The students who'd still not returned or joined the group text chat were summoned back to the hotel by staff and teachers who'd called them directly. Although they were in trouble for sneaking out, they reserved the bulk of the punishment for those identified as the ringleaders.

No one had considered leaving the hotel without supervision before Beth had arrived, and so they concluded she was the instigator of the plan. Her friends were secondary suspects and, because we had turned up at the same time, Charlie, Chantelle, Mandy and I were all to be scolded with them.

Chantelle maintained ignorance. When I considered the animosity between her and Beth, I wasn't convinced that this was an act of kindness. Rather, it seemed in her own interest. Self-preservation suited Chantelle and, whether or not she intended it, it helped to conceal the truth of that night's events. The rest of the students rallied together and presented a united front to the teachers who questioned them. None pointed the finger at Beth and her friends. There was no solid proof to say that she had driven them out to the streets in search of Lisa; only the intuition of Beth's father, who knew his child better than anyone.

Once our group lecture was over, the rest of the students were allowed to retire to their rooms. All were threatened with cancelled excursions and benefits should there be a repeat of that night. I was sure that no one wanted to live through the events again, but I knew the teachers needed to give the impression that they were in charge, even though they knew that they'd dropped the ball and lost control this time.

Before we could follow, Beth's father closed the door, indicating that he wasn't yet done with us.

'Gideon is staying in police custody,' he told us. 'Which is where he would have ended up even if you hadn't put yourselves in harm's way.'

'You were taking too long,' Beth argued. 'I'm not going to apologise. We found her way before you did!'

'Have you looked in a mirror, Elisabeth?' Mr Bennett shouted at her.

If he hadn't said it, I might have. She should have apologised to him for what she'd done. Not only had she put everyone at risk, but she might have been killed by Gideon. Wanting to help her friend was noble and I couldn't fault her empathy and compassion, but her recklessness almost cost her dearly. I wanted to shake her and tell her that she was so much more important than she seemed to think she was. That her life was worth preserving and that she almost threw it away just because she was impatient and pig-headed. The fact that she was still stubbornly refusing to believe that she'd done anything wrong was ridiculous.

The proof of her actions was right there on her neck for everyone to see.

A visual reminder of just how close Gideon had come to taking her away from everyone who loved her.

'Mr Bennett,' Jenny said, 'it was my fault. I convinced Beth to –'

'Save it,' he said. 'I know my daughter. There's no way she wasn't the one behind this.'

'She wasn't,' I interrupted. 'I was. It was my idea to fly out here, and I convinced Beth that we could track Lisa down. I wanted the chance to get back at Gideon without anyone interfering.'

I was partly to blame. My entire family were. I didn't want Beth to suffer any more than she had already. Besides, she might be thrown out of the school if they thought they could place every ounce of blame on her for what happened. It was better that we all take responsibility if we could. They wouldn't throw us all out. Three of us weren't even their students anymore and Mandy had never attended the school in the first place.

'It's true,' Mandy backed me up with batting an eye. 'He did it for my sake. I'm sorry, Mr Bennett. We got separated because Will and I were careless. Beth was only guilty of wanting to help Lisa, and we exploited that.'

Our protestations didn't matter. Beth's father was a good man, not an idiot. There was no lie in our combined hatred for Gideon, and the police had explained that we'd all been together when we'd been found, but I'd never place others in danger just to take a shot at Gideon. It wasn't in my nature. Mr Bennett didn't know me well, but he was taking point from my mother who regarded us both with suspicion. It was clear that she didn't believe us.

'I'm tired,' Mr Bennett said, pinching the bridge of his nose. 'You're all going to bed. Beth, stay with Jenny and Meg. Believe me when I say that this conversation isn't over.'

The girls were herded away to go to bed. We followed them out to share a lift to our floor. Lisa was left behind for further scolding from her parents. I didn't know what they'd told her, but a wail resounded around the hotel lobby. It wouldn't have been right for her to escape punishment after putting everyone through so much for her sake.

Still, I was glad that she was safe.

We couldn't talk in the lift. I wanted to reach out for Beth's hand, to hold her, to just let her know that I was happy it was over. I didn't dare while our parents were watching us. Her father was still furious. While I wasn't a parent, I could understand his fear of losing Beth. The terror that I'd felt in that square must have been nothing to what he'd felt. A man who had nothing in his life save his one and only daughter would have been rocked to his core at the notion of her coming to harm.

Just as I'd imagined that life without her wouldn't be worth living, Mr Bennett must have done the same.

There weren't enough words in Heaven and Earth to tell him how sorry I was that I hadn't protected her from that man.

When they all left the lift for their rooms, I kept my eyes on Beth until the doors closed and cut me off from her. I knew better than to follow her or to declare my love to her again. There was a time and a place. I hoped that we would get our chance again someday soon. Until then, I would keep my feelings safely in my heart, where they'd always be for her.

Our mother paid for a suite for us to share. Charlie and Chantelle took rooms on the floor below, and we bade them goodnight as they traipsed off at their floor. I leaned back against the lift wall and silence descended again. I couldn't meet anyone's gaze. I feared that I might betray the tangled web of feelings behind my eyes if I did.

All too soon we were inside of the plush room, our luggage having been sent ahead of us, no doubt thanks to the porters who'd first welcomed us to the hotel earlier that day. My limbs were heavy, my head throbbed, and all I wanted to do was crawl into a warm bed and get the image of Beth in danger out of my head.

'Tell me the truth,' Mum demanded before we could escape. 'Were you behind it?'

'Mum –' Mandy attempted to protest.

'Yes,' I lied. No, it wasn't a lie. 'We all are, Mum. You know that as much as we do. If we'd told people what sort of man Gideon was the first time around, none of us would be here now.'

'I was talking about your Mission Impossible escapades,' she clarified.

'They love each other,' I said. 'Like they're sisters. Wouldn't you have done anything to save one of us? Would you sit and wait for the police, or would you tear the city apart to get us back?'

I could see that she wanted to argue. Any parent would. No one wanted to tell their children that they would have behaved so poorly. It would send the wrong message. No lesson would be learned.

Thankfully, my mother knew that the damage had been done. We couldn't do anything worse than we had already. 'I'd have done the same. Well,' she clarified, 'not quite the same. I wouldn't have confronted a maniac, but I would have looked for you.'

'Believe me,' I said, 'we didn't intend for that to happen. I'll never forgive myself for letting him hurt her.'

'I believe you,' she said. 'However, I am concerned about Beth's conduct. I know,' she held up a hand when I seemed about to interrupt, 'that she did it because she was worried. But she put herself in danger with no regard to her father's feelings, or those of her friends.'

'It was because of their feelings that she ran off on her own,' Mandy said. 'She wanted to protect them.'

'Well, I hope,' our mother said as she walked towards her room, 'that she sees they're as concerned about her welfare as she is about theirs. No life is without value, and when we're gone it's the people that we leave behind who suffer the most.'

Mandy squeezed my shoulder gently before she headed off to bed. I found myself alone in the communal space and dropped onto an obliging sofa. I had a lot to think about before I faced Beth again.

How I could fix things between Jenny and Charlie, how I might apologise to her father and how I might, one day, make Beth realise that no amount of money could ever compare to the value of her life.