CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Jacob waited for thegates to open and then pressed his foot on the gas, steering his silver Cadillac Escalade inside the Montgomery estate.

This was his first time visiting, but Blake had shared that the twelve-bedroom piece of real estate was stunning.

He'd grown up just a few blocks away, so Jacob was no stranger to this level of wealth. But his brother was right, the cream and brown brick mansion, with its sculptured lawns and circular driveway, was impressive.

So, this was how a fashion mogul lived, huh?

His billionaire birth father was the founder of Ward Enterprises, more well known for his luxury line Verity Co.

His cousin Amelia was a huge fan, and Jacob even owned a few of their pieces himself.

Fate had brought them all together in a strange way. Bella was Ward's stepdaughter, and she had three half brothers: Knox, Levi, and Atlas.

Bella had married Jacob's brother just over two weeks ago, when his mother had announced that Ward was his birth father.

As the shock had sunk in and the entire Montgomery and Dufort family had erupted into questions and surprise, Jacob had stared at Ward.

Then shoved his chair back and exclaimed, "I can't do this here." Then left.

Cue Blake calling him five million times.

Jacob parked the car and pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head. He wondered if his brother would now demand to know who his own father was. In his shoes, Jacob would.

But then again, Blake was about to become a father and had always looked more to the future than the past. Jacob tended to be more sentimental. He was always reminding everyone in the family about things.

"Remember when Amelia decided her doll needed dessert that one holiday, and Aunt Christine found her in the bedroom drunk from the adults' eggnog?" Jacob had asked a few years back.

"That was an accident!" Amelia cried. "The cup was too full, and my doll was going to spill it...so I drank it."

Logan and Aidan snorted.

"No one told me it had rum in it!" she mumbled in defense.

"You were seven," Christine said, shaking her head. "And we were very embarrassed to let our child get so tipsy."

"Fast forward a few years and she was stealing the rum from the liquor cabinet." Aidan chortled.

"That was you," Uncle Andrew said, shooting his son a dark look.

"Oh yeah. My bad."

"Stop reminiscing before we all end up in the doghouse." Logan threw a cushion at Jacob.

"He does it every year. You were too young to remember all of that, Jacob. But he loves telling stories." His mom had scoffed.

He'd insisted that he did remember the memory, but now it was hard to know. Who knew, maybe it was just a tale he had rehashed, but the fact remained, Jacob seemed to be more emotionally driven than his brother.

Which was probably why he was having trouble figuring out what to do with the news about his father.

The truth was, he would've liked to be told the life-changing news in private. Somewhere the three of them could've talked and asked questions. But oh no, his mother announced it at peak Dufort family time.

Jacob was becoming more and more aware of just how thoughtless, or rather selfish, his mother was. Had she done it on purpose? Clearly, she had no intention of explaining or apologizing to him.

And likely never would.

Jacob lay his wrist on the steering wheel and glanced out across the sculptured laws.

Perhaps him being more sensitive was why he'd fallen in love so young. At least to him, it had felt like love.

What did he know?

No one spoke to him and Blake about the birds and the bees or how to manage their emotions with girls.

No one.

So at thirteen, Jacob fell in love.

Jesus, why am I thinking about this now?

Jenny Winthrop.

He and Jenny had hung out at every recess. Jacob walked her to school and home again every day. He went to her house when she invited him and sat listening to her favorite music. Jenny went to all his basketball games.

One afternoon, just before both of them turned fifteen, they made love. He was sure she was the girl he would spend his life with. Mentally he was planning what that looked like and even got her a, albeit cheap, little ring.

Then suddenly, out of the blue, Jenny dumped him, saying he was too nice.

Too nice?

What the hell was he supposed to do, be a prick?

Jenny had broken his teenage heart, and it had hurt like a motherfucker. His hormonal mind had gone into a spin and, being an intellect, Jacob decided to research this.

After all, he didn't have a father to talk to, and Blake was out sleeping with a number of girls.

What he discovered was interesting. All the nice guys didn't have girls. All the jocks who were assholes had a trail of female fans.

Wow.

Nice guys came last—or rather, got dumped.

One afternoon while practicing hoops, Jacob had watched a father and son together down the other end of the court and wondered if it had something to do with that.

Not having a dad.

Was he not man enough?

So he studied other guys who had all the girls. Which made sense to him. Jacob realized pretty quickly that he couldn't be an asshole, that wasn't in him, but being exclusive was not how you got the girl.

The one thing on his side was he was a good-looking guy. His body was already tall, his shoulders broad, and Blake had paved the path of being a popular Dufort in school, so a few girls—now he was single—started paying attention.

And he returned that attention in a new way.

