Some larger groups had gone further afield while we explored the piazzas popular with tourists. They were glamourous, popular, and everyone wanted to be seen there. I had an inkling that Lisa would, too. She was a socialite, always wanting to be the centre of attention. We wouldn't find her hiding around in alleys or lurking in dark bars, no matter what anyone said. If Gideon was still trying to keep her happy, then there was a solid chance that she was dragging him around for photo opportunities or shopping trips.

If Gideon had taken control of the situation, well... there was no telling where he might drag Lisa off to.

At the Trevi fountain, I stopped Will and Amanda. They wouldn't like what I had to say, but that wasn't about to keep me from saying it. I told them resolutely, 'I want to look by myself.'

'What?' Amanda asked. 'No way! You don't know your way around, and it's dark!'

'She's right, it's too dangerous,' Will agreed. 'I'm not letting you wander off. Not with him out there somewhere.'

'I'm not asking for permission,' I retorted. 'I only didn't say this in the hotel because I didn't want Jenny to lecture me. Besides, this way we'll cover more ground.'

'We can cover that same ground together,' Will argued.

'Every hour, we'll meet back at the fountain, okay?' I compromised.

'No, that's not - Beth!'

I knew they wouldn't agree, so I ran.

They'd both made complete sense, of course. I had only glimpsed the map and everyone else had been sent off in groups for their safety, but I'd always been reckless. Not only that, but I fully blamed myself for everything. I'd known what Gideon was capable of, and I hadn't told all my friends before the trip. I could have put the idea of running away with him out of Lisa's head the moment she'd admitted her crush on the teacher, but I'd thought she didn't deserve to know. It was my fault she was lost somewhere in Rome with a man who'd drain her bank account and leave her with nothing but a broken heart.

If anyone was going to be put at risk for the sake of rectifying all those mistakes, then it was going to be me alone. I'd made the errors of judgement, and I needed to take responsibility, not them. Besides, I would be much faster alone, and I liked to think I knew the measure of a man like Gideon well enough that I could guess the sort of places he might frequent. He wasn't from a rich family; he wouldn't be comfortable concealing himself in fancy restaurants and bars. Gideon would stick to the dirty back alley bars and seedy clubs, which suited his character most.

The kind of places that poor people liked to skulk around.

The kind of establishments that I wouldn't be out-of-place in, either.

Like any city popular with tourists, the main streets were bustling with crowds and I easily escaped Will and Amanda. Upon realising that I was entirely alone, I felt both fear and relief. My plan had worked, but I wasn't ignorant of all the ways it might go wrong, and that it might be the last time I ever saw either of them. I would keep my word and return to the fountain in an hour if my search proved fruitless. Until then, I had to hope that nothing untoward happened before I found Lisa.

Many of the alleys were too narrow to accommodate many people. The only light came from the side windows of the buildings bordering either side of the street, faint glows which didn't quite chase the shadows from the gutters, where rodents and spiders scuttered past in the gloom. Many were empty from end to end, serving merely as shortcuts between streets, and were seldom used by anyone. None of the doors on either side were open, and I was happy that I wasn't about to find myself trapped in the cramped space with some mugger or, worse, Gideon.

Time ticked by steadily. With each failed search down a new backstreet, I felt my confidence in my plan dwindle and die. At first, I'd hoped that our numbers might ensure our success, but I'd underestimated the size of a labyrinthine city like Rome, that we were all on foot, and that we were all strangers to her fair streets. Gideon must have been familiar with the city to hide within her walls with such success. Lisa, too, had frequented Italy and Rome with her family in the past. How arrogant I'd been to think I might know better than them.

To think I might emerge victorious from my mission.

The time to return to Will came and went, and I mentally apologised to him for not keeping my word. I knew that, had I met him at the fountain as promised, he'd have insisted that I stay by his side for the rest of the night. It was admirable and flattering that he would rather have me safe than find my friend, but I had no interest in returning to the hotel unless Lisa's hand was in mine.

My feet ached and my eyelids were heavy, but I refused to give up hope. It had been hours since we'd ventured from the hotel, and I'd wandered farther and farther from the fountains and piazzas than I'd ever intended. I wandered haplessly into yet another dark street. This one was wider than the rest of the alleys I'd already checked off my list, and more densely populated with locals.

Although it was still as dark and miserable under the evening gloom, there were small restaurants, bars, and stores with stools outside which let patrons sit at counters and eat in relative silence. Italian music drifted through crackling radio speakers from open windows and buzzing bulbs mounted to the walls left hazy pools of light atop the cobblestones, which were slick with standing water trickling from drainpipes.

I hugged my arms around myself, feeling more vulnerable in this alley than I had any of the others. In those, I'd been reassured that I was the only person in them. Now I was passed by tall, lumbering men who stank of cheap booze and were swathed in shadows which masked their faces and intent. Most ignored me, too drunk and too tired to care that a teenager was lost and alone in their midst. Others turned their heads in my general direction, looked back over their shoulders and observed that there would be witnesses to anything that they might attempt, and shuffled along without interfering with my search.

