After inspecting the company in C City, Jayson hurried back. Mr. Smith occasionally gave him probing looks, but Jayson didn't pay any attention. He knew it was deliberate and didn't want to engage with him.
As soon as he returned, Jayson received a report from his trusted informant that Finnegan had been acting strangely lately and advised him to keep an eye on him. At first, Jayson didn't think much of it, thinking Finnegan had been reclusive for years, how strange could his behavior really be?
After paying closer attention, Jayson noticed that Finnegan had been visiting his mother's grave more frequently. He had always had trouble getting around, so it was rare for him to go out. Recently, he not only visited the grave often but also went to the bank once. Jayson couldn't figure out what he went to the bank for.
Jayson started to feel that his father's behavior was indeed strange, so he put Sidney's matters aside. One day, he brought something to visit Finnegan, and Finnegan once again tried to brainwash him. If he wasn't willing to reconcile with Sidney, he might as well quickly get a divorce—keeping ties with her would be undignified.
Jayson agreed readily, which startled Finnegan, who then asked him what had happened.
Jayson chuckled and said, "If she's happier without me, then I guess I should let her go."
Finnegan looked at him carefully, remaining silent for a long time.
"Sigh... I've come to terms with it. If you're not going to carry on the family name, it's whatever. The Nixon family line doesn't have much hope left anyway." Finnegan thought to himself, realizing it was truly hopeless.
"What do you mean no hope?" Was Finnegan suggesting his career wasn't going well?
"Our family men always seem to repeat the same mistakes, never quite getting it right with their women." He'd always hoped his son wouldn't fall into the same traps he did, but in the end, it turned out just the same.
"I think, overall, running such a business isn't a good idea."
"What, you think I'm filthy?" he growled, tapping his cane against the floor in anger.
"No, but we do have other ventures now. Have you thought about closing down Opal Lounge?"
"It's too deeply rooted. Can it really be severed just like that?" In fact, Finnegan felt conflicted. Both he and Jayson had a love-hate relationship with Opal Lounge.
"I've already found a buyer."
"Who gave you permission to find one? Don't think I'm not involved! I'll tell you, I'll never let you close Opal Lounge, not even if I die."
"Why are you so insistent? Closing it would be good for both of us."
"Didn't you say it was good to keep it open before? Easier for cash flow?"
"I regret it now."
"Don't think closing it will sever ties with those people. It's impossible!" Who can really cut ties with money and interests so easily?
"We'll have to try."
"If you really sever ties and lose your power, those people will come after you!" Especially your enemies!
"I'll handle it. But actually, Dad, I came here to ask you something else."
"W-what's the matter?" Finnegan felt something was off about Jayson's tone.
"Has Dad been investigating me recently?"
"No..." Finnegan, the old fox, pretended to be calm and composed.
"I heard that Dad even had one of my used cups tested!" Jayson said it casually, as if he were talking about the weather.
"Where'd you hear that? That's total bullshit!"
"Any updates on the results?"
"What report?"
"Maybe Dad doesn't want to talk about it because he has a feeling about it?"
"I never thought about checking that. You are my son." How did this matter even reach his ears? He began to lament that he was getting old, and no matter how much he fought, he couldn't win against his own son.
"If you've already accepted that I'm your son, why would you want to investigate it?"
The two of them went back and forth for a while, but Finnegan continued to deny that he had investigated Jayson.
"I've never taken Deandre's words to heart. Since I've understood things, what I've decided, I've decided. No matter what, you are my father, and the morals I've learned are from you. I don't want to change." With that, he stood up and left.
Finnegan watched the tall, sturdy figure of the young man, his frame so vastly different from his own small, frail one. The youth's posture exuded strength, while Finnegan seemed to shrink in comparison. The disparity in their sizes made him acutely aware of his own aging, a stark reminder of how relentlessly time passes. The report from that day had already reached his hands, but he didn't open it. Instead, he tore up the file and the envelope together. It wasn't that he didn't have the courage to face reality, but at that moment, he suddenly understood that Jayson was the child he had raised since infancy, the one he had nurtured with his own hands, his beloved flesh and blood. Even if the report showed he wasn't his son, so what? Could he really sever this bond of kinship completely?
Because he knew he couldn't, he chose not to look. There was no need to trouble himself. If he believed Jayson was his son, then that was enough.
And that woman was ultimately the one he had deeply loved, for more than half his life, and that wouldn't change. No matter what her past was before she met him, he knew that when she was with him, she was wholeheartedly devoted, and that was enough.
Now, besides money, there was nothing left to him. To still have the love and kinship he truly believed in was incredibly precious. He wiped his wrinkled face and sighed. He had come to terms with it, but he wondered when that foolish son would understand.
