There were three sides to every story, but Jacob didn't have to hear Zion Castle's side. His father's words were enough to make him search for the truth hidden behind everything. This was more than some harmless rivalry. If Castle wanted to destroy them now, it meant only one thing. They had poked first.
Something dark glinted in his father's eyes as he spoke. Jacob's head was heavy with questions that suddenly needed urgent answers.
Back then, Mayce groups wasn't as large as it was today, but it still had that breath-taking aura about it. He went on exile to Singapore on a mission and he had never handled matters in the company, save for now. Jacob was about to inherit a conglomerate he knew almost nothing about. It filled him with a bad omen he dreaded. Who could vouch that Mayce wouldn't differ from what he remembered?
Jameson picked his staff and threw it to his son with no warning, and Jacob had surprised himself with a catch too perfect.
The black stick in his hand felt smooth to the touch, but rough only on the edges that held an inscription. He ran his hand from its end, past the ancient Greek writing, to the tip.
"This was a gift," Jameson said, interrupting him.
Jacob's eyes never left the writing. It was a mix of the most intricate symbols. It shocked him to behold something that seemed older than time.
At last, Jacob raised his gaze to his father. "A gift from who?"
"Perseus Castle entrusted his staff to my care while breathing his last."
Jacob couldn't believe it. He stared blankly at his father. The Mackays had never for once had a good relationship with the Castle's. It wasn't a gesture Jacob believed Perseus would have done.
But in the end, the secret buried in Castle and Mayce's past was out in the open.
Shock had rendered him speechless. The bitter truth struck him dumb.
The news of Castle's founder's death was the kind that people would never recover from.
It went viral.
He couldn't forget watching the footage of Perseus being thrown from a moving vehicle on hard asphalt, only to be crushed to pieces by an incoming truck on the same highway.
Jacob could still remember it, fresh like dawn and horrid. What his father was doing with Perseus Castle at the point of his death was more than just goodbyes. The thought raged on. But then, he had kept it to rest quickly because some things were better left unsaid.
His father's reputation in the business world warned that he didn't have scruples, and somewhere deep within Jacob's marrow, that trait lived on as well.
He forced a tight smile and had wanted to speak when someone walked into the room. The noise of the door opening stole the attention of both men.
Jacob furrowed his brows and turned to dismiss the intruder.
"Violet, what is—"
"Who's Violet?" A familiar purr volleyed back.
Jacob froze.
He watched Nicole wear a devilish grin, watching him. She stood by the door like a woman who knew exactly what she was doing. His brain turned to mush.
Damn!
He didn't know where to settle his eyes. She had dressed to kill in those strap lace-up heels that made her shapely legs mouth watering, and that mini-skirt with a daring slit that didn't care to hide any skin. Her perfect body made him drool. Jacob was fighting to regain his composure.
The instant his gaze travelled to her face, he sucked in a low breath.
Those lips.
Just last night they were hot against his ear, whispering the dirtiest things.
He remembered it like. 'Harder, Jacob. Make me cum!'
He could still hear the sounds of her wild moans on replay in his head like a malfunction.
"Honey! I've missed you," she said.
Her words dumped him back into reality like garbage left to burn in an incinerator.
He was about to get burned, though.
Nicole had referred to his father, not him; never again.
His best friend, Ryker, came to mind. Jacob cursed at him a million times under his breath. Ryker's stupid welcome party was the catalyst to his present misery, after all. If he had just let him be, he could have been miles away from this mess.
Nicole stepped into the office with eyes focused on Jameson alone. Jacob surprised himself because he so badly wanted to change that. She flanked his father on the couch and latched all of herself against him.
Jacob felt his chest tighten. He downed his entire glass of juice in that second.
"How did your college reunion turn out?" Jameson asked, losing himself in her seductive eyes.
He placed a palm on a bare thigh, and a muscle in Jacob's forehead ticked. The urge to swat it away came like a persistent itch.
Nicole had hesitated. She darted her eyes towards Jacob for a quick second, and together, they re-lived their night of passion there and then. Jacob glimpsed the longing in her gaze and he matched her stare with a look that told her exactly how her night in his bed went—hot and totally repeatable.
He could have sworn that somewhere along the line, she had bitten her bottom lip to suppress one of those breathless sounds that he loved to hear.
Nicole didn't look away as she said, "Unsatisfactory. It bored me to death, hun."
Liar. Dirty liar.
Jacob snorted, and all attention pinned on him like a dart aiming bull's-eye.
She dared question his prowess as a sex god. Nicole fooled herself. Unless it had been another woman in his apartment a few hours ago, who had looked like she was just fucked six ways 'till Sunday, her claims were stupid.
"I could have been your plus one, y'know. I would have entertained you for the night."
As if. Jacob didn't think his father would have fancied the idea of a threesome.
"That's so sweet of you," she said, giving her best endearing face.
Jacob was this close to scoffing. A wry smile held his features. Her entire performance deserved an Oscar! She didn't even break a sweat as she lied so cleanly.
Jameson still lost himself in her eyes. His father was smiling, and she returned it.
Jacob was sick to his stomach watching the both of them. He wanted to rid her of her smile. He wanted to give her a piece of his mind and get revenge, but it didn't help that, despite all of that, he still wanted to kiss her senseless.
An angry pulse buzzed in his ears, and he fixed their union with a gaze hard as steel again. The awareness of the things he wanted to do to Nicole clarified that fucking her was the worst thing that he could have done yet. She knew the right buttons to push with him and igniting forgotten flames would only pave the road to his downfall.
Jacob had no intention of witnessing the comic display. He rose to his feet, fastened the button of his suit jacket, and cleared his throat. Remembering why he was here and who he was dealing with had put him out of misery.
It was Nicole, for chrissakes!
The snake that abandoned him for his own father the first chance she saw. Time in Singapore had toyed with his head, but he needed to pump the brakes on his emotions. He needed to embrace the reality of things.