“Then, they told me I wasn’t welcome in their home any longer,” he concluded. “I was able to grab a change of clothes and some money I’d saved up before my father dragged me outside and threw me into the yard.”
Meredith reached over and took his hand, giving it a firm, reassuring squeeze. “Thank you for sharing that with us. I know it couldn’t have been easy.” Pulling her hand back, she moved her attention to his parents, but instead of giving them a chance to respond to his accusations this time, she asked, “Did you ever try to find your son after he left?”
Suzanne’s glare was filled with fury, but when she spoke, her voice was soft and fragile.
“Of course, we looked. We notified the police when he didn’t come home that night. We searched the whole town.” She sniffled brokenly. “We looked for days.”
Apparently, Meredith wasn’t impressed with this answer, because she arched a dark, sculpted eyebrow andtilted her head. “Your only child went missing, and you stopped searching after a couple of days?”
Her tone was mildly curious rather than accusatory, but Asher couldn’t hold back his smile, especially when Lawrence’s face turned scarlet as if his whole head was about to explode.
“You say you searched the town,” Meredith continued when neither of them responded. “Did you ever check at the bus station?”
“The police did,” Lawrence bit out through clenched teeth. “There were no reports that a boy matching his description had been there or purchased a ticket.”
It was obvious he was lying. Judging by the renewed murmurings, the audience seemed to think so as well.
“I see,” Meredith mused. “Yet, there was no missing person report filed with the Wrightsville Police Department during that time. In fact, there were no children reported missing at all that year. So, who were the police looking for at the bus station?”
Lawrence sputtered. Suzanne’s nostrils flared as she chewed vigorously on her bottom lip. Asher wanted to pump his fist into the air, but instead, settled for a short nod and a quick glance at Cameron, who was smiling so broadly his eyes were mere slits.
Meredith wasn’t finished, though. “You sold your house and moved out of town a few months after Asher’s disappearance. Can you tell us why?”
“That’s…we…you can’t,” Lawrence blustered, subsiding only when his wife placed a hand on his arm and shook her head.
“We moved,” Suzanne answered in a quavering voice, “because it was too painful to stay. There were just too many memories.”
More likely, they couldn’t stand the shame. It would have been torture for them having the whole town whispering behind their backs.
Meredith gave her a dismissive nod, then refocused her attention on Asher. “Do you have anything to say to that? Any questions you want to ask?”
There had once been a time when he’d had lots of questions that he had thought he wanted answers to. Had his parents ever loved him? Had they ever been proud of him, even once? Why hadn’t he been good enough? What had he done to make them hate him so much?
Catching Cameron’s eye, seeing his encouraging nod, Asher realized none of those things mattered to him anymore. He didn’t need his parents love or their approval. Any answers they gave him would be lies, practiced speeches for the world, not for him. No, all he really wanted where they were concerned was for them to quietly slink back to wherever they’d come from and leave him in peace.
Still holding Cameron’s gaze, Asher shook his head. “No, I already have everything I need.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Oh, my god, thatwas incredible.” Standing in the front lobby of the studio, Cameron took Asher’s hand and beamed up at him. “I’m so proud of you, and Meredith? She was a total badass. Christ, did you see your parents’ faces? Wow.” He actually bounced a little on his toes as they started walking again. “I thought your mom was going to sprout horns and start breathing fire.”
Asher laughed openly at Cameron’s excited babbling. The guy was usually the poster boy for poise and control. So, seeing him bubbly and animated was really fucking cute.
Asher shook his head at himself. When had he turned intothatguy—the kind of guy who used the word “cute” at all, let alone when referring to a grown-ass man? Jesus, love was weird.
Not that he didn’t share in the guy’s excitement. He was just doing a better job of hiding it. At least outwardly. On the inside, he was practically vibrating. Talon had taught him what to say, how to say it, and when to say nothing. Yet, nothing they had discussed had prepared him for just how satisfying it would be to watch Meredith Tripoli go after his parents the way she had.
When he’d indicated that he didn’t have any questions, he had thought that would be the end of the interview. So, he’d been pleasantly surprised when Meredith had spent another ten minutes grilling Suzanne and Lawrence about everything from Asher’s allegations of abuse to the measures they had taken to try to bring him safely home.
The television hostess had been prepared with facts and figures in her plethora of research to refute every lie, every half-truth. She hadn’t let them deflect her concerns with tears or banal apologies.
When the cameras finally stopped rolling, Meredith had thanked the Derringers for being there and politely shaken their hands. As his parents had slunk away behind the curtains, she’d pulled Asher into a tight hug and told him how brave he’d been. Then, she’d offered him the chance to return to the show to promote his new book when it released.
Asher had felt like he was walking on air as he’d left the set.
“So, you’re saying I was right?”
Cameron went very still for several long seconds before looking up at him. “That’s not what I said.”
