Chapter 22

"Amelia!" Xavier shouted. Amelia was stunned for a moment. When she turned her head, she felt herself being drawn into a warm embrace. Xavier hugged her tightly, his body trembling slightly from the force he was exerting as if he wanted to mold her into his very body. "I've been looking for you for so long. I thought I would never get to see you again. I'm sorry, Amelia. I didn't protect you. I'm the one who let you slip through my fingers…" He started sounding choked up near the end of his sentence. Amelia had been dating Xavier for three years, so she had seen many sides of him. She knew that he could be gentle or mischievous. She knew that he could laugh his heart out or dote on her helplessly. But she had never seen him like this—vulnerable and blaming himself as he hugged her carefully like she was a rediscovered treasure that he had lost. It was as if he were afraid that she would disappear again if he so much as blinked. "I don't blame you, Xavier. The only people I blam