I find my words. “I’m not putting any of you in danger! It’s enough that you know, but to actually seek him out? No way. Plus, I don’t know if I can fully trust Agent Dylan, so I don’t want to get him involved.”

“Wait, why don’t you trust Agent Dylan?” Mason asks.

Aiden and I share a glance. Can we really tell them everything?

Noah gasps. “There’s more secrets!”

Mason sits, leaning toward us. “What aren’t you telling us?”

Aiden’s eyes search mine, and I know he’s leaving the decision up to me. I take a moment to process the revelations of the day.

Fuck it. They already know everything, might as well go all in.

“We have a theory,” I start, cautiously, “that I was placed here in King on purpose, because there’s increasing pressure to catch Tony, and while using me as bait isn’t legal, they can technically place me somewhere Tony would want to go on his own and happen to come across me.”

“Why would he want to come to King?” Noah asks.

I take a breath, gathering confidence. “Because I’m pretty sure Anna is his biological daughter.”

The room is quiet—so quiet I can hear the ticking of the clock on the wall in the kitchen all the way from here.

Noah’s jaw has dropped open, a look he’s sported multiple times today, and Mason’s wearing a similar shocked expression on his own face.

“Wow . . . his daughter.” Mason leans back on the couch and shakes his head. “Okay, so shady ethics aside, we can still end this. Ourselves. We’ve done riskier shit.”

My throat tightens. “No, Mason. I’m not putting any of you at risk.”

They were already handling this better than I expected, but I really never expected them to try to set up a Scooby trap to catch Tony. That’s way out of our area of expertise, and even if I trust these boys with my literal life, there’s no way I want to put them in danger. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if they got caught in the cross fire.

Mason tugs at his hair. “But it would be so simple. We won’t even need to get the sketchy government agents involved. You said you think Agent Dylan doesn’t actually want to keep you hidden, and that you feel out of control. So let’s create our own control. Create an S-Live Time account under your real name and post a picture of yourself. He’ll contact you.”

“No,” Aiden states, his voice trembling.

“She should put her phone number under so he can just contact her right away and skip the games,” Noah adds, ignoring Aiden. “He’ll call her, we know he will.”

“No!” Aiden snaps, louder than last time.

“Don’t you want your life back, Thea? We can help you! We want to help you,” Noah pleads, his eyes boring into mine.

Mason’s standing again, pacing in front of the coffee table. “You wouldn’t even have to leave King! Your mom’s clearly attached to, well, my dad, so she wouldn’t ship you back home. You won’t be scared of leaving anymore.”