“Let’s go back inside,” Ash says, attempting to keep his voice measured, but I can see the distress in his eyes. “I can’t explain this quickly.”

I pull back from him. “Oh my god. You did know about Conner. And you said nothing?” My pulse quickens. “Next you’re going to tell me you’ve been helping him.” I give a nervous huff because obviously that’s out of the question, but Ash just fixes me with a solemn expression.

“This is not…” Ash rubs a hand over his face.

“You’re not denying it. Ash, why aren’t you denying it?” There’s panic in my voice.

“If you’ll slow down and come with me, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” His tone is apologetic.

“There isn’t a chance in hell I’m going anywhere with you until you answer me. Were you helping Conner?”

He exhales and there’s pain in his eyes. “Again, it’s not that simple.”

My heart pounds so hard that it hurts, and all of a sudden it feels like there’s no air to breathe. I grab a branch to steady myself. Everything I thought about Ash, everything I felt—it’s all based on a lie.

“The day you arrived here,” Ash says quietly, “Conner came to me, told me that since our Family didn’t form an alliance with the Lions he had received word that my sister was on their kill list.” I can hear the fear in his voice, but I fight back the urge to let it affect me. “Layla’s brilliant, the smartest person in this school. She was always a possible target, and at first I thought he was just manipulating me with the idea of a threat. But I read him, November. He meant every word he said. He told me he was in a position to see that she was removed from the kill list, but that there would be a price, that I would have to do something in kind. And that something turned out to be…maneuvering you.”

“So you what? You cozied up to me, got me to trust you, all so you could hand me over to them?” My throat tightens and I attempt to swallow the hurt that’s trying to strangle me. “The night that Stefano died, the hallway—”

“Yes, I told you to take that hallway, but I didn’t know what you were going to find there. I swear,” he says, and his eyes are pleading for me to understand. “Dr. Conner never told me.”

I feel sick. “You were part of the plan to kill Stefano? The guy your sister had feelings for?”

“No! Of course I didn’t know that Stefano would be murdered. And I didn’t know that the intended target was Matteo. I never would have agreed to help Dr. Conner if I’d known any of that,” he says.

I stare at Ash in horror, replaying everything that’s happened these last two weeks in my head. “If that guard had been on his normal route instead of trying to protect me, would he have been in that hallway? Would I have been caught with Stefano’s body?”