By admin A Romance In Passing Chapter 15
“You bunch of Idiots! How hard can it be to find one person?”
Inside William’s office, he flung the files across his desk at Rosie. Pages exploded into the air, fluttering to the floor like confetti, each one packed with leads on Emily’s whereabouts.
And still, no matter how hard they searched, she was nowhere to be found.
Rosie’s voice shook. “There hasn’t been a single trace of Ms. Caldwell. The surveillance footage caught her leaving that day, but after that, it’s like she vanished
into thin air.”
William rubbed his temples, the pressure in his skull building. His veins bulged with tension. “Did you check the airports? Train stations?”
“We did. But the data’s been blocked. For some reason, we can’t access anything.”
“Blocked?” he echoed.
Then, something snapped into place in his mind.
Back when they were still together, Emily had once joked, “If you ever break my heart, I’ll run back to my parents, and you’ll never find me.”
The memory hit him like a bolt of lightning. Without hesitation, he told Rosie to follow up on any leads in Fremoria.
It wasn’t long before she returned with news. Emily had landed at an airport in Fremoria just a few weeks earlier.
“Damn it!” William slammed his fist on the desk, sending his coffee sloshing over the rim. “Get out! All of you!”
That night, William met his friends at a bar. While they drank and had fun, he sat alone in a shadowed corner, quietly drowning his sorrows.
“Come on, William, drink with us!”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he lit a cigarette and took a drag, the bitterness carved deep into his face.
Seeing how low William had sunk, his friends couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. They decided to call Aria, hoping she might be the one to pull him out of it.
One of them gave her a quick heads–up, and she showed up within 30 minutes.
“Liam!”
By the time she arrived, William was already halfway through a bottle. The others were struggling to pry it out of his hands.
“Aria, thank goodness you’re here! Talk some sense into him, will you?”
She yanked the bottle away. “Stop drinking, Liam. You’re going to wreck yourself if you keep this up.”
The moment he heard her voice, his head cleared, but then he snapped, “Get lost!”
His friends exchanged stunned glances, startled by the sudden outburst. “What’s wrong, William? It’s Aria.”
“I don’t fucking want her here! Get her out!”
Aria’s face fell. Still, she steadied him with a gentle hand. Leaning in, she whispered, “Don’t do this, Liam. Emily’s gone, but I’m still here. I always will be.”
William slammed the bottle down, shattering it against the floor. Glass shards flew in every direction.
Before anyone could react, he seized Aria’s wrist and hurled her onto the glass–strewn floor. A sharp cry ripped from her throat.
“I won’t repeat myself. Get out!” he snarled.
“William! What the hell are you doing?” someone shouted, rushing to help her, only for William to step in and block his path.
His voice dropped to a chilling calm. “I’ve put up with you long enough, Aria. Show your face around me again, and I’ll make damn sure you’re finished in this city.”
The private room fell into a heavy silence. No one dared say a word.
Aria lay sprawled across the shards of broken glass, blood trickling from dozens of tiny cuts. The sight was pitiful.
Under the stunned stares around her, she pushed through the pain. She slowly got to her feet and walked out, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
Only after she left did someone finally speak.
“William, what happened?”
“Yeah. Weren’t you the one who swore you loved her? You said you’d never let anyone lay a finger on her.”
William’s chest ached as he forced the words out. “She’s the reason Emily left. Emily cut me off completely. She broke up with me and went into hiding in Fremoria.
“What?”