Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 185

Chapter 150: Sweetheart

(Tiffany’s POV)

I turned onto my side. Zachary was facing away from me, already somewhere distant. I reached out and put my hand on his back, just lightly, the way I used to when we were first married and he’d come home late and I’d want him to know I was still awake.

He didn’t respond. He shifted slightly, and my hand slipped off, and he pulled the blanket up and said, without turning over, “I’ve got an early flight tomorrow. Go to sleep.”

I pulled my hand back.

I closed my eyes. I told myself it was nothing. Seventeen years of marriage and two people didn’t always need to talk. He was tired. So was I.

I drifted off sometime after midnight.

At three in the morning, I woke up.

Zachary was murmuring something. Low and half–formed, the kind of sounds that meant he was deep in a dream. I lay still and listened, the way you do when you’re not sure if you actually heard something or imagined it.

Then I heard it clearly.

“Evvie…” A pause. A soft exhale. “You’re so beautiful…”

My entire body went cold.

I didn’t move. I didn’t breathe. I just lay there in the dark with my eyes open and those two words sitting in the middle of my chest like something had been dropped there from a great height.

*Evvie.*

Who was Evvie?

The question arrived fully formed and immediately terrible. Not *did I hear that correctly* or *maybe it means nothing.* Just: *who is she.*

My eyes were burning. I pressed my lips together and didn’t make a sound. Beside me, Zachary had gone quiet again, still deep in whatever dream he was having, completely unaware.

Seventeen years. We had been together for seventeen years. I had cooked dinner tonight with my own hands, in my own kitchen, in my own apron, because I wanted to do something real for once instead of just managing staff and schedules and appearances.

The tears came without any decision on my part. They slid sideways across my face and into the pillow and I let them, because there was nothing else to do.

*Evvie.*

Claim

I was going to find out who she was. I didn’t know how yet. But I was going to find out, and I was going to know exactly what I was dealing with, and I was not going to say a single word until I did.

I lay in the dark and let the name settle into me like a splinter.

*Evvie *

The hospital waiting room smelled like antiseptic and stale coffee.

I sat next to Leo in the plastic chairs, watching the clock on the wall and telling myself to breathe. The cuts on his face had been cleaned and dressed. The bruises were already darkening. The attending physician had been reassuring – nothing broken, no concussion – but I’d insisted on a full panel anyway.

“Aurora.” Leo shifted in his seat. “I’m fine. You don’t have to-”

“Sit still.”

He sat still.

The thing was, most people didn’t know about the leukemia. Leo had been diagnosed at fifteen – acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the kind that took everything and gave nothing back. The bone marrow transplant had only been a few months ago, and he was still in the early stages of recovery. He looked healthy now, and most of the time I could almost forget the years we’d spent in hospital corridors exactly like this one. Almost.

I didn’t tell him any of that. I just waited for the results.

When the nurse finally came back with the full bloodwork, everything was normal. Every single number. I exhaled slowly and let my shoulders drop.

“Told you,” Leo said.

“Good for you.” I stood up. “You hungry?”

He thought about it. “Not really.”

It was past nine. I asked him if he wanted to grab something near the hospital before I drove him back to

school, or if he’d rather go home.

He shook his head. “Not school.”

“Okay. Home, then.”

“Actually-” He stopped. Looked down at his hands, then back up at me. “Can I stay at yours tonight? Just

one night. I’ll take a sick day tomorrow.” He paused. “I don’t want Mom to see my face like this. She’ll make

it into a whole thing, and then you two will end up fighting about it, and I just-” He stopped again. “I haven’t

seen you in a while. I kind of just want to hang out.”

The careful way he said it made my chest ache.

I looked at him – this kid who’d been through more than most adults I knew, who still worried more about

other people’s feelings than his own, who’d apparently been quietly slipping in his grades for the past month and hadn’t said a word.

“Fine,” I said. “But we’re talking about the grades.”

He winced. “I figured.”

“What happened? You were pulling solid B’s in October.”

“I know.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Things got complicated. I’ll fix it.”

“Lec.

“I will. I promise.” He met my eyes. “I’m not going to let it slide again.”

I studied him for a moment, then reached over and ruffled his hair. He ducked away, but he was smiling.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back and picked up pasta, a jar of marinara, some garlic bread, and a bag of salad. Leo carried both bags without being asked. He always did that.

(Author’s POV)

The apartment was quiet when they got in.

Leo set the grocery bags on the counter and looked around. The place was clean and well–organized –

good furniture, everything in its place, the kind of home that suggested someone with actual resources.

He registered this without comment, but he felt something loosen in his chest. Aurora was okay. Whatever

had happened after the divorce, she was clearly okay.

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