"I will never let you out of my sight ever again,"

WHEN Serena wakes up the next morning, the first thing she does is check if the letter is still there but her heart jumps to her mouth when all she feels is empty space.

She quickly gets upright and flings the pillow to the side but sighs in relief when she sees it. Turns out, she placed it in the middle. She makes sure that everything is intact and puts it on top of her thighs as she stretches.

It's still dark and the rain has subsided and Serena frowns because it ended so soon and also that she had unexpectedly woken up early. Too early.

She decides to get up to go clean up, even changing from the night dress she was given by Mandy to a white cotton one that is a little short—reaching on her knees and then going back to her room.

Sitting on the bed, she takes the letter and stares at it. When she reaches home, she'll have to burn it so that it won't be eligible for anyone to read. Someone knocks on the door and Serena shoves the letter behind her. "Come in!" she yells.

"Empress," Judy says.

"I'm up. I'm up," Serena says, starting to get out of bed but stops when she sees the look on Judy's face. She looks horrified and Serena starts getting worried.

"What is it? Why do you look like that?" she asks her, walking closer.

Judy gulps, and Serena's eyes don't waver from hers.

"Tell m-

"The emperor is here,"

Serena's face matches Judy and takes a step back. Why is Xavier here? How did he know where to find her?

Judy shakes her head. "I have no idea, empress. He came out of nowhere this morning,"

"What time is it?" Serena asks.

"Quarter past six," Judy replies, and Serena almost faints.

"What?!" she shrieks. "Why did he arrive so early?"

Judy shakes her head again, not able to find an answer but Serena isn't expecting one. She wanted to stay a bit—collect her thoughts on how she can retrieve her diary but Xavier has ruined her plans.

"Where is she?"

Both Judy and Serena look at the door when they hear Xavier's voice and Serena almost pees on herself. He seems to be in a foul mood and that doesn't lessen the tension.

The door then swings open and Xavier's muscular tall figure is seen. His outfit is a bit ragged together with his hair ruffled from threading his hands through it frequently and his usual stoic face is now replaced with relief and anger.

He gets further in. "Get out," he orders Judy who immediately complies, shutting the door behind her.

Serena swallows, her lips gone dry. "Xavier, w-what are you doing here?" she asks, feigning oblivion but Xavier doesn't respond. Instead, he goes over to her and wraps his fingers around her neck.

Serena instinctively grabs a hold of his hand that has a strong hold on her neck and gasps when she feels him squeezing. This man is going to kill her.

Xavier's burning eyes drill her scared ones. "You think you're so clever, aren't you?" he starts, and Serena shakes her head—well, tries to.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she wheezes out, and Xavier tightens his hold more and Serena starts hitting his arm to try to make him release her but nothing works.

"You don't know?" he says, his voice strained. "I told you I will find you when you leave me,"

"No. I never left you," she answers but Xavier laughs and lets go, enabling Serena to breathe but that is short-lived when he pushes her against the wall—trapping her.

"You ran away," he says.

"I wasn't trying to ru-

"Liar!" he spits out, and Serena shuts her eyes.

"Open them," he tells her but when she doesn't, he slams his hand on the wall and this makes Serena shrink in fear, wishing that the wall would open up and swallow her.

"That wasn't my intention," she tries to defend herself after opening her eyes.

9 hours ago

When night came in, Xavier didn't go down for dinner. He stayed in his office, trying to continue with his work but his mind couldn't focus. It wouldn't focus.

Lightning flashed and Xavier looked outside the windows. It was starting to get dark and he was becoming agitated. Serena is out there—somewhere together with her personal maid who he has no idea what her name was and Peter.

He felt betrayed three times as if he had turned into Jesus. First, from his wife then her personal maid then Peter who had utmost faith in him but not everyone is faithful. He had made up his mind that he'd deal with them thoroughly for stealing his wife.

He was trying to convince himself that he was looking for her because he wanted to make her life a living hell but that was not the case. At all.

He wanted her to be right beside him until either of them died.

Of course, he didn't love her but feelings of possessiveness were rooting in his heart and he had stopped giving a rat's ass about it. The moment he found her, he'd never let her out of sight even if it meant tying her to his bed.

The door opened and Jade came in looking worried. She went around the desk and placed the back of her hand on Xavier's forehead. "You're not sick," she said.

