Sophia slid Enne her drink. “I’m in the mood to dance. Everyone else is dancing.”
Jac had brought Sophia to introduce her to Levi and convince them both of his plan, but so far he’d spent the entire night gaping at her in that red dress.
“I’ll dance,” he said, trying to sound casual.
Lola rolled her eyes. “You can’t dance.”
“How do you know?” Jac challenged.
“I know things.”
“Lola, you have no room to talk,” Enne told her in between sips of her Hotsy-Totsy. “You’re as lithe as a lead pipe.”
Lola stood up, several shades of pink. Jac realized he’d never seen her drink before. Apparently she was a lightweight. “I’ll prove you both wrong.” Then she tripped and slammed awkwardly into the person beside her.
Grace snorted. “I think you both broke her.”
The person caught Lola by the shoulder. Jac recognized her as Tock, though she dressed far more nicely than when they’d last run into her at Liver Shot. She smelled like the Brint mixed with cheap perfume.
Tock hoisted Lola back up and looked her over. “I don’t really know you,” she told her. “But I could.”
Lola flushed a shade so bright it matched her hair. Both Grace and Enne choked on their drinks.
“Um,” Lola sputtered.
Tock nodded at Lola’s harmonica. “Do you play? I brought my sax.”
Lola nodded, looking dazed, and let Tock lead her away into the party.
Jac had no intention of being upstaged by Lola, aspiring librarian, so he pulled Sophia away from her set-up of mixed drinks and loose candy wrappers. “We need to talk,” he told her.
When they reached the dance floor, Sophia slid her arms around his shoulders. “Then let’s talk,” she said.
Having her so close to him made his heart squeeze nervously. He wasn’t Levi—he wasn’t the one who came up with the plans. He suddenly had sick feeling he was about to make a fool of himself.
“I don’t think your plan for Delia and Charles to destroy each other is going to work,” he told her.
She pursed her lips. “Way to kill the romance, Todd.”
Jac coughed out an awkward laugh. “Even if one of them kills the other, one of themwillwin, and then what will you do?”
“I’ll do what I’ve been doing—I’ll weasel my way into their inner circle. I know them better than anyone—”
“But they don’t know whoyouare, so how can you really know them?” Sophia had told Jac they were half siblings, so Jac assumed Sophia must’ve grown up estranged. But clearly there was something she hadn’t told him.
A dark look crossed her face, and she dropped her arms from his shoulders. “Why are you asking me these questions? You haven’t told anyone who I am, right?”
“No. No, of course not,” he said quickly. He wasn’t good at this. He was losing her. “But I have a better idea for how destroy your family.” Jac peeked over his shoulder, but the Irons were too lost in their dancing and card games to pay them any attention. Still, he leaned closer and explained Levi’s agreement with Harrison Augustine.
Sophia’s green eyes widened in shock. “That’s who you were going to call last night. You were going to give him Delia’s name.”
“Iwas, but I’ve decided to wait. I’m working for Harrison as a favor to Levi, but I keep feeling like all I’m doing is helping another monster rise to power. I don’t want to be complicit.”
“So whatdoyou want?” Sophia asked.
“I want it to beyou. You should become the next don.”
Sophia backed away, out of his reach. “I can’t do that.”
