The Girl in the Clockwork Collar (Steampunk Chronicles #2)(71)

What she thought of that must have been written on her face.

“You don’t think she’ll come.”

“Jasper, my friend, I think many things, only half of which are correct—if I’m lucky. I don’t presume to know what Mei will do. You’ll have to ask her and let her make her own decision.”

“No wonder he likes you,” he mused. “You must keep him on his toes.”

“Who? Dalton?” She waved a hand in the air. “Dalton likes any girl he thinks might slap him.”

“Not Dalton. Griff. I bet he’s never met a gal like you before.”

“I should hope not,” she replied glibly, but heat filled her cheeks. “Nature couldn’t possibly make two mistakes like me.”

“You’re not a mistake. Don’t you ever think of yourself that way. You’re exactly as you ought to be.”

She glanced down at her toes as she shook her head, embarrassed by his flattery. “Sometimes I think awful things.”

“Yeah, but you always do the right one, Miss Finley. And even if you mess up, you fix it. That makes you a good person, in my mind.”

A bright smile spread across her face. He was officially her new favorite person. “Thank you, Jasper. That’s lovely of you to say.”

“It’s true. And I think you’re right to want to get out of here as soon as possible. Dalton already shot the man he hired to put that infernal machine together.”

Finley’s brows arched. “Dead?”

Jasper nodded. “Very much so.”

So Dalton really was as terrible as everyone thought. How had she ever thought of herself as a match for him? She could never kill anyone unless she had to. She sincerely doubted Dalton had killed the man in self-defense. She had seen how easily he threatened Emily—something she would make him pay for—and how he hadn’t hesitated to shoot Sam. He would have shot Griffin, too.

All right, so maybe she could kill someone fairly easily. Right now, it was tempting to march downstairs and beat Dalton until the devil himself came to claim him.

Speaking of Dalton … Her gaze flickered to the clock on the mantel. “We need to go downstairs. He’s going to tell us his plans for the machine. Once I know what he intends to do, I’ll make my escape.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “Promise me you’ll run if things go sour.”

He nodded. “I will.” But she knew he wouldn’t go without Mei.

She went downstairs first so they wouldn’t arouse suspicion by arriving together. Dalton, Little Hank and the other men, whose names she couldn’t remember, were already in the library. Mei and Jasper arrived a few seconds later, arm in arm.

The smaller girl spotted Finley and glared at her. It was very difficult to sympathize with her when she made Finley want to slap her stupid.

Dalton called for everyone’s attention. Finley tried to keep her attention centered on him, but Jasper looked so downtrodden, it was difficult to look away.

“Obviously today was a great success,” Dalton said with exaggerated bravado, a drink in his hand. “The device has been recovered and proven to be a great success, thanks to our old friend Jasper Renn.”

Finley frowned. There was a strange light in Dalton’s eyes when he looked at Jasper—a sardonic twist to his mouth. Where was he going with this? That wasn’t praise in his tone.

Suddenly, there was a pistol in Dalton’s other hand. “And now that he’s outlived his usefulness, it’s time for our old friend to pay for screwing with me in the first place!” Dalton’s voice had grown louder with every word until he shouted the last.

No one but Finley seemed the least bit surprised by this turn of events, not even Jasper. That meant that Jasper must have expected this would happen—and that Dalton had planned it with his cronies all along.

“But first,” Dalton continued in a much calmer but still flamboyant tone, “there’s something I want Jas to see. Mei, come here.”

Finley held her breath. Was it wrong to hope that maybe Dalton would do them all a favor and shoot Mei, too? She frowned as every instinct she had screamed for her to run. The tiny little girl moved to stand before Dalton, who handed her his drink, which she then placed on a nearby table. His hand free, he reached down and cupped the back of her head, pulling her close to plant a very passionate kiss on her lips.

There were moments in a person’s life that they would carry with them until their dying day, and Finley knew the moment Jasper’s heart broke would be one of those for her. The color drained from his handsome face, and his eyes— usually full of charm and laughter—flared bright with pain before suddenly going flat and dead.

At that moment, he looked as though Dalton shooting him would be a kindness.

But the two sadistic creatures weren’t done with him yet. Mei wore a slightly smug expression as she reached up, around her neck and removed the clockwork collar, which had supposedly held her life in its cogs. She tossed it to the floor at Jasper’s feet.

“She isn’t yours,” Dalton bragged. “She hasn’t been yours in a very long time. Not since she killed Venton for me. Thank you, by the way, for being such a hero and trying to take the blame.”

“Right,” said Finley. She was not going to listen to any more of this, and neither was Jasper. “We’re done.” Jasper was not going to die today, not if she could help it.