Sins of a Bad Boy (The Original Bad Boys Book 1) (31 page)

Her boots slipped off the ladder, and she gripped it to keep from falling. She let out a startled scream as she hung, swinging her feet until she found the rung again.

Then she continued up hurriedly, without thinking. It seemed like a never-ending pipe, and she felt claustrophobic. She tasted dust and dirt flying into her mouth while she breathed harshly from the fatigue of hiking so many feet up. Ivy’s heartbeat thudded in her eardrums.

When she was halfway to the top, she detected a tiny ray of light. It was so faint to her, but she was sure that if she had good vision, she’d see that it was the scuttle with a finger hole to open it from the outside of the end of the pipe. Ivy sped up the ladder, and when she came closer to the light, it was indeed a finger hole with sunlight shining through.

“Oh, thank god,” she whispered with a sigh.

“Ivy! Fuck! Where are you?” William had discovered the pipe as well.

Gripping the metal railing of the ladder with one hand, she pressed her palm above her head against the scuttle. It was too heavy for her tired arm.

“Ivy! Don’t go out there. You could get trampled,” William warned.

She ignored him and pushed up with all her weight, taking another step up when it moved open and more sunshine illuminated the pipe.

She glanced down and saw William gaining on her, climbing fast now that he had light.

Ivy threw the scuttle open, and it clanked on the ground.

She got out, and a slight chill bit into her bones.

Noises invaded her, but she focused on lifting the lid and pulling it shut again. It worked.

Ivy lifted her face to the sky, feeling the crisp morning air, inhaling its freshness into her lungs.

“Move! Watch out!” A vehicle raced right past her, causing her to stumble to the side on the pavement.

Hoofs clicked, cars drove by, and pedestrians were bustling around.

Ivy turned and looked up to the massive clock at the entrance of the Loop’s train station.

No one paid any attention to anyone while people bumped into one another, and there were numerous people waiting in line at the register. The flurry of movement made her mind spin, and it took a while for her eyesight to adjust.

All of a sudden, her name was being yelled again. “Ivy!”

William came out of the pipe as she peered back over her shoulder, and then she broke out into a run, dissolving inside the crowds of the station.

Bounding straight ahead, she kept checking left and right – and behind her. William was furiously pushing people out of his way in a frantic attempt to get to Ivy. In turn, she bumped into men and women until she reached the platform where a train was about to leave.

“All aboard!” the conductor in a blue uniform announced.

Steam rose up from the train, and she jumped inside a compartment right before the doors closed.

Inane laughter and the chattering of children and families traveling to new destinations flowed around her. Cheerfulness so contradictory to her own torment at the moment.

Quickly, she followed the path along the windows to see where William was. And just then, he sprinted past her window along the length of the train, anxiously screaming her name repeatedly.

Ivy dropped into the first vacant cushioned seat and observed William, who was still walking onward, inspecting the windows of all the compartments.

Her heart splintered into a million pieces.

Did she just imagine she witnessed pain and sorrow in his expression?

The wheels began to turn, and the train started to move. William stopped, checking the passing windows. His gaze traveled faster than the train, so his head turned slightly, their eyes locked, and he seared her with an incredulous stare.

The world seemed to slow and then stop when he looked at her. Everything faded, all the frivolous chuckles and prattling drifting into nothingness.

The tears she’d tried so hard to stall slipped helplessly down her cheeks, scalding her flesh like hot acid.

Both of them unable to break away from the intensity of their gaze, they beheld each other with a mixture of disbelief and dejection.

William, the man with the composed and confident manner, stood motionless, yet his emotions were written all over his face as sadness washed over him.

Perhaps she’d been wrong and he wouldn’t have hurt her?

Her compartment window passed him. Involuntarily, her fingers touched the glass.

Would he have killed her? She’d never know.

Would he have loved her at some point? She’d never know.

They were both guilty of trying to sustain a relationship based on secrets and lies. They had been doomed from the start.

Ivy turned her head to watch him. He studied the ground now, and she surveyed him standing at the platform until she could no longer see him.

She reared back against the seat, breathing soft sighs of freedom, but she wasn’t happy. Ivy had left a piece of herself behind, with him.

William took her body that first night of her kidnapping, yet she’d given him her heart willingly at one point. And he’d never returned it. She feared it would always be in William’s clutch.

CHAPTER 37

William

At the platform, William frenziedly searched countless windows, certain she’d boarded that train. She was even more conniving than he ever thought possible, but she was also quite courageous. William knew how she hated the dark, yet she’d set off through the darkened corridors like a woman on a mission.

