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My throat tightens. “I meant it.”

“Then do what I’m telling you.”

“That isn’t fair.”

“No.” His eyes harden. “It’s not. Nothing about tonight is fair.”

I step toward him. “I can help.”

“You already have.”

“I can still help.”

“You can live.”

The words steal my breath.

“You need to get to the safe house,” he says. “I’ll go back and make sure everyone is distracted long enough for you to get out.”

“Everyone?”

“My brother,” he says. “Cain.”

At Cain’s name, something cold slithers through me.

I try not to react.

I fail.

“What?” Nathaniel asks.

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

His eyes sharpen. “Ella.”

I have to tell him. About the burner phone. The one left for me. Except it wasn’t for me. And I took the money. God, the money that I gave to my mother.

But that’s the least of my worries now. If I leave, if I go to the safe house… What if something happens to Delaney Cross?

I can’t keep this secret anymore. Especially because I don’t understand it.

“I have to tell you something,” I whisper.

“Not now,” he says. “I’ll come to you as soon as I can.”

“Now!” I hiss out.

His expression changes immediately. “Fine. What?”

I swallow. “There’s a phone. A burner.”

“What are you talking about? What phone?”

I lick my dry lips. “It’s hidden in a small pocket behind the bust of your father near the old guest rooms.”

“Where we…”

My cheeks warm. “Yeah. And where we were apparently being watched as well.”