Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 187

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NATALE The Mightie B Never Crossed My Monk

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Chapter 152: Divorce Has Never Crossed My Mind

(Aurora’s POV)

“Leave it,” Phineas said. “I’ll handle the dishes. Stay with your brother.”

I set the plates back down and looked at Leo. He was staring at the table, turning his fork over in his fingers. The bruising along his jaw had deepened to a dull purple.

I didn’t know how to start.

Leo looked up first. His eyes were a little red at the edges – not from crying, just from the kind of tiredness that settles in after a long, hard day. He was clearly trying not to show it.

“Aurora,” he said. “Tell me the truth. Did he force you into this?”

“What? No.” I almost laughed. “Leo, nobody forced me. Phineas is – he’s a good person. He treats me well. I’m the one who brought it up first.”

Leo stared at me. “You brought it up.”

“I did.”

He was quiet for a second. Then he frowned and muttered, almost to himself, “But he’s so old.”

Phineas walked out of the kitchen at that exact moment, carrying the rinsed glasses. I watched his expression shift – something tightened in his jaw. He looked at the back of Leo’s head, then very deliberately set the glasses down on the counter and said nothing.

I bit the inside of my cheek.

“He’s six or seven years older than me,” I said. “That’s not old.”

“Aurora.” Leo turned to me with the gravity of someone delivering an important verdict. “When you were eleven, he was already eighteen. That’s old.”

I opened my mouth. Closed it.

He wasn’t wrong, technically. The math was the math. I could feel myself starting to flounder.

“That’s not – that’s not how you calculate these things,” I said. “That’s not relevant.”

“It’s completely relevant.”

“Leo.” I cut him off before he could run the numbers again. I took a breath and looked at him properly. “Phineas is good to me. That’s what matters. And listen – about us being remarried. Don’t tell Mom. Actually, don’t tell her anything about my life anymore. Nothing. She doesn’t need to know.”

The lightness left the room.

Leo’s shoulders dropped. He looked down at the table again, and for a moment he seemed much younger than seventeen.

Chart The Looking Than Never Sused My Mood!

Clam

“Okay,” he said quietly. Then he lifted his head. His jaw was set. “But I’m turning eighteen next year. And if he ever treats you badly – I’m not going to just sit there.”

I looked at him – this stubborn, earnest kid who’d been through so much and still had this much fight left in him.

I reached over and ruffled his hair.

“Stop worrying about things that aren’t going to happen,” I said.

He ducked away from my hand, but he didn’t argue.

I got Leo set up in the guest room with a spare blanket and a glass of water, and then I went back to the bedroom I shared with Phineas. After my shower, I came out to find the room empty. There was a strip of light under the study door.

I pushed it open.

Phineas was at his desk, the glow of the monitor on his face. He glanced up when I walked in, then turned the screen toward me.

4

“The student who fought with Leo today. Is this him?”

I leaned in. The face on the screen was unmistakable – that arrogant set to his mouth, the expensive jacket.

“That’s him,” I said.

“Quentin Rathbone. Father’s name is Zachary. He’s Sienna’s cousin.”

I straightened up slowly.

Of course. That surname again. I’d developed a visceral dislike for it – a family that could produce someone like Sienna had something fundamentally wrong at its core, and apparently that extended to the

cousins.

“You don’t need to worry about it,” Phineas said. “I’ve already spoken to the school. Quentin will be

transferred. And his parents won’t be making any trouble – they’re not in a position to go up against Principal Quinn.”

“Thank you,” I said.

The study lamp cast warm light across the desk. Phineas leaned back in his chair, watching me with a lazy, unhurried expression.

“So,” he said. “How are you planning to thank me?”

I looked at him. The sharp lines of his face, the grey eyes that always seemed to be waiting for something.

I’d been married to this man for weeks and he still occasionally caught me off guard.

I don’t know what came over me.

* Chension To Prodska New Creased My Mind

”

I leaned forward and kissed him just a brief, soft press of my lips to the corner of his mouth.

I was already starting to pull back when his hand caught my waist.

He kissed me back properly. Slowly, deliberately, like he had all the time in the world. I felt my thoughts scatter. My hands found the front of his shirt.

By the time he finally let me breathe, my heart was going too fast.

“I have work tomorrow,” I said, and walked back to the bedroom at a pace that I refused to call fleeing.

(Author’s POV)

The next morning, Alfred had breakfast ready before anyone came downstairs – eggs and toast for Aurora, a black coffee and a bowl of fruit for Phineas, and a full plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, and orange juice for Leo, whose appetite Alfred had apparently assessed correctly within twelve hours of his arrival.

Aurora came down first and went to knock on the guest room door. Leo emerged looking more like himself – still bruised, but rested.

They sat down together. Phineas came in a few minutes later with his coffee, took his seat, and opened his laptop.

“What time do you need to be back at school?” Aurora asked Leo.

“Evening study hall starts at six.”

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