Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 126

Chapter 90 Drinking with Phineas

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Chapter 90: Drinking with Phineas

(Author’s POV)

She had never heard him use that tone with her. Flat. Measured. Like he’d already processed the feeling and was simply reporting it.

Her eyes filled immediately. The tears came the way they always did when she needed them – quickly, convincingly. She let them fall.

“Do you have any idea what that day was like for me?” Her voice broke on cue. “Victoria stood up in front of everyone and blamed me. In public. Like I was some kind of criminal. I came home and I couldn’t stop shaking. I’ve spent three days trying to hold myself together, and all I wanted was you, and you weren’t there, and every time I tried to think clearly all I could see was Aurora’s face in that courtroom, looking at me like she’d won-”

“Sienna.”

“I just want to be with you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. And somehow she keeps getting between us, even now, even after everything-”

“Stop crying.” His voice wasn’t cruel, but it wasn’t gentle either. He rubbed his forehead with two fingers. “Just stop.”

She caught the slight shift in his posture and pulled back the tears. She took a breath, straightened, and looked at Victoria asleep in the bed.

“How is she doing? What did the doctors say?”

“She should be able to go home in about a week.”

“Then go home,” Sienna said. “Be with Rosalind. She needs you. I’ll stay here with Victoria.”

Jasper was quiet for a moment. Then he stood, picked up his jacket from the back of the chair, and walked to the door.

“Fine.”

She watched him go until the corridor swallowed him. Then she sat down in the chair he’d just left, and the expression on her face changed completely.

She stared at Victoria’s sleeping form. The old woman’s chest rose and fell steadily,

oblivious.

Something had shifted in Jasper. She could feel it. Before, all it took was a few tears and he

Chapter 90 Danking with Phineas

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would fold – he would apologize, he would hold her, he would tell her none of it was her fault. Tonight his eyes had stayed distant the whole time. Tired, yes, but distant in a way that felt

deliberate.

The door swung open. A nurse came in with a fresh IV bag and glanced at Sienna.

“Are you family?”

Sienna looked up and arranged her face into something warm and composed.

“I’m his wife,” she said. “Jasper’s wife.”

(Aurora’s POV)

The cab ride back to Phineas’s place took twenty minutes. I spent all of it staring out the window at nothing.

My cheek had stopped burning by then, but the heat was still there under the skin, a dull, persistent reminder. What stayed with me more than the pain was her voice. *You can’t even compare yourself to her, Aurora. You never could.*

I let myself into the apartment and stood in the entryway for a moment, not moving.

The dining room table was set. Risotto, herb-roasted salmon, an arugula salad with shaved parmesan. Candles. Phineas was already at the table, and he looked up when I came in.

He didn’t say anything. He just looked at me for a second – took in whatever was written on my face – and pulled out the chair across from him.

“Sit down. Eat something.”

I sat. I picked up my fork.

I wasn’t hungry, but I went through the motions. The salmon was good. I barely tasted it.

Halfway through the meal, I put down my fork.

“I never properly thanked you,” I said. “For the subpoena. The financial records you helped pull through the court – that was the piece that made the whole case work. Without those timestamps, Gavin wouldn’t have been able to prove the asset transfers.”

Phineas waved a hand. “It wasn’t complicated.”

“It mattered. It mattered a lot.” I looked at him. “Thank you.”

He held my gaze for a moment, then turned toward the sideboard. He came back with a bottle Dom Pérignon, the foil still crisp.

& Chapter 90 Drinking with Phineas

“Just arrived today.” He set two flutes on the table. “Join me?”

It was late. We were alone. The rational part of my brain noted both of these things.

But the weight in my chest was so heavy, and I trusted him, and I didn’t want to go sit by myself in the dark.

“Yes,” I said.

We took our glasses out to the terrace. The city stretched out below us, lights scattered across the dark like something spilled. The wind was mild.

I leaned against the railing and drank. Then I drank again.

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