Chapter 204: Book 5: Failures And Disappointments

“Maybe she has checked in there? Can we go right now to fetch her?” asked Weston.

“No, son. I’ve already inquired there. She checked out yesterday, early in the morning,” informed Mr. Fordham.

Weston’s shoulders slumped while his dad looked at Mr. Fordham helplessly. “Now what do we do, any idea, Mr. Fordham?” he asked, glancing at Weston’s depressed expression.

“What was the girl’s name you said, Mr. Gray? Harrington?” asked the PI.

“Yes, yes. Isabella Harrington,” said Weston’s dad.

“Well, William Harrington is a renowned lawyer here in the country. His family mansion, The Harrington’s, is on Queens Drive. Do you think the girl is related to him? If so, we can go there and look for her,” suggested the PI.

“Yes, I think he is Isabella’s relative. Now I know why she came to London of all places on Earth,” said David Gray.

“Can we go now, please?” Weston begged his dad, and he agreed.

“Can you take us to meet him, Mr. Fordham?”

“Fine, let’s go,” said Mr. Fordham. They all left immediately and reached their destination in a matter of minutes, using the subway. As they walked towards the gate, Weston couldn’t contain his excitement any longer. Finally, he found Isabella. He would hold on to her forever and never let her go. The guards made them wait for a few minutes and then escorted them towards the main house.

They were made to sit at the parlor of the luxurious mansion when a brooding William Harrington emerged from one of the adjoining doors. “Good evening, gentlemen, I’m William Harrington. How may I help you?”

“I’m David Gray and this is my son, Weston Gray. That’s our Private Investigator, Mr. Mason Fordham, who’s helping us. We’re looking for my foster daughter, Isabella Harrington. She has left home after a misunderstanding and ever since we’ve been looking for her everywhere,” said Weston’s dad.

“I understand you completely, Mr. Gray. These youngsters don’t listen to anybody. I’m upset with Isabella myself,” said Mr. Harrington. “She came here suddenly just to meet me. When I asked her to stay here with me and my family, she declined. She was adamant, even though I insisted so much. I offered her the money that my dad had left behind. I created a bank account for her and transferred the money into her account, but this morning, she left without even giving me any contact details,” said Mr. Harrington. David Gray stared at him with disbelief. He couldn’t believe that she had escaped again.

“She can’t leave. Dad, let’s look for her at the airport. We could check every flight and find out where she’s gone. I can’t live without her, dad. Please do something,” said Weston, going crazy.

“What’s going on, if I may ask?” asked Mr. Harrington, looking at Weston’s craziness with worry.

“Isabella and my son are in love with one another. Another woman created a misunderstanding, and she left home,” explained David Gray, rubbing his temples.

“Oh, I knew this was related to the matters of the heart,” said Mr. Harrington, shaking his head.

“Mr. Harrington, can you give us the details of Isabella’s bank account? We will find out from where she’s accessing the account,” said Mr. Fordham, hopefully.

“Sure,” said Mr. Harrington. “Just give me a moment,” he excused himself and went towards his study to get the details. After a few minutes, he came back with the information.

“Here, hope this helps,” he said, handing him the information they needed. Mr. Harrington offered them tea, but they declined politely and took his leave. Mr. Fordham left to go to his house while Weston and his dad returned to the hotel.

“Now where do we look for her, dad?” asked an upset Weston.

“Let Mr. Fordham find out her location from the bank. We can go there and get her. Don’t worry, son, we’ll find her,” comforted his dad. After a disturbing night, it was morning again. The whole morning, they waited for an update from Mr. Fordham. Finally, at lunchtime, he paid them a visit.

“Did you get any information, Mr. Fordham?” asked Weston’s dad.

“That account has been closed, and the money has been transferred elsewhere, Mr. Gray. The bank didn’t disclose the account information to me,” said Mr. Fordham. “I’m afraid I can’t help you further. “

Weston slumped to the couch, all hopes of finding Isabella gone forever. They couldn’t involve the police with no proof that they hadn’t tortured her into leaving home. She was an adult and had left the home of her own free will, and no one could do anything about it. This was a foreign country with a different set of rules of which they weren’t aware. There was no option left but to return home.

“Thank you, Mr. Fordham. I’ll settle your dues,” said David Gray. He settled his dues and after Mr. Fordham left, he turned towards his son.

“There’s nothing left here to do, Wes. We’ll have to go home, I’m afraid,” said his dad in a grave tone.

“But we haven’t found her, dad,” protested Weston. How could he return without Isabella?

“We’ll go home and hire a PI. She’s not here in London anyway,” said his dad. There was no point in arguing further. So they half-heartedly packed up and checked out of the hotel and took the next flight to New York. The whole flight, Weston was exceptionally quiet. It seemed as if he had lost hope of finding Isabella.

It was morning when they reached New York. Everyone was surprised to see them return without Isabella. “Where’s Isa?” asked his mom, her eyes searching for her daughter, hopefully.

“We couldn’t find her, mom. She left London before we could reach her,” said Weston, lifelessly. He dragged himself to the sofa and sat down, his hands covering his face as he wept brokenly. Hudson tried to comfort his brother but couldn’t. After his mom heard everything, she too broke down.

After five days, Weston returned to Las Vegas with his parents. They had tried to locate her in every way, but couldn’t. It was a dismal life for the whole family. The moment Weston came home, he rushed towards her room and locked himself inside, taking out her stuff and holding them to his heart and weeping. His condition deteriorated by the end of the day, as he refused to open the door. His parents were worried sick about him. Weston finally found her diary and sat down, reading it. His heart shattered more and more after he read each and every page. He started hating himself after going through her pent-up feelings for the last two years.

“Why didn’t I listen to her when she used to call me to explain herself?” he sobbed brokenly.

“Why did I ever agree to flirt with Fiona?” he cried, punching the wall with frustration and anger.

“Why couldn’t I see the truth, God?” He wept. His parents banged on his door, but he was oblivious to it. His whole mind was too numb with grief to register anything.

“Why didn’t you put some sense in my head when I was making the wrong decision, God?” he mumbled incoherently.

He started hating himself more by the time he had read the full diary. It was true Fiona took advantage of him, but had he not gone out with her, she would never have been able to spike his drink and take advantage of him. If he had never invited her home, he would have been able to patch up his relationship with Isabella earlier instead of at the last minute. If he had confessed to his parents before that surprise party at Hartford’s house that day, everything could have been avoided.

There were so many ifs and buts, but they were of no use now. Isabella was gone forever and there was no way to find her and bring her back. She had covered her tracks so cleverly since she didn’t want to be found. She actually didn’t want to return to them ever!

Weston sat down on the floor, resting his head on his knees, thinking and weeping. When finally there were no teardrops left in his eyes, he realized he didn’t wish to live without Isabella anymore. If Isabella wasn’t ever coming back, he might as well end his miserable life. Determined to do exactly that, he got up on his wobbly legs, walking out of Isabella’s room as if in a daze. His mom was inside the kitchen and his dad was in his room when he went downstairs and picked up his motorcycle keys.

The sound of his motorcycle speeding out of the house made his mom gasp and run out of the kitchen to see. She clutched at her heart with fear, seeing Weston’s keys and motorcycle missing. The door to Isabella’s room was open, and she screamed for her husband in a state of panic.

“David, Weston’s left on his motorcycle. Hurry, I’m getting a bad feeling out of this,” she screamed for help. David Gray came rushing out, stuffing his mobile phone and wallet into his pocket. They quickly locked the house and rushed towards his car, driving off to look for their son.