“I wish he had just stayed in London,” Jonny muttered.
“Me too,” Will said enthusiastically. “And sorry about the whole theft thing. Sharpe forced it, but I made sure to wait until you were with Ada so you’d have someone who could vouch for you. Plus, I left my scarf.”
“Finch could have come after you.”
“Could have,” Will said with a shrug. “But I did it, so it would have been right for him to do so.”
“What do we do now?” Jonny said. “Ada wants me to go to Finch with all of this, but I don’t think I can do that. It will be the same as before — Sharpe will go down, and then someone else will take over. Someone who could be even worse.”
“Possibly,” Will said, a contemplative expression on his face. “But I have an idea.”
“What’s that?”
“Before Sharpe returned to Manchester, there were talks about who would take over. It could have been Garrick,” he said, referring to Blackwood’s main enforcer, “But too many people blamed him for Blackwood’s death, plus his hand was so badly injured, thanks to the girl, that many didn’t think him capable. My name came up.”
Jonny lifted his brows. “So, you’re thinking you could make a play for it again.”
Will nodded. “And then once I’m on top, bring it all down.”
Jonny smirked. “You were always the smart one.”
“Or the stupid one,” he said with a shrug. “Could go both ways.”
“Just tell me what you need from me,” Jonny said.
“Well,” Will began. “You and Ada?—”
“No,” Jonny said, shaking his head. “She stays out of this.”
“I think she could help. Draw out Sharpe. He’s decided that he doesn’t want to wait for her father’s cooperation any longer. He wants to take the business for himself.”
“The munitions company?”
Will nodded. “That and the iron company.”
“The Carters’,” Jonny hissed. “How does he propose to do that? From what I know, they’ve always kept their hands clean.”
“I don’t know it all,” Will said. “But I do know he plans to use Ada. That’s why he wanted her the other night.”
Jonny’s eyes widened as his mother walked into the room.
“Judging by your full plates, I see you’ve had plenty of time to talk,” she said, sitting down between them in a third chair. “Now, time to eat.”
She looked at one of them, then the other, with a soft smile on her face. “It’s good to see my boys together again.”
Jonny and Will exchanged a look, understanding passing between them.
She was right. They had to do this.
Together.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ada was preoccupied with her thoughts as she started down the stairs the next morning.
She knew she needed to talk to Jonny. She didn’t like leaving things hanging, uncertain, and whatever she had with him was just that.
She just wished that she knew what to expect from him, knew what options existed between them.
