Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 153

Chapter 118: Aurora’s Father

(Aurora’s POV)

The question landed quietly. I sat with it for a moment longer than I meant to

Then I glanced at my phone.

7:54.

“I have to be at the lab by nine,” I said, and stood up.

Phineas smiled. It was patient and entirely unbothered. “Take your time thinking it over.”

I grabbed my bag and walked out of his apartment at a pace that was not quite running, but was also not what I would call composed.

In the elevator, I pressed the button for my floor and stared at the doors.

The thing was – and I was not going to examine this too closely – for exactly one moment, somewhere between the prenuptial agreement and *what’s the point of building an empire*, I had actually wavered. Which was ridiculous. The man everyone in Los Angeles described as cold, ruthless, and unknowable was apparently, in private, a relentless talker who could argue the logic of marriage over scrambled eggs without once raising his voice.

A total chatterbox who never knew when to shut up.

I got off the elevator and went to get ready for work.

Reason reasserted itself quickly enough. I had just spent three years in a marriage that had cost me everything – my research, my confidence, my sense of my own worth. I had fought hard to get out of it. I wasn’t walking back into something like that without an overwhelming reason, and “he makes a compelling argument over breakfast” did not qualify.

(Author’s POV)

It had taken Sienna two weeks and a private investigator to find him.

Neil Dawson wasn’t easy to locate. He’d spent the better part of three decades moving between cities, picking up cash jobs that didn’t require ID, running tabs at underground poker games, and staying just far enough ahead of the people he owed money to. He had the hollowed-out look of a man who’d been losing for so long that losing had become the only thing he was still good at – gaunt, weathered, with the particular stillness of someone who’d learned to keep very quiet and very small in the presence of people who had more power than he did.

He had that stillness now, sitting across from Sienna in the back room of a downtown hotel, watching her with eyes that were a little too alert for the rest of his performance.

She was beautiful. He noticed that the way he noticed most things – catalogued it, filed it somewhere

Chapter 11a Aurrerak tother

*20 Pomts

useful. Rich girl, clearly. The kind of money that didn’t need to announce itself because it was sewn into every seam. He kept those thoughts where they belonged, which was nowhere near his face.

One of Sienna’s people dropped a folder on the table in front of him.

“The flight,” Sienna said, “is on me. You don’t need to pay it back.”

He picked up the folder.

The first page was a summary. Aurora Caldwell, née Aurora Higgins, age twenty-six. Researcher at Everett Bio-Tech. Previously married to Jasper Everett of Aether Life Sciences. Divorced.

He flipped through it slowly.

“Her mother is Martha Higgins,” Sienna said. “Former housekeeper. The investigation confirmed that Aurora has no biological connection to Martha’s ex-husband. Which means the paternity traces back to

you.”

Neil thought about Martha. He hadn’t thought about her in years. Skittish woman, always anxious, always trying to make herself smaller. He’d been in her city for four months, maybe five. She wouldn’t have dared pass off another man’s child as his – she’d been too afraid of him for that kind of play.

He turned another page.

The divorce settlement figures were printed in a clean column near the bottom.

He read the number. Read it again.

Then he tipped his head back and laughed – a real one, rough and genuine, the first honest sound he’d

made in the room.

That was enough to clear every debt he had and leave enough over to stop running entirely. Enough to actually stop.

“When you’ve handled it,” Sienna said, already standing, already turning away, “don’t contact me again.” He watched her walk toward the door. The expensive dress, the perfect posture, the complete and utter indifference to him as a human being.

*Sure,* he thought. *Whatever you say.*

He looked back down at the folder. At the photo of a young woman with dark chestnut hair and a serious expression, standing outside a building he didn’t recognize.

He’d think about the heiress later. Right now he had a daughter to find.

(Aurora’s POV)

Phineas was traveling for the week, which meant the apartment was quiet in a way I hadn’t realized I’d missed. I ate dinner when I felt like it, left my research notes spread across the kitchen counter, and went to bed without explaining myself to anyone.

Chapter 118 Aurora’s Fable

It was a Thursday evening when it happened.

The sky had gone grey by the time I left the lab, and a light rain was coming down – the kind that wasn’t quite enough to justify getting soaked but made everything damp and cold anyway. I stood on the sidewalk under my umbrella and pulled out my phone.

I called Jasper.

A year ago, I would have done anything to avoid a call from him. Now I was the one dialing, which still gave me a small, private satisfaction every time.

He picked up on the third ring.

“Aurora.” His voice was flat.

“The payment was due Tuesday,” I said. “It’s Thursday. I haven’t seen anything clear.”

“I told you, it takes time to move that kind of money-”

“Jasper.” I kept my voice even. “If the transfer isn’t in my account by Sunday, I’m filing for enforcement Monday morning. Gavin’s already drafted the paperwork.”

A silence. I could hear him breathing.

“Fine,” he said. “Sunday.”

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Chapter 175 Sweetheart