Christian gently kissed the sleeping Isabella, sighed when he saw that she made no move. So he continued talking to himself.

"My first mistake was not searching for you after my father separated us when we were children. I could have written to you, informed you, told you that I loved you more than anyone in the world. That the hundreds of times I said we'd marry when we were adults and I wouldn't let anyone hurt you, I meant it truly. And I came back, Bella, I did," Christian continued his monologue. "I returned for you; it was the first thing I did when we came back to this...