Cee was lost.

Hopelessly, entirely and completely lost.

She shivered in the grey, damp fog that had descended on the city, trying to follow the trail of lights down the street - where there was light, there were people - but she'd almost definitely walked past that closed down cafe earlier.

Cee thought wistfully of her warm coat, back in Niccolò's apartment; he'd be mad when he found out she'd left. Then again, she could've just waited for him - Cee swore under her breath.

She should've waited for him. Niccolò would be so mad again; she hated when he was angry with her. It was his fault for leading her on.

Frustrated with herself, Cee turned the corner at the end of the street: dead end. She turned back, feeling tears burn the back of her throat; she just wanted to go home.

Cee spun around, determined not to cry in public, and walked back down the street, past the empty shop windows and the broken bottles in the street - she was so lost.

She dug her hands in her pockets, keeping her head low as it started to rain - just a light drizzle - but it was almost enough to break her entirely.

City lights, glowing neon skyscrapers, glinted at her menacingly; she was caged in and she had no way of getting found.

Elias muttered furiously to himself, storming out of the lobby and into the cold city air. That stupid, stupid girl was going to get herself killed and - more importantly - piss off Romano.

He turned the corner sharply, striding towards his baby - she was parked neatly in the private car park. He threw the girl's coat into the backseat, screeching out of his parking bay and tearing off down the street.

He glared out the window, looking out for a girl with dark hair and a distinct lack of a coat; his phone rang.

He answered quickly, still searching out the windscreen.

"Elias here."

"What happened?" Niccolò demanded immediately.

"She left."

"How did she get out?" Luckily, Niccolò only sounded mildly murderous, rather than 'ready-to-rampage-Romano'.

"Bitch stole my keycard." Elias swung around a corner carelessly, gritting his teeth. There was a pause; the air in the car froze.

"Say that again." Niccolò's voice was soft, quiet; a threat.

"Are you deaf, boss?" Elias snapped, clenching his hand on the wheel. There was no reply. "Look, I'll get her back, don't worry about-"

"I don't like repeating myself." Elias rolled his eyes.

"The Fiero bitch stole my keycard," he bit out angrily, emphasising each word. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"If you disrespect her again, I'll kill you myself. Find her." Elias's jaw dropped as Niccolò ended the call - was he serious?

Elias slammed on his brakes, pulling over roughly; he tried calling back but Niccolò wasn't picking up. He was Niccolò's closest friend - or at least the closest thing Niccolò had to a friend.

As Elias dialled for Niccolò again, light rain began to spatter the windscreen, a storm gathering in the sky.

He gave up, throwing his phone to the passenger side and screeching away from the curb; wherever the hell Camilla was, she couldn't be far and he would find her.

Elias squinted through the rain, searching desperately now for the girl. She'd been out for too long without a coat - if she got ill, Romano would have a fit.

---

Cee sat under the bridge, shivering against the graffitied concrete. After several hours of directionless walking, the light rain had evolved into a heavy, black storm; she'd taken cover under a bridge amongst the weeds and broken glass.

No one was walking around - probably due to the rain - and the car that she'd tried to stop had splashed her by driving straight through a puddle.

The sound of thunder almost shook the ground, making Cee jump - she used to find storms relaxing, but then again, she was usually inside to listen to the sound of rain on her window.

"Hey." Cee whirled around at the sound of a familiar voice, almost bursting into tears when she realised who it was.

"Elias, oh my god- " Before she could even think, she'd jumped off the ground and threw her arms around his neck, half-sobbing with relief. Elias was knocked back half a step, steadying himself quickly. "I'm sorry for locking you in the apartment, I'm so sorry - I got lost, I shouldn't have left- "

He stood there stiffly, half-impressed with the girl, half-pitying her; she looked miserable on the ground, hunched over and damp, but he was also highly amused with her escape. Not unkindly, he extracted himself from her and nodded towards the car, waiting patiently in the rain.

"Come on," he said gruffly, "Boss wants to see you."

