Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“Good guess. He was just here, and he used you as bait. He wants me to find it.”
“So, now…” She grins. “We have Charlie dig up some fun rumors about some powerful little families and we wait for the person to reveal themselves. Easy. I got you. Because apparently we aren’t big enough bait.”
“You trust her that much?” I ask.
“With my life.” She sighs. “Charlie was literally all I had when I was here freshman year and she knows about our sordid past. If anything, she’s just as invested as we are, plus Charlie loves gossip.”
I laugh. “That she does.”
“And we need someone big enough to gain a lot of attention.” Lilah grins.
“Who would that be?” I ask. “Has to be big enough to get asked to leave.”
Her eyes light up and a sly grin stretches across her face. “My dad.”
“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?”
“Me. Bait. I’m perfect. Plus, my boobs are huge, I have it on good authority many an older gentleman has a fetish of suffocating between them.”
“Ew.” Axel makes a face.
“Hey.” She shrugs. “She’s my best friend. She’s family. I’ll get dirty if I have to. Don’t worry, I’ll wash the old man off before I climb back into your bed.”
Jude groans. “There are at least six things wrong with that sentence.”
Axel snorts. “Only six?” His grin fades. “Seriously though... how are you guys so sure this is going to work?”
I chew my lower lip. “Because I don’t think the person behind the Dean’s List actually wants to hurt us.”
Jude arches a brow.
“I think they’re trying to help. Maybe they just didn’t know who to trust. Maybe they weren’t sure they could trust Jude yet.”
“No offense,” I add.
“None taken.” Jude shoves his hands into his pockets. “A few weeks ago, if that list had landed in my hands, I would have burned the world down with it.”
“And now?” Axel crosses his arms. “Now you’re healed? Totally sane? Not looking for revenge anymore?”