Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 123

© Chapter 88, I Have No Mother

Chapter 88: I Have No Mother

(Author’s POV)

Aurora thought it was about Leo.

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That was the only reason she rushed. She left the lab twenty minutes before the end of her shift, told Sylvia she’d finish the data review in the morning, and took the crosstown bus instead of waiting for the subway. By the time she reached the apartment building, she was slightly out of breath.

Leo was waiting near the door. He looked at her and gave a small, tight shake of his head.

Her stomach dropped.

She went in anyway.

The table was set. Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, a green salad. Martha had clearly put effort into it, which somehow made it worse. Aurora set her bag down on the chair by the

door and moved toward the table.

“Sit on the couch,” Martha said. “We’re talking first.”

Aurora sat on the couch. “Okay. What is it?”

Martha stood across from her, arms folded, her expression the one she used when she’d already decided she was right and was simply waiting for the other person to confess.

“Did you slander Sienna in that courtroom?”

Aurora looked at her. “How do you know about the hearing?”

“That doesn’t matter. Answer the question.”

“It wasn’t slander. I presented evidence. Legal, documented evidence that she interfered in my marriage and that she and Jasper transferred marital assets without my knowledge. That’s not slander, that’s a court filing.”

“Sienna would never-”

“Did she call you?” Aurora asked. “Did she actually call you herself?”

“Sienna is not the kind of person who would do something like that.”

“Mom.” Aurora kept her voice level. “She helped move five hundred million dollars out of accounts I was legally entitled to. I have the financial records. I have the timestamps. It’s

Chapter 88 (Have No Mother

documented.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“I’m really not.”

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Martha moved fast. The slap landed hard across Aurora’s left cheek, the sound sharp in the quiet apartment. Aurora’s head turned with the force of it. The heat spread across her face immediately.

Leo was off the couch in a second, putting himself between them.

“What are you doing?” His voice shook. Not with fear – with fury. “What is wrong with you?”

“Get out of the way, Leo.”

“No.” He didn’t move. His hands were clenched at his sides. “That is assault. She’s your adult daughter and you just hit her. You need to apologize. Right now.”

“She is being selfish and reckless and she is going to ruin everything-”

“Apologize.”

Martha’s face went red. She pointed past Leo at Aurora, her finger trembling.

“If you don’t go to Sienna and apologize to her face, I am done with you. Do you hear me? I will cut you off completely. You will not be my daughter anymore.”

Aurora pressed two fingers lightly to her cheek. The skin was hot. She breathed in slowly.

This was the second time. The second time her mother had hit her for Sienna’s sake. Not in anger at something Aurora had done to her. Not in a moment of grief or fear. For Sienna.

The word came to her clearly, the way clinical words do when emotion steps back and something colder takes over. Domestic violence. Her mother had just committed domestic violence against her. Again. For a woman who shared no blood with either of them.

The clarity of it was almost strange. She’d expected it to hurt more. Instead it just – settled. Like a diagnosis you’d suspected for a long time finally being confirmed.

“Sienna is not just someone who came between me and Jasper,” Aurora said. Her voice was steady. “She helped steal half a billion dollars from a joint marital estate. She is the reason my marriage fell apart. She is the reason I spent three years in a house where I was treated like furniture.” She looked at her mother. “You’re my mother. Why are you on her side?”

Martha didn’t hesitate. “Because I am. I’ll always be on her side. You can’t even compare yourself to her, Aurora. You never could.”

Chapter 38: 1 Have No Mother

The room went quiet.

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Aurora looked at the woman in front of her. She looked at the set of her jaw, the certainty in her eyes, the complete absence of any conflict.

A thought surfaced – one she’d pushed down for years, told herself was unworthy, told herself she was being dramatic for even considering. She thought it now without apology.

“Sometimes I wonder,” she said quietly, “whether we’re actually related. Whether you’re actually my biological mother. Because I cannot understand how a woman could

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