"Niccolò?" Cee couldn't help the twinge of guilt at the sound of his name; she'd let him down, again. "Is he angry?" Elias shrugged; it was pretty hard to tell with Romano. He kept his emotions in check, never on display - no one was allowed close enough to work him out.

"I can wait to call him in when we get back to the apartment," Elias offered, noting the hesitant look in her eyes. "But you can't avoid him forever."

Cee sighed, shivering a little in the cold. "Don't delay the inevitable," she mumbled, tucking her damp hair behind her ear and staring out from under her shelter at the storm; streams of water ran alongside the road, disappearing down drains and dripping from lampposts - she'd really picked the worst day to go for a walk.

She listened absently as Elias called his boss, radioing in; the general sound of shouting just about reached her ears - she flinched. Staring out at the rain, she bit her lip, letting Elias join her once he'd ended the call.

"I didn't mean to, y'know," she told him, still facing out. "I just wanted to show him I was independent - I didn't need him."

Elias glanced at her, watching her thoughtful expression. "I was just pissed off," she continued absently, looking down at her feet.

"Why?" Elias found himself curious, wanting to know about the girl Romano so clearly treasured. Cee glanced at him - she wasn't about to tell Niccolò's best friend she totally had a stupid schoolgirl crush on him.

She shrugged. "I guess I thought we were closer than we are."

"He likes you." Elias grinned as Cee gave him an incredulous look. "He does, I swear on my mam's life."

"I don't think so," Cee laughed at herself, trying to find a silver lining; she couldn't take her own self-pitying seriously. "He feels sorry for the girl whose sister just died."

Elias almost reeled back at the force behind her words; he watched her turn away, head further into the shelter.

"If that were the case, boss would be tearing his hair out panicking over your brother when he goes out to get coffee, but I don't see that happening."

Cee giggled, a little hysterically, wiping her nose on her sleeve and trying not to cry.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not sure Romano even has a heart - " Cee laughed again, " - but he's risking a lot for you."

Elias paused, looking at the despondent girl wrapping her arms around herself to hide from the cold. "He's not a bad guy," Elias confided, "he's just a control freak."

"He's not my type," Cee mumbled, avoiding Elias's knowing look. "I don't date taken men."

But then again, she had never really dated anyone.

"He's not." Cee felt a flash of doubt, looking at Elias with wide eyes. "Why did you think he was spoken for?" She flushed, avoiding his knowing gaze; he laughed. "I won't tell."

"I found a note from someone called Diana," she admitted, kicking at the gravel subconsciously.

"Diana Romano was his aunt." Cee groaned, feeling impossibly stupid.

"Oh god," she mumbled, her cheeks turning red.

"That's why you ran?" Elias asked to confirm, trying not to laugh. Cee nodded.

"I just wanted to go home," she whispered. "Not to Magenta, not to the Romano or Fiero House - to my apartment - back to my university." Elias was unable to meet her eye, scuffing the ground with his shoe guiltily.

"You know you can't," he said eventually, bringing his head up to look at her. "Right?"

Cee looked at Elias then - really looked. His pale, icy eyes were completely sincere: he wasn't lying. She really couldn't. She had a target on her back now - painted red in D'Angelo blood - and although they had only tried to kill her twice...

Cee took a deep breath. "I know," she said finally, choosing her words carefully. "I think- I think I've known for a while."

Elias watched her carefully, digging his hands into his pockets. "I just didn't choose to leave behind that part of my life."

"I don't think anyone leaves civilian life behind willingly," he mused in response, thinking about his own introduction to Romano's family. "It's usually when you have no other choice."

They were interrupted by a flashy car pulling up abruptly across the street, sending a small tidal wave of rainwater over the pavement - the back door opened before the car had even stopped moving fully.

Cee's gaze was locked onto his immediately; Niccolò looked like some kind of avenging dark angel, his curly hair damp with rain, his dark trench coat swinging behind him in the rain - his expression unreadable.