His eyes scanned the passing train, and before he even saw her, he felt a prickling sense of awareness. Then her disheveled reddish-brown curls came into view, and silver-grey collided with sparkling blue. As if his entire being became paralyzed, he stood with his arms hanging down at his sides to get a last glimpse of the one woman who’d bested him.

Only later would he acknowledge that she was much more than that.

In a moment that spanned merely a second but felt like hours, he experienced a melancholic emotion unfamiliar to him. In his life, he’d never been attached to anyone except Charles. But she’d definitely fought her way into his cold soul. William watched her keenly, seeing a similar gloom. As long as he could, he kept his eyes on her until she drifted away.

Instead of immediately returning to the club, he stood there, staring at the ground, feeling the need to punch something or someone. William swallowed back the brick lodged in his throat and blinked profusely.

When he regained his composure, he pivoted with infinite slowness, further away from Ivy.

However, before he stepped off the platform, he craned his neck to read the board information, to check the destination of that train.

***

As William trudged back home, he heard fire alarms and commotion when he was just a few blocks away. He took off in a sprint and rounded the corner to his street.

An army of people swarmed around the building, blocking his view of the high-rise. He saw firemen running around and smoke billowing up.

William pushed past people unapologetically and screamed, “That’s my apartment building!”

When he arrived to the front of the line, he watched people escape the burning front entrance of the gambling club as flames blew from several windows on the first floor.

“Move back, folks!” a few firemen yelled and guided the swarm backward.

“That’s my building,” William said to one of the firemen. “Is everyone out?”

“Not yet, sir,” he answered. “We’re working to get people out.”

Soaring flames could be felt like a wall of heat, and several firemen were using the hose to extinguish them.

Suddenly, a loud bang thundered and windows shattered, fragmenting all over the place. Pieces of glass coasted around.

“Get down!” one fireman shrieked.

William stooped low and covered his head with both his arms. A rush of heat blew over him, and then it was silent for a twinkling moment before chaos erupted.

Sweat formed on his brow from the heat of the fire, and he observed the left part of the first floor of the building being engulfed by flames. His gaming club, his empire, burnt to the ground.

Screams of concern from passers-by, escaped clientele, and residents flew around his ears while William searched for Silk or Charles or any employees of his establishment.

William began to pace and finally spotted a familiar muscular man with a scruffy beard and his hair in a bun. “Silk! Silk!

His manager met him halfway.

“William.” He coughed into his fist and had streaks of ashes on his face and waistcoat.

“Where’s Charles?” William asked.

“I haven’t seen him.”

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I got out quickly since I was in the gambling club looking for Jeremy.”

William knew Sins was empty this time of day, so the only people inside were Charles and employees of the gambling club, along with the regulars.

“You didn’t find Jeremy?”

“No, flames shot out from nowhere. I ushered as many people out as I could, and then I left. I didn’t see Charles, William. Was he inside?”

“I don’t know,” William replied and kept scanning the first floor, but the firemen had blocked the crowd further away for safety reasons.

“Go look for Charles, and we’ll meet back here in thirty,” William said and continued his own search.

A search that came up with nothing. William, who was already in a despondent mood after losing Ivy, became more miserable with each passing minute.

After an hour, all the flames were doused. One side of the building’s first floor smoldered. It was purely a black hole with only the beams of the foundation still intact.

“Mr. Kade,” a police detective who had joined the scene came up to him.

“Yes.”

“You’re the owner of the building?”

“No, my business partner is the owner of the building. I’m the co-owner of the gambling club.”

“The fire department will start their investigation as soon as possible. I’m sorry, but it seems that there were still people inside.”

William rubbed the stubble on his jaw nervously. “Can we go into the building? My apartment is on the top floor. Can all the residents return?”

“Yes. The fire hasn’t affected the entire first floor, the building foundation, or any of the other floors. It’s mostly the interior of the club that’s burned. I’ll contact you as soon as I know more and you can access that part of the first floor.”

“Yes, please do. Thank you,” William said.

Silk approached William, so William ordered him, “I need my own law enforcement on this case. I don’t want any other police officers snooping around my clubs. And if Jeremy Dechamps was in there, we definitely don’t want his family to be informed that he didn’t have any fingers. Jeremy’s family can’t be allowed to see the corpse.”

“I can take care of that now. I saw two of our policemen walking around. I’ll instruct them to ensure the other officers leave.” Silk hesitated before saying, “I haven’t seen Charles. William, when did you last see him?”