He'd make out with them, then ignore them the next day. Very quickly, the vibe changed. More girls were interested. The hot and popular girls.

One day, the Astor twins were chatting to him after a game and decided to make a move. He kissed one and then the other, and I think you know the parts in between which led to him sleeping with both of them.

At the same time.

Jacob had no feelings for either of them, except an enormous hard on, and so the sex was different. It was more erotic, and he found himself being rougher.

The two girls walked away with huge smiles.

Word got around, as it does in high school, and soon he found himself sleeping with multiple girls at one time, and a year later with a guy.

It was by accident, mostly. Billy had shown up at Astor's house claiming he and Selena were dating—they weren't—and so after a quick glance at one another, we all shrugged and invited him to join.

It'd been awkward at first, but when Billy worked out Jacob had no interest in crossing swords, they'd all ended up having a great summer.

When he discovered Sailors Club, it had provided him with the environment to continue his way of being sexually free. Hence investing.

Was he worried he was incapable of a relationship? Jacob tried not to think about it. He thought he had time. Then Blake went and got fucking engaged.

Talk about a chain of events.

He was happy for them. Bella was a beautiful girl, inside and out. But it had triggered him to start questioning his lifestyle. Mostly he was fine with it, but was it what he wanted forever?

But the thought of going through that rejection again was not desirable at all.

Jacob, you're a lovely guy, but you are just too nice.

Well, fuck you Jenny. If he met her today, he'd rip open her blouse and spin her around so he could slap her ass. Then, after pulling out his cock as he shoved her face down on the bed, he'd tear down her panties and shove inside her.

"How nice am I now, little slut? You want a bad boy, then munch on that pillow and shut up while I fuck you."

Because he'd questioned if his niceness was a result of not having a male influence in his life, being faced with his brother marrying and meeting his father was a complete mind fuck.

Then his little princess had looked at him with two luscious chocolate brown eyes and Jacob was starting to question everything.

Every. Fucking. Thing.

His gaze slid to Ward Montgomery's front door.

What would this man think of him?

Sure, he'd met him a few times at the recent wedding events for Blake and Bella but seeing him today was an entirely different thing.

Today they would be meeting as father and son. They'd be sizing each other up and dancing around this new relationship. Ward would have demands of him, want to know him, judge him for who he was and what he'd achieved.

Physically, Jacob was a big guy. He stood six foot three and two hundred and ten pounds.

But so did his other sons. Atlas, Levi, and Knox were strong, charismatic, and likable guys. Successful in their own rights.

Masculine.

Jesus. Jacob wiped his hand over his face. There was not a woman alive that wouldn't deem him to be masculine.

Jenny was one damn girl.

Too nice.

"Fuck this shit." Jacob cursed and climbed out of the SUV, dropping his sunglasses back down over his eyes.

He hated this vulnerable feeling, but it was time to man up and listen to what Ward had to say. Jacob would tell Ward his thoughts on the matter and if they were on different pages, then family events would just have to be awkward and that was tough shit.

It wasn't his fault.

People needed to start directing their questions to Samantha, his mother. She was the one to blame.

Jacob circled the vehicle and as he walked the paved driveway, the front door open.

There stood his father.

––––––––

"I THOUGHT YOU weregoing to drive away," Ward said, holding out his hand.

Jacob shook it.

"I'm here, aren't I? Asking for a few weeks to get my head around all of this isn't exactly unreasonable."

Shit.

He hadn't meant to be so defensive, but after bringing up the past, it had wound him up.

Ward studied him for a moment and then nodded, standing aside. "No, it's not. Come on in Jacob."

He followed Ward inside, taking in the man's wide shoulders and dark hair. So much like his other sons.

So much like his.

God, this is weird.

Briefly, he took in the luxurious design and sweeping staircase as they walked into the living area. Ward waved at the table set up for lunch, inviting him to sit.

"Coffee?"

"Please." Jacob tugged off his black Prada bomber jacket and laid it over the back of the chair.

"Two coffees," Ward said, nodding to a woman in the doorway. "Lunch will be served shortly, but I figured you and I were both the kind of men who would want to get straight to the point over a coffee first."

He had an air of power about him. Much like Jacob's cousin Daniel. It wasn't something one could fake or force. It was either there or not.

Jacob was a wealthy man and knew he had power and influence even off the back of his surname, but he would never command the same presence as Ward or Daniel.

Few could.

Presidents did. World leaders did. A handful of filthy rich and influential philanthropists did.

Ward Montgomery did.

"So no small talk." Jacob smirked.

"Whatever you want." Ward leaned back in his chair. "I want you to feel comfortable."

