Enne squinted at the garbled tickers long enough to see the names of each of the gangs hidden within them. “I don’t have any idea how a stock market works.”
Grace then launched into a frightening explanation of finance, including words likeequityandoptionsand other terms that were meaningless to Enne. Whereas she’d merely struggled to keep up in her dancing classes, Enne had always been properly hopeless at math. She’d comforted herself with the notion that there were no real-world applications for algebra, no matter what her teachers claimed.
Now Enne was finding those real-world applications right in front of her, and despite having faced far worse, that dejected, self-loathing feeling from school set in all over again.
“Let me simplify it,” Grace said. “I’m an entrepreneur. I tell you and Lola that I have these great business plans, and I need one hundred volts to start them.”
“That’s...nothing,” Lola pointed out. “You can’t start a business with one hundred volts.”
“It’s pretend,” Grace snapped. “Now, I convince you the plan is genius—which it is, of course—and so you each give me fifty volts. That makes you both investors. I use those volts to hire people, to purchase supplies, to run my business. Then when I start making profits, I pay some to each of you, since you each own half the company. That’s sort of how the stock market works, but instead of one hundred volts, it’s millions. And instead of two investors, there are hundreds.”
Enne needed at least several more minutes to process that, but Lola was already pushing forward. “So who would be investing in the gangs?”
“Regular North Siders. You want the North Side to feel united?” Grace asked. “Then unite them where it matters—their wallets. If the North Side citizens have their volts invested in the gangs, then they’ll want the gangs to succeed. And the gangs, in return, will want their investors protected.”
“But you’re assuming the lords willtakeinvestors,” Lola said.
“They’ll receive a ton of volts,” Grace told her.
“That is still averybig if,” Lola countered. “How are we even supposed to approach them about it? Knock on Ivory’s front door like some kind of carpetbagger?”
“This isn’t a bad idea,” Enne said, still letting it seep in.
“A bad idea? It’s ageniusidea,” Grace said. “If we keep a ten percent cut of investments as an advance against dividends, then a fifteen percent—”
“Pleasestop,” Enne begged. “No more numbers. Just...break it down for me again. Then I’ll ask Levi about it.”
“Levi Glaisyer?” Grace asked. “Do you know each other?”
“Don’t you read the papers?” Enne asked at the same time Lola answered, “They do, and they’re awful.”
“Well,” Grace said, shrugging, “I hardly think we need Pup’s permission.”
“I’m not asking for hispermission,” Enne hissed. “I’m going to ask him if he knows a way we could speak to the other lords. Just...” She gestured at the board. “Let’s go through all this one more time.”
Grace sighed. “Those South Side men you promised me better be worth it.”
* * *
Thirty minutes later, into a pay phone in the Casino District, Enne dialed the direct number Levi had given her.
He answered immediately. “Enne?” he asked. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“The lords of each of the gangs are meeting tonight in the Catacombs—it’s a nightclub in Olde Town. And you’re invited.”
Normally, Enne’s first reaction to such news would be fear. If she was going to have a place at a table with the other lords, then certainly she would be the dinner.
Instead, she let out a triumphant laugh. “Levi, this isbrilliant.”
“I know. I didn’t expect them to say yes, at least, not to me. This could really change things for the Irons. It could—”
“What? No. Levi, this isn’t about you. Be quiet for a moment and listen.”
And so Enne Salta, a finishing school dropout who knew far more about pirouettes than profits, explained to Levi how she could save the whole North Side.
LEVI
