Jacob Bennett

Biography
Giving up his wife was easily the hardest thing he’s ever had to do and for a man who runs the most successful, profitable law firm on the East Coast of the United States, he’s hit some pretty big snags in his lifetime. Not usually one for regrets and contemplating how things could have ended differently, he finds himself helpless but to do anything else. Why couldn’t he have realized that his family made him happier than his business ever could before he went and threw it all away?

Born and raised in his beautiful city, Jacob Bennett is as Launcestonian as they come. Although he’d always been from a wealthy family, he was lucky enough to have had an average childhood. Sure, he got whatever he wanted – but not in a way which left him spoiled or bratty. Instead of playing with expensive gadgets, he chose to spend his time playing in Anderson Park with his soccer buddies or going to watch a football game like an average kid. Jacob is positive that his respect for the different levels of wealth is the only reason he has been so successful. Knowing that he truly understands you don’t just get everything handed to you – even if he has had that luxury, is a comfort to some people. It’s allowed him to not only succeed in his own studies, but to convert everything he’d learned along the way in to fuelling a profitable and notoriously accomplished law firm under his name. Well, and his partner, of course.

It had been by chance he had stumbled across Emily St. Clair. At this point, her father was only in the early stages of expanding his empire and he hadn’t any idea what he would eventually mutate in to. Although she had only just started her studies at university, The Lawyer couldn’t help but be taken with the ambitious little blonde. They hit it off almost immediately and began a casual kind of dating. Before they had really discussed the seriousness of their relationship, a few months later, he was hit with the news that she was pregnant. His first child. It hadn’t be planned or expected but honestly? God, he was happy. Before anyone could find out about the unborn child, he whisked away the woman he was head over heels for and married her in Hawaii. Not because of the baby; not because of their situation. Because he was sure right there and then that he would never find anyone he loved more than Emily. They would eventually settle down in their beautiful Anderson Island home and Aurélie, his gorgeous daughter, would be followed by her beautiful sister Jenifer.

Of course, when he had found out about Nicolas St. Clair’s illicit behaviour, he was hit with a dilemma. If he were to be tied to any kind of criminal activities, it would not only damage his respectability but the legitimacy of his firm and everyone who worked there. It had felt like his life was at a dead end. No matter where he went from here, he was always going to lose. So, like a coward he’d made her choose – expecting his loving wife to drop her crime-ridden family and realize that being with him was a much better option for herself and their family. Much to his surprise she did the opposite. The couple divorced shortly after. To add salt to the wound of losing the love of his life, he also lost the respect of his daughter, Aurélie, who would rather not see her father anymore.

Jacob hasn’t been able to move on from Emily and he doubts he will ever be able to love someone as much as he loves his ex-wife. Although Jenifer lives with him, he is still concerned about his other daughter and how she may get caught up in the dark behaviours that run riot throughout that side of her family. For this reason, he hired Henry Rieu to keep a close eye on her. Jacob and his best friend, Harrison van der Beck, had pulled the young French drug dealer from his old life and offered him help to overcome his problems. Now Henry is happy to serve his boss and watch out for Aurélie. Of course Bennett knows that if she ever finds out, any chance of the reconciling will be lost forever, but he can’t take the risk of losing his little girl to her greedy, manipulative grandfather.