Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 108

Chapter 73: Meeting Again

(Author’s POV)

It took Alice three days to find her.

The first lead came from a receptionist at a mid–sized biotech firm in the financial district – Aether Life Sciences, as it turned out. The woman behind the front desk studied the reconstructed image for a long moment, then nodded slowly.

“I recognize her,” she said. “She used to work in the secretarial pool. But she left a while back. Her employee file’s been removed from the system.”

Alice pressed for a name. The receptionist hesitated, then gave it.

Aurora.

With a name, the rest came quickly. A few phone calls, a search through professional directories, and Alice had traced her to the biotech research division of Everett Group, where she was listed as a researcher.

When Alice reported this to Joyce that evening, the old woman sat very still for a moment.

A researcher at Everett Group. Not a secretary anymore – a scientist. And she’d performed CPR on a stranger in the middle of a crowded street without hesitation, without panic, with the kind of steady competence that only came from real training.

Joyce turned the bracelet on her wrist.

She’d been right about this one.

The next evening, Joyce had Alice drive her to the Everett Group building and told her to wait

in the car.

She stood near the entrance as the lobby began to empty with the end of the workday, watching the stream of people coming through the glass doors. She’d brought the reconstructed image, though she suspected she wouldn’t need it. She’d been studying that blurred face for two weeks.

She saw Aurora before Aurora saw her.

She was exactly as Joyce remembered – slight build, dark chestnut hair, a composed expression that softened the moment she stepped out into the evening air. She was pulling on her coat when she looked up and stopped.

Chapter 73. Meeting Again

Recognition crossed her face immediately.

“It’s you,” Aurora said.

Claim

“It’s me.” Joyce smiled. “I hope I haven’t startled you. I’m Joyce Langford. I’ve been trying to find you for some time.”

Aurora blinked, then shook her head with a small laugh. “You didn’t have to go to all that trouble. What I did – it was nothing, really. Anyone would have done the same.”

“Anyone didn’t,” Joyce said simply. “You did.”

Aurora looked faintly embarrassed. She started to say something dismissive, but Joyce cut her off gently.

“I’d like to take you to dinner. Please. I’m an old woman and I’ve been carrying this around for two weeks, and if I can’t thank you properly in person, I won’t be able to sleep properly for the next two weeks either.”

Aurora hesitated. She glanced down at her phone, then back up at Joyce.

“Give me one moment,” she said.

She typed out a message. A few seconds passed, and then her phone buzzed with a reply. Aurora read it, and something shifted in her expression – just slightly, just for a second. The corner of her mouth moved.

She typed again. Another buzz. She read it, and this time the almost–smile became a real one, brief and unguarded.

“There’s a place just around the corner,” she said, tucking her phone away. “Is that all right with you?”

“Perfectly,” Joyce said.

They walked together through the early evening, the street still warm with the last of the day’s light.

The restaurant was quiet, with low lighting and small tables set near the windows. They were seated quickly. Joyce ordered a glass of white wine. Aurora ordered sparkling water.

Joyce looked at her across the table.

“You look like my daughter,” she said. “That’s the first thing I thought when I came to, that afternoon. I only caught a glimpse of you before I lost consciousness again, but the resemblance stayed with me.”

Chapter 73: Meeting Again

Aurora looked surprised. “I do?”

Claim

“Very much.” Joyce reached into her handbag and produced a photograph. She set it on the table and slid it across.

Aurora picked it up. The woman in the photo was perhaps forty, with features that did echo her own – the same line of the jaw, the same curve of the mouth, the same quality of stillness in the eyes.

“She’s lovely,” Aurora said quietly.

“She was.” Joyce took the photograph back and tucked it away. “She passed away eight

years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s old grief now.” Joyce lifted her wine glass. “To your health. And to the fact that I’m still here to raise this glass.”

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