Sins of a Bad Boy (The Original Bad Boys Book 1) (29 page)

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.

“There is none,” she admitted. “After we bonded, after Markson kidnapped us, I couldn’t bring myself to steal more money from you. In the months that followed the incident, I fell in love with you, William. That has never been a lie. But as time passed, I also realized that one day you’d find out. I thought I’d need money by then to escape. The money I stole from Charles’s office has been the only money I ever stole from you. I didn’t even know Sean and Ben were picking pockets in the fight club and the gambling club until Charles told you in his office; I was being truthful that night. And I’ve only stolen money from wallets a handful of times.”

William’s voice was laced with bitterness. “I’ve been so fucking blind. I should’ve known an upper class woman wouldn’t react to my depravity like you did. There was a voice in the back of my head screaming to be acknowledged. Your words and actions have contradicted themselves so often. I knew something was wrong. I should’ve listened to my instinct! I told Charles often about my doubts! How inconsistent your reactions were. How easily you accepted your fate! This was why you were so compliant. You were never upper class. You were so different when I first met you, all proper by not using my Christian name. But since you’ve been here, you’ve been using my first name the entire time. And you were always unreadable. Going from hot to cold. It’s because you were playing your own game, isn’t it? It was all part of your act.”

“I was just mixed up because I fell in love with you. There’s no con, William. I didn’t steal from you. I stole from your clientele.”

William’s intent look grew harder with each passing second. “I get now why you were desperate sometimes. Why you clung to me so fast after your kidnapping.” The frustration he felt was evident in his voice.

“I had a better life here. But from the start, I knew it was temporary. And there’s always desperation in something temporary,” Ivy pleaded her case.

“You said you needed money for an escape plan. What
is
your escape plan?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t formed one yet. You uncovered the truth before I had a chance.”

William looked at the floor, obviously letting all the information sink in, probably recalling all the odd encounters. Then his gaze shot up. “How old are you?”

“What?”

“You’re not Ivy Ravensdale, who is nineteen. So how old are you?!”

“Why is that important?” she retorted.

“You know exactly why. I’ve often wondered why you attempted to look older with makeup at the parties.”

“I’m eighteen.”

“If you lie to me....”

“I’m not lying! I’m eighteen. I turn nineteen at the end of the year.”

He flicked his wrist. “It doesn’t matter anyway!” And aimed another glower at her. He searched the depth of her eyes while she watched how he processed it all. “What’s between you and Jeremy Dechamps?”

So that’s the person besides Alfred he’d spoken to. Of course!

“Tell me!” he barked.

Startled, she replied, “Jeremy recognized me as Ivy Hunter, and I knew he was on the verge of telling you when you caught us. I stole his wallet at a party, and he caught me. In exchange for his silence, I had to give him my virginity. He was the only man I slept with before you. I only seduced men by kissing them to divert them, then I slid their wallets from their pockets, never taking it any further. Jeremy made me suck his cock, then he fucked me roughly in an alley.” 

William’s fists clenched in anger. “So he blackmailed you into having sex with him?”

“Yes. You’re my first and only true lover.”