Chapter 19
Kitty and Antoinette’s Airbnb, West Hollywood, Los Angeles
We get back to the villa and Antoinette disappears to have a shower. I open Instagram, partly from muscle memory. I used to live on there. Back when follower count and brand collabs were the most important things to me. I still get some requests occasionally but the page is mostly dormant now.
There’s a message waiting for me in my DMs. It’s from Niamh, Aidan’s ex-girlfriend. I feel my hands tremble as I open it.
Hi Kitty,
I’m sorry you’re having to contact me in these circumstances and I’m really sorry to hear about your friend.
I hope she’s going to make a full recovery.
Believe me when I say that the best place Aidan can be is as far away from her as possible.
You were right in your message, Aidan and I dated for two years a while back, here in Ireland.
There were definitely instances of violence in our relationship.
He’d push me or grab me, sometimes enough to leave bruises.
It was why we broke up. He left the country after my brothers paid him a visit and I haven’t heard from him since.
It’s taken me a long time to heal from that man, as you can imagine.
I’m sorry I can’t help you. Please don’t message me again.
It was a traumatic time and I’m glad it’s behind me, I don’t want the wound re-opened. I hope you understand.
Love and light,
Niamh x
Antoinette comes back downstairs wearing a dress and cowboy boots. Her hair is still wet and leaving little puddles on the floor. I show her the message and she sucks in a breath as she reads it.
‘I feel awful now,’ I say. ‘That poor woman. I’ve probably opened up a whole can of trauma worms.’
‘At least we know he has a history of shitty behaviour,’ Antoinette says as she hands me back my phone. ‘And of skipping the country. What a fucking coward.’
I can’t stop thinking about Niamh.
I should never have contacted her. What was I thinking? I’ve probably just re-traumatised her. She’ll probably have to start her entire healing journey all over again. I should apologise. I begin to tap out a response.
‘Kits, what are you doing?’ Antoinette says, peering over at my screen.
‘I’m just going to say sorry to Niamh for contacting her. I—’ Antoinette reaches over and grabs my phone from me. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Stopping you from messaging her again,’ she says. ‘She’s clearly told you not to contact her. I think you should respect that.’
I sigh and close the app, throwing my phone down.
Of course she’s right.
‘I just don’t know what else to do to find him,’ I say, my jaw tensing up with frustration.
‘Well, there’s one thing we could try,’ Antoinette says, almost shyly.
I turn and stare at her. ‘What?’
‘It’s just something I saw on Reddit and it got me thinking.’
‘What?’ I ask again.
‘Have you thought about hiring a private detective?’
She’s a genius.
Seriously.
Why haven’t I thought of this?
Antoinette is confused by my silence. ‘I mean, obviously we don’t have to,’ she says. ‘If it feels like we’re cheating or something?’
‘No, no,’ I say. ‘It’s brilliant. A private detective.’
Of course.
I grab my phone. ‘I’ll get looking for someone.’
Antoinette flushes. ‘Actually,’ she says, ‘I think I’ve already found someone.’
God.
I love having her here.
It’s like having a murder-admin assistant.