Seraphine

twenty two

Nico

Nico sits at the island on his phone, scrolling through emails from both students and faculty members. Some of them are legit inquiries, and some of them are just plain suggestive.

It sickens him to the point where he has to set his phone down.

Once he does, his eyes lift to find Damien and Luca standing at the sink doing dishes. He raises an eyebrow and glances to the left of them, where one of two dishwashers hides behind a cabinet.

They're such old-timers, he muses, before getting up from his stool and walking over to them, silently picking up a dish rag and drying the first plate on the stack Luca had made.

The older man sends him a grateful smile, and Nico nudges his shoulder with his own.

They're all in their own little worlds--Damien's eyebrows furrowed as he rubs at a particularly stubborn stain on the glass dish used to bake the chicken, Luca's eyes soft as he delicately rinses a plate, Nico drying a fork used by one of his partners and humming along to Beethoven--when Enzo comes into the kitchen, looking a little better.

He joins their line of dish-washing, taking the fork Nico hands him and sliding open the cutlery drawer with ease.

"I see someone's in a better mood," Nico says, raising an eyebrow at the smaller man. Enzo smiles gently and nods, taking the plate Nico hands him next.

"Yeah, just did a lot of thinking, and I realized...men at some time are masters of their fates." He shrugs, and Nico narrows his eyes.

"Okay, Shakespeare, give us the English definition." Enzo's smile grows and he shakes his head, lifting the glass dish out of Nico's hand and bending down to put it away.

"It means...Derek's sealed his fate by putting his hands on her, even if he didn't know it at that time. I didn't necessarily egg him on--he was going to hurt her no matter what. We just..sped up the process," he runs a hand through his curls and sighs. Nico nods and goes back to drying the plate Luca had handed him, and the four of them fall into silence.

"So, is our girl sleeping in your bed tonight, then?" Damien leans forward so his blue eyes connect with Enzo's green ones, a taunting smirk on his lips. Enzo furrows his brows.

"What do you mean?" Damien's smirk falters.

"Well, she went up to talk to you, and I'm assuming she fell asleep because she's not here with us now..." he gestures around them, and Enzo tilts his head in confusion.

"She never came up to talk to me?"

The four of them stare at each other for a minute before a simultaneous FUCK fills the grand kitchen. Damien throws down his sponge, Luca shuts off the sink, Nico slams his hands on the counter, and Enzo drops the plate he was holding--the shattering of the china not bothering any of them as they storm out of the kitchen.

"She is going to be in so much trouble," Damien mutters as he wipes a hand down his face, the first of the four to reach the door and rip it open.

"We have to get her out of trouble first before we put her in anymore," Nico reasons, and Damien grunts. Luca sighs and fists his dark hair, walking up to the fountain in the middle of the driveway.

"Alright. Damien, search the house. Enzo, garden and east grounds. I'll take the west. Nico, go ask Lyla if she saw anything. Call me if you find anything." Luca breaks them off effortlessly, and they all nod before heading in their respective directions.

Nico grumbles under his breath the whole way down to the security booth, a fire in his eyes. As soon as he gets a glimpse of Lyla, anger flares within him, and he marches right up to the glass and bangs on it with his fist.

Lyla jumps and the book Damien'd given her flies out of her hands. Her deep brown eyes are bewildered when she sees Nico and his expression, and she quickly slides the glass open.

"Boss--"

"Did you see a girl come out here earlier?" He cuts her off, and Lyla blinks, taking so long--too long--to answer that Nico bangs on the glass some more.

"Yes! Yes, I did--um blonde, short, sweatpants--" he's nodding before she finishes and he waves his hand, telling her to get on with her story. "Um, she wanted to get out, said she had a ride and when I didn't see a car on the cameras, she told me she left her phone back at the house and ran back up that way...should I--"

"Yes," Nico snarls and Lyla nods, turning and quickly pulling up the cameras from an hour ago. Nico watches the black and white pictures flash and whir as Lyla clicks a few buttons, and then he sees Seraphine's face and he relaxes.

"There, she went back up to the house, and then--wait, now she's going into the woods...damn, that must've been when I turned my back. I'm so sorry, Boss--" Nico runs a hand down his face, groaning.

"You should be fucking sorry!" He shouts at Lyla, who lowers her gaze to the ground. Your carelessness just lost us our girl! He wants to scream, wants to make her understand what she did.

He pauses, breathing raggedly. With a shake of his head, he buries his face in his hands.

It wasn't Lyla's carelessness. It was his.

"Nico," Luca's calm voice washes over Nico, and his shoulders slump. All it takes is his name, and guilt weighs his stomach down like an anvil. He lifts his head and turns to Lyla.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Lyla. You didn't know. I shouldn't have yelled." He apologizes as Luca, Damien, and Enzo come towards them. Lyla looks up and smiles softly, playing with her braids.

"It's okay, Boss. I see how much she means to you, I should've kept my eye on her." He smiles at her observation and turns away from her, going up the drive to meet his partners.

"What'd you find?" Enzo asks, his eyes darting between Nico's disheveled appearance and Lyla's booth.

"She came down here trying to get out, and then went back towards the house before going into the woods. I'm assuming she found her way out, but we should check just in case."

They spend the next two hours sweeping the woods with a few of their staff members who'd stayed behind for security measures. Nico's throat is aching and his voice is hoarse by the time Luca tells them that they should head back. He wants to fight, wants to keep looking, wants to go straight to Seraphine's apartment, sweep her up in his arms, and hide her from the world forever, but he nods instead and follows his partners back up to the estate.

Damien is the first inside, leaving the door open for the rest of them while running a hand through his hair and tugging at it. Enzo sighs and rubs his tired face, his eyes betraying his usually well-hidden exhaustion. Nico closes the door behind Luca and keeps his eyes on the ground, going over the nights' events and wondering where they went wrong.

Luca stands in front of them, his tongue poking out to lick his lips. After a few moments of silence between them, he speaks, though his voice is tight.

"She's made her choice. We just have to be here for her when she realizes it was the wrong one."