"Elio, my locket." Andrew's voice shattered. "My locket is missing."
"The locket you wear all the time?" Elio frowned.
Andrew nodded urgently and muttered, panic rising inside him like venom, his eyes burning with unshed tears of losing the only thing he had left of his parents.
"Yes. That was the last gift my father gave me before—before he died, Elio."
Andrew's voice cracked at the end, sending a sharp ache into Elio's chest. Elio's heart twisted with pain as seeing Andrew like this physically hurt him.
Elio immediately understood the importance and emotions that the locket held for Andrew. How much it meant to him. And it explained why Andrew never took it off and was reacting like this.
The restlessness of Andrew and the fear of losing it as if his world had crumbled made a protective instinct surge through Elio. A desire to find it and return it to him at all costs swirled within him.
