Page 20 of Challenging Jayce

"No, it's okay. It's a fair question and the only thing I can come up with is I was young and stupid. We had similar childhoods, so I thought that gave us common ground. At the start of our relationship, she gave me what I thought I needed. Someone to take care of me the way my father never did for our family. It wasn't until later on I realized she was a leech and would only take. Never contribute. Then, in the end, she took the one thing from me I always wanted. A family."

He wanted,needed, to prove that he could be a better father than the one he was stuck with. Jasmine stole that from him. Now he was being given a second chance and he refused to fuck it up.

And it all started with having a stable home for Michael to come visit.

CHAPTER12

Kennedy had left not too long ago.He had walked her down to her car and kissed her goodbye on the cheek.

After spilling his guts about his life, she had dazzled him with her ideas for the house. He had to say, she was pretty damn good. She used some app on her phone to pin a ton of suggestions. Each one she had asked his opinion on, even though he told her multiple times his input didn't matter. Apparently to her they did, so he finally opened up and gave feedback when he could. It was rare she showed him something he didn't like. It was clear after a few minutes she didn't have any of the same tastes in design as Jasmine. Something he was grateful for.

Now he was in his hotel room by himself wondering why he didn't ask her to stay. It had been too long since he was a part of the dating scene and it would appear he was rusty.

He would have to work on getting better. Loneliness never bothered him before but it was suffocating him tonight.

Jayce jumped at the chance to talk to someone when his phone rang moments letter. He was disappointed to see the caller was Caden but he answered it anyway.

"What's up?"

"I got the information on Jasmine you wanted, including her medical records. The first ten or so years was what you would expect from the backstabbing bitch but then things changed when she got her diagnosis."

"Changed how? Did she suddenly see all the shitty things she did?"

He doubted it. Kennedy had nothing nice to say about her. That wouldn't have been the case if Jasmine had a come-to-Jesus moment.

"Not in the slightest. She started traveling to Mexico almost monthly. I took the liberty of researching a few things, and from what I could find, she was visiting a holistic doctor."

"A holistic doctor? Are you sure your information is correct? Jasmine would never believe in anything hooky like that. She would consider that beneath her.”

"Yup. I guess a person gets desperate when her prognosis isn't good. She was diagnosed with an . . . dro . . . blas . . . toma, a rare ovarian cancer. They removed both of her ovaries and she underwent chemotherapy. It looked like she was in the clear, but during one of her many yearly checkups, the cancer had returned. This time spreading to other organs. That's when she moved to Seattle to seek a new specialist."

A small sliver of his conscious felt bad for all the negative thoughts he’d had since hearing about her letter. It didn't matter how horrible a person was. No one deserved a cancer diagnosis that they couldn't survive.

"But before you feel too bad, I should tell you her visits to Mexico weren't completely self-sacrificing for the good of her health."

Of course they weren't.

"What was she really doing?"

"Transporting drugs for the cartel. I guess border patrol feels guilty searching a cancer survivor just seeking alternative medications."

"She took advantage of her situation to do something illegal. That sounds more like the Jasmine I used to know. She always thought she was above the law."

"Yes, well, I don't think her move to Seattle was as innocent as she wanted her family to believe."

His hackles rose. The more Caden spoke, the less guilty he felt. He never thought he would say this about someone with cancer, but maybe Jasmine had what was coming to her.

"What do you mean?"

"She was either running from the cartel or helping them expand. I'm still not sure which one."

Anger, like he had never felt before, consumed him.

"She put Michael in fucking danger?" he growled.

Caden's sigh vibrated in his ear. "I don't see how she couldn't have."

Son of a bitch. "Did Shaun know?" He would kill the man if that was the case. Fuck what everyone would think about him. He would cut the man's throat.

---