NICCOLÒ

13. Candlelight

"-and now," she huffed to Stefano, who was grinning, "I've got to dress up and go to dinner with him!"

Stefano covered a snigger with a cough, lifting his hand to his face to mask his smile. "You'll have a wonderful date," he repeated for the seventh time. She shot him a glare. "It's not a date."

"Don't let him hear you say that," he joked, leaning against the greenhouse bench.

Cee sat next to him, sighing to herself. Her decision to avoid Romano as much as possible wasn't going to plan.

How could she even begin to consider forgiving him? What he did was literal torture - mental and physical - she felt like she was going to die. She wanted to die.

But he got you out, her mind whispered, he saved you. Cee blinked, shaking her head roughly, the words 'Stockholm syndrome' running through her head.

"I don't think I could date a man who tortures innocent people," she mumbled, mostly to herself - but Stefano heard her sharply honest words anyway.

"But you weren't innocent," he pointed out, setting the book he was scanning back down on the table. "Not to him, anyway." Cee gave him an incredulous look.

"You have to be joking."

"No, no, hear me out." Stefano sat up a little straighter, ignoring Cee's hovering hands, waiting to help. "Boss believed you were a spy, right?"

"Yes..." She had no idea where he was going with this.

"And that you'd just helped to kill tens of his men." Cee blinked uncertainly, hunching her shoulders uncomfortably.

"Yes."

"He was trying to protect his family, he was angry. It's not my place to question Mr Romano, but even if I had the choice, I would back every decision he makes." Stefano's expression was firm, his jaw set determinedly.

"That's loyal of you," Cee said carefully, trying not to offend him - and failing.

"You're not understanding." Grumpy Stefano had returned; he huffed and shifted so that his back was towards her.

"I just don't see how- how his- these punishments," Cee struggled to choose the right words, "I don't see how they solve everything."

"Not everyone is kind," Stefano replied distantly, "Mr Romano is not a kind man."

"You can say that again," she muttered under her breath, casting her eyes to the floor. He smiled knowingly, patting her arm with his good hand.

"Mr Romano may not be a kind man," he stated, "but he does what's right for his family. He would die for me."

Cee sat in silence, deep in thought. She was scared of Romano, like a mouse was terrified of a cat, and he was toying with her. Asking her to dinner wouldn't take away her fear, asking her to dinner wasn't to his benefit, aside from the negotiations-

She blinked. The negotiations between the Romanos and her family. That was all this was about. Cee frowned, her heart rate slowing down; was she disappointed? No: relieved, that was all.

"Don't you have work to get to?" she asked, slightly more snappish than usual; Stefano gave her a reproachful look, and she immediately felt guilty. "Sorry."

"Actually," Stefano mentioned, looking down at his legs as they dangled off of the bench, "I am working." Cee blinked, confused. He grinned at her. "I'm your personal security now."

7:23. Was she nervous? Was it too early to go down? Maybe she should change her earrings-