“How do you know this about Stefano?” Matteo asks, and I can almost hear his heart breaking.

I explain the blood under Stefano’s bed, the guard’s tattoo, and all the strange details we’ve uncovered. He listens to everything I have to say, and by the time I’m done speaking, his jaw is tight and his forehead is creased in concentration.

“I was going to come back here that day after class,” he says. “But Blackwood had given me a third mark for punching you and sent me to the outer perimeter.”

“That’s what Layla figured,” I say.

Matteo rubs his neck and looks at me like he’s trying to decide something. Finally he sighs and drops his arm. “And I wouldn’t assume I’m the only one who knows who your parents are. Blackwood has to know. Probably Conner. Brendan and Nyx were Charles’s best friends, so they definitely know. Felix. And I’m sure there are others.”

“Felix?” I repeat, suddenly remembering the creepy “I know” that he hissed in my ear at my first lunch.

“Yes,” Matteo affirms, and rubs his neck again. “The thing is…” He pauses for a moment, like he’s debating whether he should keep going, and I sit very still, hoping he will. “Felix’s father was one of the assassins sent to kill your parents. One of the ones that didn’t come back. There are likely other Lions here, too, who have lost a relative trying to take out your parents. No one knew you even existed, though, until you showed up,” he says.

My mouth is suddenly dry and it’s hard to swallow. My parents killed Felix’s father? No wonder he hates me. Not that his father wasn’t trying to kill them, but still. I should feel excited about getting another piece of the puzzle, but the entire conversation fills me with dread. Coming to this school was like starting a wildfire that immediately raged out of control. Not to mention that I remind people of the past in the worst possible ways.

“November?” Matteo says.

“Yeah?” I look up, snapping out of my thoughts.

“You should know that I didn’t punch you because I was angry,” he says. “What happened with your mom…You’re still a Bear. I punched you because I was told to.”

“Who told you to punch me?” I say, my brain starting to whirl once again. “Was it Felix?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Matteo says, and I can see by his face that he’s not going to. “But I just thought you should know.”

I open my mouth to argue, but he looks so lost in his thoughts that I suspect he’s thinking about Stefano again.

“Now it’s time for you to go,” he says, and I do.

As I close the door behind me, I can’t help but wish things were different. I finally have another family member who’s more like me than I want to admit, and he also wants nothing to do with me. I can’t really blame him, though. He’s right. If I’d never come to this school, Stefano would still be alive.