Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 106

Chapter 71 Confrontation

Chapter 71: Confrontation

(Aurora’s POV)

I rolled my eyes internally.

He was my boss. He was my landlord. There was absolutely nothing I could do.

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Phineas glanced at his watch with the ease of someone who had nowhere urgent to be and turned to Martha with a relaxed smile. “It’s been a pleasure, Mrs. Higgins. I’m sorry for the

intrusion.”

Martha opened her mouth to protest, but he was already looking past her, toward Leo on the

couch.

“Congratulations on getting out of the hospital,” he said. “Take it easy for a few days.”

Then he turned, and without so much as a glance in my direction, walked to the door.

Leo said a flat, “Thanks,” and went back to his phone.

Martha’s reaction was something else entirely. She lit up like someone had plugged her in. She followed Phineas all the way to the door, then leaned out into the hallway after him, calling after his retreating figure that he was welcome anytime, that there was always food, that he really must come back soon.

I stood beside her and watched this unfold with a feeling I could not name.

I reached over and hooked my hand around her arm. I pinched. Hard.

She sucked in a breath and spun to glare at me. “What was that for?”

I kept my voice low. “Mom. Stop.”

“I was just being polite.”

“You were being – “I exhaled. “He’s my boss. That’s it. He’s not a family friend, he’s not a prospect, he is my employer. Can you please just leave it at that?”

She pursed her lips, gave me a look that said she didn’t believe a word of it, and turned back into the kitchen without another word.

I let it go. There was no winning that argument today.

I crossed to the couch and sat beside Leo. He looked tired – not the sharp, immediate exhaustion of someone who’d just had a bad day, but the worn–down kind that had been

& Chapter 71 Confrontation

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building for weeks. His wrist was still braced. He was holding his phone loosely, not really looking at it.

“When you’re feeling steadier,” I said, “we’ll sort out the school situation. Don’t rush it.”

“I know.” He shifted, setting the phone down. “And you don’t need to keep coming back here every few days. You’ve already used up more leave than you should have. Just – focus on work. I’m fine.”

I looked at him.

“I mean it,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. Go do your job.”

He wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t keep pulling emergency leave every time something happened. Director Harrison had been patient, but patience had limits.

“Okay,” I said. “But you call me if anything changes. Anything at all.”

He nodded. I gathered my bag, said goodbye to Martha, and left.

(Jasper’s POV)

He drove too fast on the way back.

The navigation system chimed its speed warning twice before he registered it. The third time, there was a patrol car sitting at the intersection ahead, and he let his foot ease off the gas. The car slowed. His pulse followed.

By the time he reached the office, the sharp edge of it had dulled into something heavier and harder to shake.

He sat at his desk and didn’t open his laptop.

Thinking back on it – and he couldn’t stop thinking back on it – he’d been reckless. He’d driven over there on nothing but a secondhand account and a bad feeling, pushed his way into her mother’s apartment, and interrogated her like she owed him an explanation. She didn’t. She hadn’t for a long time..

And her answer hadn’t even been unreasonable. A relative. Someone from her mother’s side, coming to pick them up. Aurora didn’t have money or connections, not the kind that came with sleek black cars and easy authority. If she’d needed help, who else would she call? Her options were limited. He knew that.

He’d torn into her anyway.

He leaned back in his chair and pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose. If he’d just

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Chapter 71: Confrontation

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waited. If he’d thought it through before showing up. It would have been so much easier to have a conversation like a rational person instead of – whatever that had been.

He was still sitting there when he heard it.

Voices in the hallway. Low, the way people talk when they think no one important is within earshot.

He didn’t move. He listened.

“– you think Sienna actually let her back in? When Aurora came by the other day?”

A short laugh. “Are you serious? You know how Sienna is. She can’t stand Aurora. Always has. And honestly, if it weren’t for Sienna pulling strings back then, Aurora never would’ve ended up stuck in the secretarial pool in the first place.”

Jasper’s chair scraped back.

He was on his feet before he’d made a conscious decision to stand. He walked out of his office and down the corridor, past the two employees who went quiet the second they saw him, and straight to the R&D wing.

He pushed open Sienna’s office door without knocking.

She was mid–sentence with one of her junior staff, gesturing at something on the desk. She looked up, and the moment she saw him, her expression shifted into something warm and pleased.

“Give us a minute,” she said to the junior staff.

The woman read the room immediately and slipped out, pulling the door shut behind her.

Sienna came toward him, reaching for his arm. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. What’s

He stepped back. Her hand caught air.

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