“Huh?!”

Ashton went missing?

He’d never told me that. Thinking back, in all the time we’d been together, he’d barely talked about his family or his past, aside from Alice.

I’d always figured he felt self-conscious about his upbringing, and I didn’t want to pry and mess with his pride. But now... maybe he’d kept quiet to deliberately hold me at arm’s length.

The thought stung.

“So... how did he go missing? Was he kidnapped by traffickers or ...