Eight Months Ago

"Asher, sweetie. Can you please calm down," my mother pleads, and I grip my phone even tighter.

"Calm down? Are you kidding me? I've only been here for a semester and now you're telling me I have to go home?"

I figured that once I finished high school, I would be free of my overbearing mother and judgemental father. Oxford gave me early admission, and I bounced as soon as that acceptance letter hit my inbox. Being the bastard child of a New York millionaire isn't as peachy as it sounds. Although, I think dad pulled some strings to get into the school.

"Asher Phillip Prescott, your father is getting arrested and probably going to jail. You need to come home right now! Both Hunter and Jack quit their positions at Fairview Pharmaceuticals and your father has cut them out his will. Ash, your daddy needs you."

Oh, now he needs me. At least my half-brothers have some common sense. Maybe I should reach out to them seeing as we all hate dad now.

I scoff as I light a second cigarette. "Maybe he shouldn't have bribed an FDA official and ruined hundreds of lives with his shitty drugs. Am I supposed to feel bad for him? How could you possibly be on his side? What's wrong with you?"

Dad's scandal reached the UK earlier this week. Edgar Carlisle has been deemed an international piranha with no soul. I had never been so happy not to have his last name. I guess that's one of the benefits of being born in secret; you don't have to carry the burden of your family's name.

"I am not on his side, Ash," my mother begins. "But just because he's going to jail doesn't mean the entire company will crumble. He wants you to take over. Once you finish your degree, that is."

"And I can't do that from here? I'm already enrolled in all my classes for January."

"No, you can't," she sighs. "In addition to school, your father wants you to intern at headquarters so that when you graduate you'll already have the necessary skills to take lead."

"Yeah, I'm sure that Carlisle Industries' stakeholders would just love having a 22-year-old as their new CEO in three years," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Come on Ash," my mother's tone pleading. "I'm all alone in this big house. You don't want me to get lonely, do you? Please come home."

Fuck.

Manipulative as always.

"Fine," I grunt. "I'll see you in a few days."