William sighed, viewing the damaged gambling club, unease coursing through his veins. “I spoke to him a couple of hours ago in his office.” He regarded Silk. “This is not a good sign. I fear he was inside his office.”

“I fear the same,” Silk added with a glow of concern before addressing a police detective.

William went around the high-rise, to the other entrance that was still intact, and got into the elevator, ascending to the top floor, where Ivy wouldn’t be waiting for him. It was the first time in months that he didn’t go home with pleasure.

Rather than going into his own apartment, he went into Charles’s. William had a sliver of hope that Charles would walk through the door at any moment. Maybe he was at an appointment and not inside the club when it burned down?

He retrieved a bottle of whiskey from Charles’s kitchen and uncapped it. Without bothering to grab a glass, he tipped the bottle and took a long swig.

But as night fell, William’s hope evaporated. He was sprawled on the sofa, his thighs spread wide, the half-drained liquor bottle balanced on his knee. William drank and drank until he couldn’t see straight.

And with each drink, he became more livid and depressed simultaneously. No matter how drunk he became, two people consumed his thoughts relentlessly: Charles and Ivy.

Mostly Ivy though. Regarding Charles, he held on to that shred of optimism.

CHAPTER 38

William

William sat down across from the ginger-haired detective in a scant interrogation room after he was asked to appear at the police station the next day.

He’d raced to the station without bothering to shave or bathe. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, and hard, bitter lines were etched into his face. And he felt as bad as he looked, calmly rotating the edge of a paper coffee cup on the timeworn wooden table.

My god, he had a splitting headache.

“Mr. Kade, I’m afraid I have bad news. We’ve managed to identify all the bodies. Most people got out in time, but there were three bodies found. I’m sorry to say that one of them was Charles Lindon,” the detective said with a sympathetic tone.

William’s movement of the paper cup stopped. Emptiness. That’s the only way he could describe his feeling when he had confirmation that Charles was dead. All he wanted was to go home, but he had matters to settle with this detective whom he and Charles paid off for his discretion.

“Was Jeremy Dechamps among the bodies?”

“Yes. He was found in Charles’s office. Apparently, there had been a struggle between the two men.” The detective paused before continuing, “He seems to be missing his fingers on one hand.”

William remained stoic. “I don’t want that information to become public. His family can’t inspect the body. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I can dissuade his parents from seeing his corpse and ensure that he’s delivered to them in a closed casket for his burial ceremony.”

“How did the fire originate?” William had been going over scenarios all night and concluded there were only two suspects. Either Ivy or Jeremy. He inclined toward the latter.

The detective opened a file in front of him on the desk. “I received the report this morning and sent a messenger to you immediately.” His finger traced several lines on the paper. “The underground floors are both damaged. It ignited in the fight club. There was an explosion in a room with a liquor stockpile. Then the fire traveled upward toward the gaming hall where there was more liquor.”

“That’s quite plausible.”

The supply closets had been stashed with alcohol just a week ago. One inventory room was right next to Charles’s office. Jeremy must’ve started the fire and then gone in search of William in Charles’s office.

The detective added, “The underground floors are completely destroyed, and part of the first floor as well, Mr. Kade.”

“When can I access the floors?” William asked.

“Today, if you wish. Everything has been checked.”

“Is there going to be any further investigation?” William stood and inched to the door.

“No, I’ll alter the report to state that it ignited due to a fallen candle that caught fire in the curtains in the gambling hall. And that’ll be the end of it.”

“Good. I’ll reward you generously when I’ve seen the final report.” He turned the knob and left.

William walked home, detesting the chirping of birds on this fall day.

***

William surveyed the ashy interior of his gaming club, treading over debris. What once had been Charles’s dream went up in flames in not even an hour. As he evaluated the club, he could see him and Charles clinking their glasses on opening night so many years ago. Embedded memories sting the most when you’ve just lost someone.

Grief descended upon William, and his eyes welled up.

One day, Charles will be dead, and you’ll be all alone.

The words Ivy had spoken twenty-four hours ago resounded in his head.

“William?”

“Silk,” William greeted without turning around.

Silk came up next to William and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, man.”

“Thanks.”

“I have one message for you,” Silk commented. “An insurance guy came by earlier. He was looking for you, so I told him to return tomorrow. Maybe we should just do nothing today? All of this will still be here tomorrow. And I’ll help you as much as I can.”

William shot him a sideways glance. “I appreciate that.”

They stood in silence, sharing their grief in utter stillness. Silk had become a confidant too in the months since he’d started working for William. And right now, he was glad to have someone who could just stand with him without speaking.