Love Me Back (Amelia and Daniel) novel Chapter 198

He hadn’t seen wrong—the bracelet was gone from the box. She’d taken it with her. She really had taken the bracelet.

So, it wasn’t true that she left everything behind. There must have been something she still cared about, even if it was just the tiniest shred of attachment. But attachment, no matter how faint, was still there.

Finley watched as Daniel alternated between searching for photographs and dumping the contents of boxes onto the floor, rummaging through them in a frenzy. He looked almost unhinged.

Unable to stand it any longer, Finley spoke up. “Daniel, what are you looking for? Let me help you.”

Daniel straightened, his eyes bloodshot and wild. He carefully wrapped a photograph in a tissue and tucked it into his coat pocket. “I need to find Amelia. I have to keep looking. I refuse to believe a person can just vanish without a trace.”

“You’re unbelievable!” Sophia snapped, finally losing her patience. “Are you blind, Daniel? Can’t you see Amelia wants to leave you? After all this, you still can’t let her go?”

“She still has feelings for me.”

She took the bracelet, didn’t she? Didn’t that prove she still cared, even a little?

He’d given her that bracelet only recently—a piece he’d designed himself. It wasn’t like the other gifts. This one had meaning. The rest didn’t matter; as long as she took the bracelet, that was enough for him.

He could let the rest go.

Women get angry and break things—he could handle that. If she smashed something, he’d just pick up the pieces after her. It didn’t matter, as long as she was still around. She could do whatever she wanted, as long as she stayed by his side.

As long as she stayed.

As long as she didn’t leave.

Daniel strode toward the door, determined. Before he could step outside, his phone rang again.

He answered without breaking stride.

Finley couldn’t understand how things had come to this. The two of them had been so close. Before Violet came back from abroad, the guys would joke that they envied no one—not even star-crossed lovers—just Daniel and his wife.

How could two people so in love end up like this?

A crushing pressure squeezed Daniel’s chest, as if a vacuum was sucking the air from his lungs, making it harder and harder to breathe.

He leaned against the elevator wall, eyes shut once more, desperately going over every detail in his mind, searching for any place Amelia might have gone.

The elevator doors slid open. A gust of cold air swept in from the lobby, making him shiver. Daniel took a deep breath, steeling himself, and stepped out—only for his phone to ring again. It was Grandma Edith.

This was the worst possible time for her to call. His mind was on nothing but Amelia. He planned to brush her off with a few words and hang up, but her voice was sharper than usual, stern and commanding.

“Where are you? Why did Amelia just tell me she’s going somewhere no one can find her? Did you upset her again? Get back to the house this instant!”