The door of one bar ahead opened, and a man stumbled out with a woman under his arm. They conversed quietly to one another in Italian, but his accent wasn't that of a native speaker. As they passed by, the man bumped me with his shoulder. Without a second glance he mumbled, 'Mi dispiace.'

My hand shot out to grasp his wrist before I could think twice. I'd have known that voice anywhere. It was the voice of the man who'd made my heart flutter before I'd found out was a reptile he was, who'd encouraged me to follow my musical passion while he'd played at being a teacher, and who'd made my blood run cold the day he'd cornered me in his classroom.

Gideon Wickham.

Lazily, his head turned, and he looked down at me. Recognition flashed in his eyes. Sobered by the sight of someone he knew, he leapt back, startling the woman and a small group of men who'd been passing us in the alley. Gideon cast furtive glances toward either end of the alley in his panic. It was a panic which soon subsided when he realised that I was alone and that he was in no immediate danger from the police or my teachers.

'Il mio amore, chi è questo?' the woman on his arm asked.

A woman who was not Lisa.

'Va via. Io non sono interessato a te ora,' he said to her with a cruel smile.

Whatever that meant, she wasn't happy about it. Not only did she slap Gideon, but she saw fit to hit me, too. I could have shouted a few choice words after her, but I didn't see the point. The woman was none of my concern, and I had no interest in wasting time fighting a stranger when I had only found one of the two people I'd been hunting for in the dark streets of Rome.

That, and I had to wonder if she'd even understand whatever I had to say.

'Did you come all the way to Italy to get me back?' Gideon asked. His breath was positively putrid. I didn't know how many hours he'd spent drinking, but it could have peeled paint. When he leaned in, I thought I might choke on it. His hot breath beat against my face. In a sultry voice, he continued, 'Did it eat you up with jealousy when you heard I was playing with your friend?'

'Where's Lisa?' I demanded in a snarl. 'What have you done with her?'

He stood up straight and shrugged offhandedly. If he'd ditched her somewhere in the city, we might never find her. She was too damn proud to just walk back to the hotel and admit she'd been dumped. For all I knew she might have been picked up by someone else, or Gideon might have her tied up in a hotel somewhere.

'Tell me!' I ordered.

'I like when you're demanding,' he purred. 'Do it again. It gives me chills.'

'I swear to God, Gideon -'

'Try swearing to me,' he said. 'Better yet, why don't you beg? On your knees. I've always wanted to see you -'

'If you've done anything to her, I'll -'

I yelped when he grabbed my collar and thrust me up against the wall. No one in the alley cared what we might be doing in the shadows. To them, it may have seemed to be a lover's tiff and nothing unusual. None of the strangers had seen the way my head had bounced against the wall, leaving me dazed. I tried to push myself forwards and escape, but he forced his knee against my hip and trapped me in place, using his bodyweight to trap me.

'Step away, or I'll knee you so hard that you'll need retrieval surgery,' I warned far more bravely than I felt.

'Lisa's pretty fun and easy, but you know that already. I had my eye on you as soon as I got into the school. I've seen your type before. You're so desperate to prove you can take care of yourself... Girls like you are so fun to break. You're a challenge.'

'The only thing that's going to get broken here is your nose.'

My voice was trembling, and my head was throbbing. I wanted to cry and scream for someone to come to my rescue, but my pride wouldn't allow it. I would try to break his nose if it came to that. One swift headbutt would do it. And, if it didn't, it would at least distract him long enough to allow me to escape. A thousand scenarios raced through my aching head as I considered how I might elude him, which turns I should take, and how long it would take me to get back to a piazza and to the safety of Will's arms.

'You see?' he asked. 'That's what I'm talking about! All that tough talk, and all your sarcasm. I see through it, Beth. I know that you're desperate to be noticed. To have someone approve of you. I remember how desperate you were to spend every moment with me at school. Do yourself a favour, and just let yourself enjoy this.'

The hell I would.

My hand thrust forward, the heel aimed squarely at his nose. Gideon was faster than I was and caught my wrist in his elegant, powerful fingers. He slammed my arm back against the wall and squeezed so hard that I felt it all the way to my bones.

'You're not the only one who likes to play rough, Beth,' he cooed in a sinister voice. 'You're too weak. Did you really think you could hurt me?'

'No, but she can.'

'Who can?' he asked.

Gideon turned away just in time to take a stool to the face. He spun in place before he fell into the dirt, his mouth bleeding profusely while he groaned pathetically. The girl dropped the stool she'd stolen from outside of the nearby bar, breathing hard, her eyes glittering with furious tears.

'I can!' Lisa roared down at him.

I'd never been so happy to see her in all my life.