Silk raised a brow. “A new con?”
“I think so. I instructed her guard to get me all the details on that family.” William poured a glass of water from the decanter. He’d decided last night to drink less alcohol. He didn’t want his mind impaired in any way now that Ivy was back in the Loop. There wasn’t going to be an opportunity for her to leave him again.
“Well, while you’ve been busy with Ivy, I have good news about our club. We’re right on schedule to open next week.”
“That’s wonderful. But I guess that also means attending more balls this weekend.”
“Yes, and you’re not going to make me do that alone. You’re coming with me. Oh, I also placed four ads in the newspaper.”
“Good. I was going to ask you to anyway.”
“So I’m going to bolt the doors leading to the underground areas. Want to do that together? We’ll walk through Sins one last time, for old time’s sake. Even though it was a venture of only a few months, we did go through a lot of shit down there.”
“Maybe you did, but I have some good memories of Ivy and me in Sins,” William commented.
“Yeah, well, I only have memories of drunk people and a dead woman,” Silk remarked, then added with a playful grin, “And many hot orgies.”
William laughed at Silk’s eloquent words. “It was an odd time. People can be so different when all sexual restrictions are lifted.” William stood up. “Come on. I’ll help you bolt the door to the passageway.”
CHAPTER 47
Ivy
A week passed without Ivy hearing from or seeing William. She never imagined he’d truly let her go, yet he did. While she should’ve been elated, she felt more miserable. She’d been right in assessing him, in concluding that he wouldn’t know how to handle her deteriorating eyesight.
What Ivy hoped would be weeks before she turned blind went much faster in reality. Every day, she woke up with a narrowing vision field. It was as if she was looking through a tube in which the circle of vision narrowed often. She grasped that blindness would descend on her soon.
Today, she took her time while she traveled through the pa
rk to a brown-brick house that she visited regularly. She raised her face to the warm spring breeze, taking in the vibrant shades of the day.
Ivy touched the leaves and blossoming flowers of the hedges she passed and witnessed the happy couples strolling around. She watched children play ball in the grass and the most magnificently groomed horses trotting down the street parallel to the park. Every day, she wondered if it would be the last day she’d be able to see the world around her. Anxiousness filled her stomach because she was afraid of the unknown. Her entire life would change once her left eye gave up on her too. Even now, it was already challenging to make her way around the neighborhood with deficient vision.
Furthermore, she was at the end of her tether for funds. Money was scarce, and the little bit that Sean and she stole from wallets only bought them food. They hadn’t even paid the rent for their cheap apartment.
A ball stopped right before her feet, and she kicked it back onto the grass to a young girl in ponytails. The girls waved or made some hand gesture that Ivy couldn’t clearly see, so she just waved back as tears pricked behind her lids.
An acute sense of distress crawled up Ivy’s spine, so she craned her neck and analyzed her surroundings as best as she could, observing nothing out of the ordinary.
Slowly, she carried on, deserting the park to go to a townhouse she visited often. Until she couldn’t see anything anymore, she vowed to continue to sneak to that house.
Ivy casually opened the fence, ensuring no one discovered her, and lurked along the perfectly trimmed front garden path toward the side of the house.
“Fuck!” she cursed as she noted closed curtains behind the window that made it so that she couldn’t spy inside. They were probably out and about.
Instead of hiding in the garden, she returned to the park and spent the afternoon there, hoping to spot the family when they arrived home.
In the meantime, Ivy sat on a wooden bench next to an older gentleman in a suit. He dipped his chin as she joined him. Her hand inched to his jacket pocket and picked his wallet, which she hurriedly hid beneath her skirt.
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