where the poison is

Chapter Twenty Four

Billie woke up feeling cold. The body that was meant to be next to her wasn't.

"Diana." she called, rubbing her eyes and then opening them to look around the room.

When she didn't see who she was looking for, she got up to search the bathroom. She hoped that Diana just went down to get breakfast. That hope died when she recognized the note on the bedside table.

She picked it up, reading the two words with immense disdain.

'I'm sorry.'

Billie wrinkled the paper into her fist and threw it to the ground.

Sorry does not cut it.

Billie immediately knew who she had to go see first. She saved her tears for another day. Right now, she has to find out where Diana went.

She had no problem storming into Finneas' office, landing her hands on his table with a loud bang.

"Where did you take her?"

Finneas sighs, yet he didn't look away from his laptop. "Billie, this is my place of work."

"She's pregnant with my baby. Tell me where she is."

"I allowed you to go see her because I wanted you to be able to say goodbye. I'm not telling you where she went. I don't care how much you beg."

Perhaps Finneas was doing Billie a favor. But she couldn't help but believe he's evil. Billie doesn't care how young she is, she shouldn't have to be deprived of her own child.

She stands her ground, hoping that Finneas would falter. She damanded and begged. When that didn't work, she cried and swore. When Finneas was still relentless, she angrily yelled and kicked and hit the table. But to no avail.

"Finneas, please." she said weakly.

Her brother didn't even blink an eye. "Close my door on your way out."

He loved his sister, but he just couldn't have her follow Diana to another country.

Billie tightened her hands into a fist. She was helpless. She didn't know how to get answers out of her brother. But that didn't mean she would ever give up.

"I hate you so fucking much." she spat.

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

Billie gave his table one last kick, before turning around and banging the door shut as she walked out of it.

The next few days were dreadful. All she did was cry and brood about her lost lover.

Her best friend Zoe emotionally supported her as best she could. But no comfort could be enough than that of knowing where Diana is.

"Why would she leave me?" Billie asks, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom.

"I don't know." Zoe answers.

"She told me she loved me."

"Maybe this was for the best, Billie."

She hates when people say that. "If it was, Zoe, I wouldn't be sitting here sad as fuck."

"It's okay to feel sad-"

"No, it's not."

Zoe sighs. "Billie, I'm sorry."

"I don't want stupid your pity, I want Diana back."

"If I were you, I'd take the pity. It's not like you could get some police detective to find her or anything. She's not a missing person case. You're literally never going to see her again."

That was Zoe's way of cheering her up. By showing her the reality of the situation and allowing her to accept it.

Unfortunately, that's not what Billie took from those words.

She lifted up slowly, turning to Zoe with a look of realization.

"Why didn't I think of that?"

Zoe's eyes widen. "What? Billie, you're not going to file for a missing person, that's crazy."

Billie shakes her head. "I don't need to do that. I could hire a private investigator to find her."

"Oh." Zoe said. "Don't you think that maybe she doesn't want to be found? There's a reason she left, Billie. You should stop obsessing over it and move on."

"If I move on, she wins. And she gets my child, while I get nothing."

After her best friend left she got to working. For days, Billie searched for a PI that would be most qualified for the job. She wanted to find Diana as soon as possible.

Ernie Griffin was a man of great prestige. He's done work for big business men that would have him look for business rivals so they could have them assassinated.

Yet, when he was called by a young teen to search for a woman that broke her heart, he didn't reckon it would take him as long as it did.

"She really wanted to get away from you." Ernie tells her 2 years later. "She got an enterily new identity."

That was what delayed the search. They were looking for the wrong name all this time. It took Enie too long to realize it. He just didn't expect it from an average woman fleeing from a past lover. They usually just board a plane to another country and hope not to be looked for.

This lady really wanted to get away if she even changed her identification.

All the documentation, evidence, photographs, were placed down on Billie's table for her to see.

Ernie points at an image of a woman with red hair.

"Her name is Amy Graham now. She's in London."

A glimpse of the image, and Billie immediately recognized her, even after two years. She misses her so much, yet the anger in her was stronger.

Two years, and Diana hasn't called. That was the least she could do. She didn't contact her to send pictures of her child, that's if she even decided to have it.

"She works as an accountant at a local firm." Ernie continues. "I don't know what you still want from her. She's married, and got a kid."

Billie snaps her head at him. "She's married?"

"Yeah."

Ernie watched Billie's face sadden, and for the first time he felt bad for a client.

"Look kid, I could give you this girl's address, you go after her, and you repeat the worst heartbreak of your life. Or.. You could let this go, and move on. Find yourself a different girl."

Billie didn't even consider his advice. She didn't even think it through. "Give me her address."

"Are you sure?"

"It's what I paid you for, Ernie. Now don't waste my fucking time."

Ernie lets out a sigh. He wondered if Diana knew that she was messing with a lunatic.

She must've, if she fled so far. Billie wasn't going there to mend her broken heart. She was going there to show Diana that nobody breaks her heart and gets away with it. Not even if they go far far away.