Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 131

Chapter 95: Negotiations

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Chapter 95: Negotiations

(Author’s POV)

Aurora refused to go herself.

So Martha went instead.

She appeared at the doorway of the conference room on the fourteenth floor of Rathbone Holdings, clutching her handbag with both hands, her face arranged into something between apology and supplication. Sienna looked up from the table and felt a flicker of distaste move through her before she could stop it.

This woman. This housekeeper.

She remembered Martha from the Rathbone household – a plain, worn-out woman who had spent years caring for other people’s children, including Sienna herself until she was ten. Back then, Sienna had tolerated her presence the way one tolerates furniture. The warmth she had performed toward Martha in recent weeks had been exactly that – a performance, calculated to unsettle Aurora, to remind her that even her own mother could be turned against her. The purpose had been served. Martha Higgins was now entirely useless to her.

Sienna set down her pen.

“Mrs. Higgins.” Her voice was smooth. “This isn’t really a good time.”

Martha didn’t take the hint. She stepped further into the room, wringing her hands, and began to speak in a voice so low it was nearly inaudible.

“I came to apologize,” she said. “For Aurora. For what she said in court.” She stumbled over the words, pressing one hand flat against her chest. “I want you to know – I had no idea she was going to say any of that. None of it. If I’d known, I would have stopped her. I would never have let her speak against you like that.”

Her eyes were red at the rims. She looked like she had rehearsed this on the drive over.

Sienna studied her for a moment.

She genuinely could not determine what this woman wanted. Did she think a teary apology would soften things? Did she imagine Sienna would thank her for it, pull her close, call them allies? The whole scene was baffling and faintly pathetic.

“The damage is already done,” Sienna said. “An apology doesn’t change that.”

Martha’s face crumpled slightly. She opened her mouth.

Chapter 95: Negotiations

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“”You should go,” Sienna said. Not unkindly. But with the finality of someone closing a door.

Martha left. She moved back down the hallway with her handbag clutched to her side, and Sienna watched her go with something that wasn’t quite contempt and wasn’t quite pity. It was closer to indifference.

She pulled out her phone and called Sebastian.

“I need you to look into someone,” she said when he picked up. “Her name is Martha Higgins. She was a housekeeper at the family estate when we were young she helped raise me for a few years.” She paused. “I want to know what she’s actually after.”

Sebastian said he’d handle it.

Sienna hung up and went back to her papers. But the unease didn’t quite leave her.

The next morning, Sebastian was still making calls when his phone rang with a different kind of problem entirely.

Gavin Sterling had arrived at the front door.

Not alone. He had two associates with him, both carrying leather document cases, and he handed over a formal legal notice before anyone had the chance to say good morning. The notice was precise and unambiguous: the Rathbone family was required to return five hundred million dollars’ worth of gifts received by Sienna from Jasper, gifts that had been drawn from jointly held marital assets. Failure to comply would result in immediate litigation.

Stefan took the document. He read it twice. Then he had Gavin and his associates shown into the sitting room and offered coffee, which none of them accepted.

“Mr. Sterling.” Stefan sat across from him, his tone measured. “I believe we have a mutual acquaintance. I actually saw your – your employer, I should say – just yesterday.”

Gavin glanced at his watch. “I’m here on behalf of my client. Shall we get to it?”

Stefan shifted. “I think there may be some misunderstanding about the nature of these transactions. My sister received those gifts in good faith, as gestures of personal affection. To characterize them as misappropriated marital assets is, frankly, a significant overreach.”

“The documentation disagrees with you.” Gavin opened his folder. “As does the bank trail, the valuation reports, and the testimony already submitted to the court.”

“These accusations are entirely without foundation-”

Gavin closed the folder. He stood up.

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Chapter 95 Negotiations

“Then I’ll see you in court,” he said. “Good morning.”

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He walked out without looking back, his two associates a half-step behind him. The front door closed.

The sitting room was very quiet.

Stefan turned to Sebastian, who had been standing near the window. He kept his voice low.

“Did she actually take the money?”

Sebastian hesitated. “It’s more complicated than-”

“Did she take it.”

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