had lost his home today. He’d colored his hair and changed his clothes. He’d said goodbye to the job he’d grown comfortable with, the places he liked to frequent and called his own. In the two years since he’d hit bottom, Jac had struggled every day to rebuild his life. So it had infuriated him to think that Levi—who had played a part in causing all of this—could feel even remotely happy about their newfound reputations while Jac lost everything.
But it was Vianca who got Levi invited to the Shadow Game. It was Vianca who’d thrown their friendship on the line.
Like Levi, Jac had a precise moment when his life had gone wrong. And it had taken nearly a year of heartache and rock bottoms, but Levi had helped tear Jac out of it. So it didn’t matter how many times Jac needed to start over—he would do the same for his best friend.
“Of course I’ll help,” Jac told him. “But what if Vianca finds out about Harrison?”
“She can’t. If she did...” He shuddered. “I’m telling no one but you.”
“It’s no wonder she loves you so much, if her son hates her enough to kill her,” Jac said, collapsing onto the other side of Levi’s bed. The cot creaked with his added weight. “You’re probably some sick replacement for him. The one who can never leave.”
Levi looked like he wanted to snort, but his expression turned serious. “There’s something else that Harrison needs, something I can’t provide him. Without it, it doesn’t matter how much I do for him—he’ll lose the election. He’s sure of it.”
Jac squinted. He didn’t know much about politics. “Like what?”
“The Torren Family’s influence will ultimately be what makes or breaks his victory. And with Sedric dead, it’s unclear who will end up the Family’s next don. It’s vital that Harrison is able to sponsor whoever wins. He asked me to watch the feud unfold from the inside, so he can make a clear bet on who that don will be.”
It was Levi’s expression, not his words, that gave him away. Levi only wore his poker face when playing cards or keeping secrets.
“And how will do you do that for him, Levi?” he asked softly, even though he’d already guessed the answer.
“He told me to ask someone I trust,” his friend answered, voice steady and practiced. “And you’re the only person I trust.”
Jac stood up abruptly and faced the wall farthest from Levi. Unlike him, Jac wasn’t skilled at hiding his emotions, and he wasn’t sure he could look at Levi right now with anything other than betrayal. Levi had saved him during the lowest points in his life, but now...he was asking Jac to return to them?
“No. No. I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you ask me,” Jac growled. If Levi was willing to make such a bold request, then he could at least say the words. If words were too terrible to utter out loud, then they shouldn’t be said at all.
Levi cleared his throat. “I’m asking you to be that person.”
The words did sound terrible when spoken, but it wasn’t the words themselves that left Jac so breathless. It was the strangled way that Levi said them.
“I’m sorry—” Levi started.
“You’re sorry?” he spat. “What were you thinking, agreeing to that?”
Jac tried to summon the anger Levi more than deserved. He should throw over every last shelf in this cellar, just to hear something crash.
But all he felt instead was guilt.
“I...” Levi paused as his voice cracked. “I made a mistake. I never should have assumed you’d do this.”
If Levi had any other friend in this city, Jac knew there would have been no question. Jac always said he would go down any road for Levi, but this was one road—the only road—that he’d sworn to himself he’d never cross again.
“Do you actually think I’m capable of this?” Jac asked. He liked to think he was stronger now. He’d survived Lullaby. He’d glued himself back together, piece by piece. He’d prayed hopeless prayers to never break again. But while their lives might have changed in two years, truthfully, the scars on his arms might as well have still been raw. Even once he’d sobered up, for months after, there’d been the drinking. The fighting. The smoking. And he’d still never kicked the last two.
Addiction had a way of changing courses like that. Jac was a far throw from lull trips in empty warehouse lots and taking his wages in stamps. But he wasn’t exactly clean, either. This morning and its two whole packs of cigarettes had been one of his worst in a while.
“That’s your decision,” Levi answered him. “Do you think you are?”
“You don’t get to ask me that now. You agreed to this with Harrison, so you must think I’m ready for it. Right?” Jac whipped around, expecting once again to see Levi’s poker face. Instead, Levi was anxiously flipping a business card over in his hands, and Jac swore, from his bloodshot eyes, that his friend might actually cry. It brought back painful memories of the last time Jac had seen him like this, the morning after Jac had nearly died in New Reynes North General Hospital.
That had been his lowest point.
Jac could forgive Levi for betting their friendship as a wager for his freedom.
But betting Jac’s health? His dignity? His life?
He didn’t know if he could ever forgive him for this.
But if he didn’t accept, he didn’t know if he could ever forgive himself, either.
“I trust you,” was all Levi said. It wasn’t exactly the enthusiastic vote of confidence Jac needed, but it was something. “It was wrong for me to agree to this without asking you, but I can still decline. There are more important things.”
“No, there aren’t.” Jac ripped the business card out of Levi’s hands. “If this was another scheme for volts or admirers, then I’d tell you to go to hell. But this is the end of Vianca. You’re the slickest, cleverest person I know. Watching the way she treats you... I thought she’d kill you today. And I felt like I couldn’t even stop it, not without killing us both.” The way Levi had simply stood there as he choked, standing his ground like he’d been in that position many times before, made Jac delirious with fury. “Of course I’ll do it. Anything is worth seeing her rot.”
Levi’s smile was bright even as he blinked back tears. He gradually lowered himself onto his back, as though every inch brought its own pain, and stared up at the ceiling.
“You’re worth more to me than all the other Irons put together,” Levi told him, and it was the best thank-you Jac had ever received.
“Yeah, well, you better be able to handle them when I’m gone. If I’m spending all my time at Luckluster Casino, I won’t be able to save you from Chez a second time.”
“Don’t worry. Next time you see the Irons, they’ll be the richest gang in the North Side.” The determined sound to Levi’s voice took Jac back. If he closed his eyes, they could have been thirteen years old again, fantasizing about all the fortune their futures held. Now Jac couldn’t envision their futures with anything other than dread.
“Did you tell Enne about Harrison?” Jac asked. After all, Vianca’s death would free her, too.
“No,” Levi said firmly. “That would only give Vianca another opportunity to find out. It’s better that Enne doesn’t know, for both our sakes.”
Jac agreed with that, but he was still surprised. It didn’t seem like Enne and Levi kept secrets from each other.
Jac let several moments pass before he worked up his nerve. Because yes, Jac would do absolutely anything for Levi, but that didn’t change the fact that what Levi had asked of him was almost unthinkable. Had it been anything short of this prize, it would have been