Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 113

< Chapter 78 Cheating

Chapter 78: Cheating

(Aurora’s POV)

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“I’d rather just – not tonight, Aurora. I’m sorry. I know you worked hard to get me in there and I messed it up.”

Leo’s voice was flat and low, the kind of flat that meant he’d been crying and didn’t want me

to know.

“You didn’t mess anything up,” I said.

“I can’t talk about it right now. Tomorrow. I promise.”

I stood there with my hand on the doorframe. He needed the night. I could give him that.

I also knew better than to call the school. If they’d already made a decision, any teacher I reached would give me the party line – and without evidence, I’d just be another parent making excuses for her kid. I needed something concrete before I made any moves.

I went to the kitchen to make dinner.

I was thinking about the exam hall layout, about what Leo must have looked like walking out of that building, about whether the other private schools would ask for Westfield’s records – and then the knife slipped.

It was a shallow cut across two fingers, but it bled immediately. I grabbed a dish towel and pressed down.

“Aurora.”

Phineas was in the kitchen doorway. He crossed the room, took my hand without asking, and steered me to the counter.

“It’s fine,” I said. “It’s not deep.”

He didn’t respond. He opened the cabinet under the sink where I’d put the first aid kit, set it on the counter, and unwrapped a gauze pad. He cleaned the cut, applied antiseptic – I hissed – and covered it with two bandages, pressing them flat with his thumb.

“There,” he said. He looked up. “That counts as a workplace injury.”

“I’m in my kitchen.”

“You were making dinner, which is labor performed on behalf of this household.” He snapped the first aid kit shut. “I’m ordering takeout. You’re not cooking for the next three days.”

< Chapter 78 Cheating

“Phineas, it’s just two fingers-”

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“Consider it a formal notification.” He was already reaching for his phone. “Injured employees don’t operate sharp equipment.”

I almost laughed. “You’re very kind.”

“I’m protecting my investment.” He didn’t look up from the screen. “An injured researcher is an inefficient researcher. This is purely practical.”

And just like that, the warmth evaporated. I stared at the back of his head.

He ordered Thai food and set his phone on the counter. “You were distracted today.”

“Leo’s school situation,” I said. “The exam didn’t go well.”

“How so?”

“I’ll know more tomorrow.” I didn’t want to say the word *cheating* yet. Not until I’d heard Leo’s version.

Phineas looked at me for a moment, then let it go.

The food arrived twenty minutes later and we ate without much conversation.

The next afternoon, I drove back to Martha’s.

“He ate almost nothing at lunch,” Martha told me at the door. “But he said he’d have dinner with you tonight.”

1 knocked on Leo’s door. This time it opened.

He looked better than I’d expected – no visible signs of last night, eyes clear, posture straight. But there was something still sitting behind his expression, a dullness that hadn’t been there before the exam.

“Come in,” he said.

I sat on the edge of his desk chair. He sat on the bed.

“Tell me everything,” I said. “From the beginning.”

He did.

Mr. Sayer had placed him in the hallway outside classroom 108 because the main exam hall was over capacity. A few other students were out there too. The morning session went fine- Leo said he’d moved through it quickly and felt confident. But during the afternoon physics

& Chapter 78. Cheating

section, a folded piece of paper landed near his foot.

I’d already guessed the rest before he said it.

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“Sayer pulled me into his office,” Leo said. “Me and the kid who threw it. He didn’t let me say anything. He just kept talking over me, saying things like – “Leo’s jaw tightened. ” – like it was *laughable* that I thought I’d get away with it. Like he’d already decided.”

“And the other student?”

“Blamed me. Said I’d asked him for the answers.” Leo looked at his hands. “There’s no camera in that hallway. I had nothing.”

I was quiet for a moment.

“Leo.” I waited until he looked up. “I believe you.”

“I know you do.”

“We’ll look at the next school on Saturday. Westfield isn’t worth your time.”

He nodded, but I could see he wasn’t convinced it would go any differently.

I didn’t say what I was already thinking: that I wasn’t going to let this stand. Leo hadn’t

cheated. Someone had set him up, or at minimum, Sayer had jumped to a conclusion without any real investigation. Either way, I wasn’t letting a false cheating allegation follow my brother into every admissions office in the city.

On Saturday morning, I drove to Westfield Academy alone.

The building was quieter on weekends. A few staff members moved through the lobby, but no one stopped me. I walked to the hallway outside classroom 108 and stood there.

It was a long corridor, pale walls, fluorescent lights. I walked the length of it slowly, scanning the ceiling.

At the far end, near the junction with the stairwell, I found it – a camera mounted at an angle that covered the full stretch of the hallway.

I took out my phone and photographed it. The timestamp, the position, the field of view.

Then I went to the admissions office.

Mr. Sayer was at his desk. His expression shifted the moment he saw me – not surprise, exactly. More like the particular look of someone who’d been expecting a nuisance and had already prepared their response.

* Chapter 78 Cheating

“Ms. Caldwell.” His lip curved slightly. “I assume your brother told you about the incident.”

“He did.”

“Then I won’t waste your time.” He leaned back. “A student of questionable integrity isn’t someone we’re in a position to consider. I’m sure you understand.”

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I looked at him steadily. “A folded piece of paper lands near a student’s foot during an exam, and that’s enough to call his integrity into question?”

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