Page 67 of Angel

Cage handed the photo to Carlos, who held it up in front of the camera.

“Mr. Georgiou, do you recognize the people in this photo?”

Cage nodded. “I don’t remember the boy’s name, but he was Veronica’s boyfriend that summer. Emily’s with me on the left and Veronica’s on the right.”

“Thank you.” Carlos handed the photo back. “Aaron, how did you find Mr. Georgiou’s name?”

“Well, after I saw the picture, I knew immediately who my father had to be. I found his name in the yearbook from the year before. Then I started searching him online. Once I found his business website, it was easy to track down where he lived and worked.”

“Did you try to reach out to him? Call him? You suspected Mr. Georgiou was your father for two years. In that time, did you do anything with that information?”

Aaron shook his head. “I believed what my mom told me, that he didn’t want anything to do with me.”

Guilt seized Cage—because he hadn’t done a damn thing that would have proven to Aaron otherwise.

“And what made you think differently that you ran away from your home to go find him?”

“My parents—I mean, my mom and her husband were arguing again. Mr. Banks was drunk and throwing insults at my mom. He called her a slut and a whore.”—Cage cringed at that. Regardless of Veronica’s homophobic views, no one deserved to be sexually shamed like that.—“Mr. Banks called me a bastard and shouted that the only reason their church even accepted me was because of him. That my mom owed him. Anyway, I wasn’t going to let him talk to my mom like that, so I intervened. We exchanged a lot of bad words and then he told me that I’d be better off with my own father. Something about ‘at least he puts out for me’.

“I didn’t understand what he meant so I asked. Mr. Banks told me that my birth father paid money each month for me. I figured that was something the courts made him do, but then Mr. Banks said something about how my mom was such a slut she didn’t even know who my birth father was and she was just conning some poor guy out of his money.”

Cage reached over and took Aaron’s hand.

“Aaron, tell me about your childhood. Were you fed, clothed? When you were sick, were you taken to the doctor?”

Aaron nodded. “My mom has very strict religious views when it comes to my sexuality, Sheriff, but I do not want it known that she’s a bad mom. She raised me very well.”

“We’re going to need to talk about that. Are you okay discussing your sexuality openly?”

Aaron nodded. “I am not ashamed to be gay. I never have been. As soon as I realized I was, I came out. I am not the sort to hide—though I don’t judge those who do,” he quickly added.

“That’s very brave of you,” Carlos commented. “What was your mom’s reaction when you told her you are gay?”

Aaron licked his lips. He looked to Cage, who gave him an encouraging nod. “It wasn’t good.” Aaron swallowed nervously. “She started praying for my soul. There was a lot of crying. Then she left to go speak with her pastor.”

“What about Mr. Banks?”

Unlike with his mom, Aaron’s face now turned angry. “The man called me a cocksucker and told me that he was glad I was no son of his. That was the last time I spoke to him.”

“When was this?”

“About six months ago.”

Rage burned through Cage. The man who’d been raising his son in his place had dared to call him a cocksucker?

“What happened that made you run away from your home?”

Aaron cleared his throat. “My mom started to take me to church every day with her. She told my grandparents, her parents, and they agreed that I needed to have my sin purged from me. Their pastor tried praying and he baptized me again. He even put me in a room and made me watch straight porn for hours on end.”

Cage could see the anger on Carlos’s face before he composed himself. “Was your mom aware of what your pastor was doing to you?”

Sadness crossed Aaron’s face. He looked away from Carlos and Cage. His chin trembled slightly. “She was there. Not in the room with me during…” His cheeks reddened. “She encouraged it. Said I needed to learn what real men acted like.”

Carlos pressed Pause on the camera. “I’m so sorry, Aaron. Do you need a minute?”

Aaron shook his head and quickly wiped his face. Then he wiped his cheeks again, harder. Cage reached over to grab a tissue for him. The men waited patiently for Aaron to collect himself before Carlos pressed Play again.

“Interview continuing with Vasileios Georgiou and Aaron Banks,” Carlos said to the camera. “Aaron, did you protest this treatment with your mom?”

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