BILLIONAIRES: Father or Son

Chapter Seventeen

JAYDEN'S POV

I sat in my cousin's bar, staring into my glass of whiskey, letting the alcohol slowly numb the frustration that had been eating at me for days. I was still in my work clothes, my tie loosened, and the last thing I wanted was to go home. Home didn't feel like home anymore. All I got there was my mother's nagging about pressing charges against Flora for supposedly stealing her jewelry. I had already told her a thousand times to drop it. Pressing charges would be a PR disaster, and honestly, it wasn't worth it.

Then there was Melissa. She had a new request every five minutes, each one more ridiculous than the last, and she blamed everything on her pregnancy hormones. I didn't want to admit it, but my life had been spiraling out of control since Flora walked out. It felt like a part of me had gone missing, and what really pissed me off was how everyone else seemed to move on like nothing happened—except me.

I had done everything in my power to get Flora to come back and beg for my forgiveness. I blacklisted her from every firm in Rockshire, except The Bennett Group. I even bought the building she lived in and gave them a week's notice to vacate. Tonight, I had sent a couple of guys to rattle her family a bit, thinking maybe the pressure would break her, make her come crawling back. But... nothing. Not a word from Flora. She had even blocked my number.

She was handling everything too well, and it was driving me insane. It was like she knew something I didn't, and that bothered me more than anything. The men I sent called earlier—they said she hadn't come home yet. It made me wonder where she was at that time of the night. I told them to wait. I just wanted to hear her voice, to see if I could break through that wall she had built.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Jace's voice cut through the haze. He slid a bottle of tequila across the bar toward me. "Take the whole thing. You look like you need it."

I downed another shot, setting the glass on the counter with a hard clink. "Thanks," I muttered, not in the mood for conversation.

Jace, being Jace, didn't care about my mood. He rolled up his sleeves, leaned over the bar, and smirked. "You look like shit, by the way," he added with a chuckle.

"Glad someone noticed," I bit back.

He chuckled louder, clearly amused. "Trouble in paradise? Let me guess, you need advice from the lowly cousin who is not a Kensington?"

I shot him a look, tugging at my already-loosened tie. Jace was my mom's youngest sister's son, born out of wedlock. My grandfather tried to buy off his dad, but the guy refused, insisting on being part of Jace's life. Jace grew up with his father, and went through school funded by our family, but ditched the Kensington name as soon as he turned twenty-one. He wanted nothing to do with the power, the fame, or the money. Instead, he opened this bar and built his own life.

He barely showed up at family dinners or reunions. I never understood why he turned his back on it all when he could've had anything he wanted. But that's Jace—always doing the opposite of what you would expect.

"She left," I finally said, staring into my glass like it held all the answers I was missing.

"Who left?" Jace asked, leaning forward with genuine curiosity.

"Flora," I muttered. "She left the house. She wants a divorce."

Jace raised an eyebrow. "She's leaving you? Like, leaving the marriage?"

I nodded, and he looked surprised, then shrugged. "Honestly, I'm shocked she didn't do it sooner."

I glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"