[Elena's POV]

"Give me twenty minutes," I said to Noah. "I'm coming back."

A silence on the line. Two full seconds of it.

"Twenty minutes," Noah said. Then the call ended.

I lowered the phone. Nicole was already watching me from across the hallway, arms crossed, reading my face the way she'd learned to do in high school when she needed to know if I was actually okay or just performing okay.

"Adrian set up a flight," she said. "Private. Leaving in two hours. He wants all three of us on it , you, ...