Xavier gently pushed her hand away and smiled. "I'm fine, Jade,"

Jade didn't believe him but nodded. "If you say so. I was worried when you didn't come down for dinner,"

Xavier then got up from his seat, cracked his neck side to side, and sighed tiredly. "I'm tired and I don't have an appetite. I'll be going to sleep," he told her and started heading out.

"I haven't seen Serena today," Jade said, and Xavier stopped. "Is she in her room?"

"You saw her this morning," Xavier said, sounding suspicious. "Why do you want to know?"

Jade shrugged. "I just wanted to see her,"

Xavier narrowed his eyes at the comment and Jade smirked. "What? Do you think I'll do something to her?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so," Xavier slowly replied.

"I tried going to her room today," Jade started, walking closer to her brother. "But the guards wouldn't let me in even if I am the emperor's sister,"

"I ordered them not to,"

Jade crossed her arms around her chest, her smirk set into a frown. "What is happening?"

Xavier sighed. "Nothing,"

Jade's eyes bored into her brother's, trying to find out whether he was lying to her but Xavier was an expert at masking his expressions. After some time, she gave up and opened the door to show herself out but then she turned. "I know something is going on. And I'm going to find out,"

With that, she left and closed the door. Xavier sighed again and went to his room to take a bath then head off to sleep. It was going to be a long day tomorrow and for the first time in his life, he was looking forward to it.

Meanwhile...

After Xavier went to sleep, George formed a meeting with some of his trusted soldiers in one of the empty rooms in the home.

"Before the emperor wakes up tomorrow morning, we need to have an idea where the empress could possibly be. I do not want to tire him out," George said, and the rest nodded their heads.

"We can go tonight, sir," one of them said.

"Not in this weather, Carson," George declined.

"It's just rain, sir," another guard said and the rest agreed.

"We have fought in worse weathers than this,"

George laughed and nodded his head. "I know that Bill, but I do not want to endanger your lives,"

"We're endangering the empress' life when we're standing here not doing anything," Carson replied. "She needs us,"

George held his chin deep in thought. It wasn't a bad idea and he trusted his men to take out this job. After all, if they find her, it will be much easier for Xavier to go up there and bring her back home.

"Fine," he said. "Carson, Billie, pick any guards that may help you find her and once you do, do not engage until the emperor is there,"

Carson and Billie stiffly nodded their heads. "We'll send one of us to come back to you with news. If we all come back, then we haven't found the empress yet," one of them said.

George nodded his head and dismissed them. He watched them get on their horses and ride outside the home down the street. He then asked one of the maids if Xavier was still in his office but they informed him that he had retired to bed.

If Carson found her, he hoped that it would lighten up Xavier's heart but being his childhood friend, he knew that gladness would not only be felt but also intense anger and he pitied Serena.

That morning...

One of the guards, Marson, who was with Carson, came back at around four in the morning and told George that they had found Serena. He was relieved and told him to show them the way after Xavier came down.

He debated whether to wake him up but let him sleep some more because he hadn't got enough rest lately. So, he told Marson to prepare the carriage at seven in the morning and wait patiently for the sun to rise but he had no idea that Xavier woke up an hour later.

Xavier noticed that the rain had stopped and he dragged himself to his bathroom to bathe and got dressed in just a black buttoned shirt that wasn't tucked neatly in his pants. He felt like his body had hit the rock bottom and laid on his back.

All he wanted was to get some needed rest and he would be able to succeed after finding Serena first. He then got up and out of his room but bumped into George.

"You're ear-Why are you still in your attire? Didn't you get some sleep?" Xavier inquired.

George's eyes widened in shock not expecting to come across Xavier. "I-

"Yet you told me to get some rest," Xavier laughed but stopped when he didn't hear George joining in and found that suspicious.

"What? What is it?" he asks him, turning serious.

George sighs, not in the mood to lie to him. "We found her, sir,"

Xavier released a harsh breath and blinked. "Are you serious?" he asks not believing George but George nodded.

"Where is she? Take me to her!" he demands, going down the stairs, George hot in his heels.

"Sir, at least wear something warm," he says, noticing the flimsy shirt Xavier was wearing but Xavier didn't listen to him.

So, he removed his coat and placed it on his shoulders. Xavier was a bit smaller than him because George was a soldier therefore gaining more muscle. The carriage wasn't prepared because of the abrupt trip so they had to use their horses and Xavier didn't mind because he used to play polo in school.