Cee tripped forward a couple of paces - she couldn't tell if he was angry or disappointed - but she really needed to feel safe again, to be near him-

As if he could tell, he took several strides towards her, reaching out towards her, ignoring the rain. Cee ran forward to meet him - Niccolò could see her walls collapsing - and then he was hugging her; wrapping his arms around her so tightly she thought she might break.

Cee was clutching at his shirt, like the rain would wash her away if she let go; she was stunned stiff, barely able to hang on to him - Niccolò was everywhere. He was cradling her so gently, but so tightly at the same time - she couldn't pull away if she'd tried - she could feel his desperation, the worry he'd felt that she wouldn't come back.

The entire world stood still, aeroplanes frozen in the sky, raindrops halfway between sky and ground, cars stopped in the middle of motorways.

Cee rested her forehead against his muscular chest as he pulled her close. "I'm so sorry," she mumbled, refusing to meet his gaze by burying her face in his coat, "I didn't mean to get lost - I wanted to-"

"Shut up." Niccolò pulled her even tighter against him, relief flooding his body as he scanned the area for danger. Cee ignored the light tapping of raindrops on her hair and cheek, sliding down like tears; she needed him.

"If you run away one more time-" Niccolò began threateningly, holding her out at arms' length - but he didn't need to finish; Cee started shaking her head at him, a guilty expression on her face.

"It won't happen again, I swear," she promised, pushing her wet hair behind her ear; as if only just noticing the rain, Niccolò tugged her towards the car suddenly, noting her shivers - he was worried about something, he kept looking over her shoulder.

"Get in the car, Camilla," he ordered impatiently, opening her door for her. Cee tried not to panic, watching the nervous expression in his eyes. "Hurry."

She ducked into the car, realising how cold she was as the warmth of the car hit her; she was dripping on the seats too. He joined her in the car, running a hand through his curls agitatedly.

"Per caritá," he sighed as the car sped away from the curb, his expression tense. "Never again, Camilla. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"What's happening?" Cee asked, feeling the slight buzz from earlier disappear. "Is something wrong?" She'd never seen his emotions bubble over into his actions, visibly displayed on his face. He glanced down at her, worry in his eyes; he wasn't telling her everything. "Something's happened, hasn't it?"

"Wait," he instructed. "I'll tell you soon."

"Tell me now." Niccolò ignored the urge to shout at anyone who dared try to order him around.

"There's been a development," he said finally; his mask was back in place. "Someone knew your address." Cee blinked, disconcerted by the impassivity on his face.

"Which address? My apartment?" He nodded, calmly unclenching his fists.

"Someone laced it with explosives," Niccolò said simply, turning to look out of his window as the abandoned streets whisked by.

"Explosives?" Cee heard the crack in her voice, felt the way her heart dropped into her stomach. That apartment had everything in it - her notes, her medical books, her laptop - "How did you know?"

"I sent an advance team," Niccolò stated darkly. "They didn't make it back." Cee sat silently, processing slowly; people had died in her place. The explosives were meant for her, not some advance team hired by the Romanos.

"Camilla." Niccolò caught her attention after a few minutes, his eyes blank and impassive again. "We're here." Stupidly, Cee looked out the window, noticing finally that they'd stopped in front of his hotel.

"Oh." She'd zoned out - hadn't even realised they'd arrived. Shakily, she forced herself out of the car, one foot at a time, and followed Niccolò into the hotel lobby; the other guests melted away from Niccolò, clearly recognising him, and eyeing her with distain as she tiptoed behind, still damp from the rain.

He led her to the elevator, placing his hand on the small of her back, swiping his keycard to get access to his apartment, and silently watched Camilla stare at the floor, her hair hanging limply in front of her face; she looked broken.

He felt familiar rage boiling inside him, itching to destroy anyone who caused her expression, wanting to break something, to burn down the D'Angelos or whoever the hell it was targeting her - burn them to the ground.

The lift doors opened smoothly, opening onto the now familiar sight of the empty apartment. Cee walked in mechanically, heading towards her new room. "Camilla." His rough voice stopped her mid-way across the barren living room, but she didn't reply.

"I'll kill them before they can touch you."