Chapter 238 Unbroken Faith 

The wildfire had led to Rowan’s disappearance, and Quinn refused to believe her brother had simply vanished from the world. 

She drove back to the apartment. Julius was already there, seated on the couch with a stack of documents. When he saw her come in, he set the papers aside and stood up. 

“You’re back,” he said warmly. 

Quinn stepped closer, eyeing him. 

Julius paused, noticing her reddened eyes. “What’s wrong? Have you been crying?” 

Before he could finish, Quinn wrapped her arms around him and buried her face deep against his chest. 

Surprise flashed across Julius‘ features.. 

In his mind, Quinn was always the strong one. No matter how much pain she endured, she rarely shed 

tears. 

Yet her eyes were unmistakably swollen, indicating that she had wept for a long time. 

Did someone hurt her? Was she wronged out there? 

The woman he cherished so much deserved nothing but happiness, and he wanted nothing more than to see her smile again. 

And yet now, she had been crying in public, no less. 

“Who was it? Who made you cry? Tell me!” Julius demanded, a rare flare of anger sharpening his low voice. 

He had always been a man of cool detachment, indifferent to almost everything and everyone around 

him. 

But the sight of Quinn’s swollen eyes ignited a fury he scarcely recognized in himself. 

“It’s not what you think,” she murmured, her face still buried against his chest, her voice rough with 

emotion. 

She had broken down at the military district because she heard Rowan’s recorded voice and watched drone footage he had shot five years earlier. For a fleeting second, it felt as if the long, aching gulf of time between her and her brother had never opened at all. 

Then, when she returned to the apartment and saw Julius sitting alone on the sofa, she suddenly felt the sting of her tears again. 

Since Rowan’s disappearance and their parents‘ deaths, she had been orphaned in every sense that mattered. 

She once believed Trent would give her a family, but he had not. Even after three years of marriage, the Grafton family had never truly accepted her. 

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Yet the instant she opened the door to this apartment and saw Julius waiting, she was swept by the sudden certainty that she had, at last, come home. 

“Julius, let me hold you for a while,” she whispered. 

“All right,” he answered softly, allowing her to hug him. 

Time stretched. Only after a long while did she loosen her arms and lift her head. 

Her apricot–brown eyes looked even redder now, a silvery mist gathering until it seemed one more word might make her cry again. 

“What happened? Don’t cry.” Julius brushed gentle fingers along her cheekbone, his thumb gliding across the corner of her eye. “Whatever trouble you’re facing, I’ll handle it.” 

Her eyes stung a bit more, yet an unbidden smile graced her lips. “Julius, when you’re like this… how can I not love you?” 

“What?” He froze, staring at her. “You love me?” 

The cool steadiness of his voice cracked on the last two words, as his voice quivered on the final syllables. 

Quinn blinked hard, wiping away the moisture clouding her vision. With clear, unwavering conviction, she said, “Yes. Llove you, Julius Whitethorn. I love you!” 

In that instant, a single, crystalline tear slipped from the corner of his eye before he could stop it. 

Startled, she hardly had time to react before he pulled her into a bruising embrace. 

“Quinn, you can’t lie to me. Now that you’ve said it, you’re not allowed to take it back, and not allowed to regret it,” he breathed. 

She raised her hand and stroked his tense back, soothing the man who clung to her like a teddy bear. “I said it, and I won’t take it back or regret it. Julius Whitethorn, I love you.” 

Her words were music to him, purer than any hymn. 

He had believed that what happened last night was already a gift from the heavens. 

Even if she had surrendered merely because he tempted her, or because she pitied his relentless devotion, he would have accepted it gratefully–so long as it bound her to him a little more. 

But now she was telling him she had truly fallen in love with him. 

He felt so blessed and ever so grateful. 

“Quinnie…” He repeated her name over and over, tightening his hold as though afraid she might vanish if he eased his grip, desperate to feel her living warmth and prove this moment was real. 

“Enough,” she said at last, cupping his face between both palms. She wiped away the tear on his cheek with her thumb. “You told me not to cry, and now look. You’re the one in tears.” 

“I’m just… so happy,” he confessed. “I never knew I could feel happiness like this.” 

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She could feel his joy radiating over her. She smiled, brushed away the last of the tears on his lashes, and said, “From today on, let’s stay happy. When we find Rowan, I’ll tell him that you’re the man I chose, and the man I love.”