"Lead the way, child," Xavier commands Marson who immediately agrees and they head off to the farmhouse.

Present

Xavier's scowl irks Serena because he is wrong. She wasn't trying to escape but that thought is still circling in her mind.

"Your plan to escape failed, Serena. I thought you were smarter than that," he mocks; and Serena bites her lip trying to contain saying something mean and Xavier looks down at them.

"I am clever," Serena grits. "And if I wanted to escape, I would have already crossed the border,"

"Then why did you leave?"

"I didn't leave! Okay?" Serena screams at his face, and Xavier takes a step back. "I wasn't trying to leave. It was raining heavily yesterday and we couldn't travel in such weather so I suggested that we stop somewhere to stay low. Is that a crime?!"

Xavier keeps quiet and Serena almost laughs. However, he suddenly grabs her arm and roughly drags her out of the room, down the stairs, and emerges in the living room where the whole family stands together with both Peter and Judy and George.

She hits his arm, digging her heels on the floor to pull him back but Xavier's strength prevents her from doing so by tightening his hold on her wrist.

Her eyes open wide when she remembers the letter that she had stuffed under the bedsheets and with that, she kicks the back of Xavier's shin making his knees buckle a bit and release his hold on her. This gives her the upper hand as she dashes towards Judy and places her mouth near her ear.

"Hide the letter that's under my bed sheets. Don't let anyone fin-

Serena doesn't manage to finish her sentence since Xavier wraps his arms around her waist, turns her around to face him, and throws her over his shoulder.

She can feel her blood rushing to her head because of the upside-down position but cranes her neck upwards to look at Judy who nods and hastily goes upstairs.

Xavier finally puts her down on top of his horse and shortly climbs after, sitting behind her—his chest against her back. He then removed his coat and placed it around her shoulders to give her some warmth in this cold weather. The horse moves forward into a jog then breaks out into a run.

Serena bobs up and down and starts feeling nauseous. Xavier notices this and pulls her further to his chest but Serena is stubborn.

"Lean on me," he tells her, in her ear, and Serena shudders. "It will lessen the movement,"

Serena takes time to do so but eventually listens and leans back to Xavier's warm chest. Being close to him this way makes her smile a bit because it feels nice. As much as there's tension, she treasures this moment.

The whole ride is silent and Serena breaks it.

"Xavier. You need to understand. I wasn't trying to dis-

"Shut up!" he hisses, and Serena gulps.

She isn't sure what will happen to Peter and Judy so she tries to defend them. It wasn't their fault and she doesn't want to lose Judy because she's the only person she can trust.

"Please, don't punish Peter and Judy. They have nothing to do with this," she says, but Xavier doesn't reply. So, she continues. "Punish me instead,"

"That's what I intend to do," Xavier says, lowly and Serena can feel her body shaking in fear.

What will he do to her? Will he kill her? Put her in jail?

She then sees her carriage that is being pulled by other guards with their horses and turns to face forward. They are almost at the Château and Serena badly wants to throw herself down from the horse and roll down the grass into the shrubs but with Xavier being so close to her, that won't be possible.

She can now see the house and her heart beats frankly. Xavier stops the horse right in front of the main door and gets down, taking Serena with him.

He doesn't let go of her hand even when they get inside the home, and up the stairs.

"Let go of me, Xavier!" she screams, hitting him. "Let go!"

Xavier doesn't listen and turns to the right, confusing Serena. This isn't the way to her room. Her room is on the left and she wonders where he's really taking her.

"Where are you taking me?" she inquires, but no answer.

At that moment, Jade gets out of her room and her face forms into a confused expression. Both women look at each other but Jade breaks it when she turns to her brother.

"Xavier? What is going on here?"

Xavier doesn't listen to Jade, passing her, and enters through a double door that opens up to a bedroom. From the dark furniture, Serena adds that this might be his room and she becomes more agitated.

"Close the door and don't let anyone in," he demands, and Serena looks behind at the guards who obey the order.

Her body is then thrown to the lower side of the soft bed and she quickly turns to look at him. Xavier's eyes look livid and Serena instinctively backs up on his bed but he grabs her ankle and brings her back to him.

He leans on top of her and stares hard at her eyes.

"From now on, you will be sleeping in this room with me. I will never let you out of my sight ever again. Ever. Do you understand me?"