“Well. Shit. Didn’t see that coming.”
“The dean himself.” She crosses her arms. “We’re going after him, he’ll get fired. The person behind the Dean’s List will have to show themselves.”
“So we go to war, expose the person, get the list, then what?”
“Take your dad down once and for all.”
My stomach sinks. “Stop giving me hope.”
“We can do it, Jude. Just believe. Your mom would have wanted you to. Finish what she started.” A sad smile curls her lips. “Just don’t get killed in the process.”
I bark out a laugh. “Oh cool, just that? No big.”
“Easy.”
“I prefer sex versus talking.”
“The sex gets to keep happening because of the talking.” She walks past me and grabs my hand at the last minute. “And Jude?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for letting me in.”
22
“He wanted her broken. Then she broke in front of him. And he hated himself for watching. “—The Count of Monte Cristo
LILAH
“Okay let me get this straight.” Charlie points her glass of wine between me and Jude while Axel goes about pouring more. I spent the entire night with Jude and then had classes so this was my first chance telling her about our plan. “In the span of twenty-four hours you both have made up and come up with a diabolical plan to bring down both your families by way of gossip and a possible sex scandal, and you want my help?”
Axel coughs into his glass.
I roll my eyes. “Yes, I mean you make it sound way more sinister than it is, but yes. We need dirt on my dad. I barely know him. I need recon, and I need him to be set up in a way that allows us to send pics and whatnot to the tip line for the Dean’s List. We need to find out who’s behind it so we can expose Jude’s dad.”
“Who most likely killed my mom,” Jude adds like he’s talking about the weather.
I smack him. “Work on your delivery.”
Charlie’s eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. “Wait, you think he killed her?”
“She knew all his secrets, and she was going to divorce him,” Jude whispers. “She saw freedom, she wasn’t suicidal.”
Charlie takes a small sip of her wine then sets it down. “What’s in it for me?”
I gape.
“I’m kidding, I live for the gossip.” She winks. “But honestly, I think the best bait is the most obvious. We unleash project hot girl summer, let it be known someone’s into older men, bump into him at a bar and boom, snap some pictures. Done. He’s already notorious around campus for liking younger women, your dad.”
I make a face.
“I know, I know it’s gross,” she adds quickly. “But it’s common knowledge he’s kind of untouchable too, so this might be interesting. Alright, I’m in. Let me go put on my heels.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Axel jumps to his feet. “Why are you putting on heels? What the hell am I missing?”
She grins and spreads her arms proudly. “Bait.”
“Huh?”