He let out a sigh. "Okay, let's cut the shit. Surely you're as pissed with my mother as I am."

Ward lifted a brow.

"How I feel about your mother is my business. I have told her how I feel. This, right here, is between you and me. But let me make something clear, Jacob. I do not tolerate disrespect from anyone."

Jacob lifted his own brow. Was this guy kidding?

He'd come here to build a relationship with the man, and he was bawling him out in the first five minutes?

They both stared darkly at one another as their coffees arrived.

"Guess that's my first telling off then, Dad," Jacob said, sipping the hot dark liquid, only just curtailing his anger.

"I heard you were a smart ass." Ward crossed his legs. "You're upset, I get it."

He banged his cup down on the saucer. "Of course I'm fucking upset. For twenty-three years, I've made up stories about who my father was. I've asked Mom hundreds of times. And you lived five goddamn minutes away."

Ward watched him, his face remaining passive.

Jesus.

"Five minutes, Ward. Why the hell aren't you angrier? I realize you had a family and three boys of your own—"

"You are also one of my boys," Ward replied, and those words slapped him across the face sharply.

Jacob stared at him.

His heart began to pound and emotions raged within him.

God, this was not how he expected it to go.

"No, I'm not," Jacob said coldly, unable to accept that both his mother and birth father thought it was simply a matter of just announcing it. Then they all carried on with life. No, it wasn't fucking happening like that. "Look. Let's not pretend this is something it's not—"

"Explain to me how this isn't what it is, Jacob." Ward arched a brow.

"This. Us. Just because you're Blake's father-in-law and I'll be in your life at times, doesn't mean we have to play dad and son. I...fuck, listen, I have no expectations of you. At all."

Was that true?

What he was doing was giving the man an out. Jacob highly recommended he take it. Then they could carry on with their lives as if this never happened.

Right?

Ward leaned forward, his eyes blazing with something he didn't understand.

Anger maybe?

No, something far deeper that made Jacob still and listen.

"I am your father, whether you like it or not. Science. Yes, your mother stole from us, but we cannot turn back time. Whether you want a relationship with me is up to you."

"How do you see this working? Sunday dinners, inviting me to family birthdays. Jesus, Ward. I don't think your sons are just going to be happy to set another place at the table."

Emotion bubbled up inside him, the need to run overwhelming. He stood and slid a hand into his pocket, turned his back on his father.

Why wasn't anyone else pissed about this?

He wanted to scream and punch something. Unfortunately, that something couldn't be his mother—he would never do that—but his fury was toward her.

And, irrationally, toward the man who had also missed out.

He spun back.

"Look, I appreciate what you are trying to do here. But I'm a grown man. Not a child. You have a family. I have mine. Let's—"

"Pretend?" Ward nudged his coffee away and stood slowly, placing his hands on his hips. "Pretend that I have another child walking this earth with my DNA and that I don't want to know him?"

Well, yes.

Jacob nodded.

Then swallowed.

Fuck. Fuck!

He didn't want to feel like this. Didn't want to want this man as his father. He had lived his entire life with a hole where that love should be.

"Well, son, I have news for you. I won't. Take all the time you need. I am not going anywhere," Ward said, his voice strong, solid, and even.

Jacob swallowed again, then ground his teeth as he pushed back the emotion.

"You don't have to feel obligated." He tried and, even to him, it sounded weak.

Ward smiled and walked to a nearby cabinet, where he lifted a photograph of him with Knox, Levi, and Atlas. The quick glance Jacob caught of it, it appeared to be a camping or fishing photo.

What was he doing?

He wasn't in the mood for playing family yet. Had the man not listened to him?

"When each of these boys were born, they came out of their mother screaming and red faced." Ward then lifted his eyes. "I didn't know who they were or if I would like even like them, but do you know what did happen?"

Jacob felt his chest tighten as he shook his head.

"I loved them. From their first breath."

Fuck.

"I know you're ready to bolt, and that you are also smart enough to connect the dots to that story." Ward's mouth curved softly at the corners. "Go. My door is always open. And Jacob, no matter what you choose, I am your dad."

Jacob fought the emotion stinging his eyes and dropped a curse as he stared at the floor.

Then he ran a hand through his hair and grabbed his jacket.

"I...I need more time," he said, meeting Ward's eyes finally.

When he smiled, Jacob strode from the room, yanked open the front door, climbed in his car, and with a turn of the key, put his foot on the gas.

Stupid gates.

But once he hit the road, he floored it. Then he drove and drove and drove and drove and drove.

For hours.

Trying not to think. Trying not to feel.

Trying to work out who the hell he was.

Later in the afternoon, Jacob found himself parked outside a house he never thought he'd visit again.