Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 199

(Author’s POV)

On the other side of the building, Serena read the same statement and walked directly into her father

Arthur’s office.

Arthur’s expression gave nothing away. He used the tone he reserved for decisions already made.

“You’re not with the company anymore,” he said. “This doesn’t concern you.”

Serena held his gaze a beat longer than was comfortable. “I’m not asking as an employee. I’m asking as

your daughter.”

His expression didn’t move.

She gave a single nod. “Fine. I’ll find out another way.”

She turned and walked out.

She found Phineas in the corridor – which saved her three closed doors. Arthur was already there. She

walked straight into the middle of their conversation without breaking stride.

Arthur’s expression shifted. Something moved behind his eyes, slow and deliberate. He looked at his

brother.

“How far are you taking this?” he asked, his voice low.

Phineas’s mouth moved slightly. “If someone hurt your wife,” he said, “what would you do?”

Arthur didn’t answer right away.

The silence stretched.

Then, gradually, he understood. This wasn’t a business calculation. This wasn’t Phineas protecting an

asset or managing a liability. Phineas was willing to go all the way for someone. And that someone was

Aurora – the woman who had once been married to Jasper.

Arthur’s brow creased. Their father William would not accept this easily.

Phineas’s expression didn’t change. His voice was steady, unhurried. If their father wouldn’t let go, he would leave. He would start over from nothing. Five years. Whatever he built next would surpass Everett Global Group on every metric that actually mattered.

Arthur looked at him for a long time.

He wasn’t bluffing. Arthur knew Phineas’s record well enough to know that. If he decided to walk, he had the capability to do exactly what he said. Every word of it.

Arthur exhaled slowly.

Phineas almost never let himself care about anyone. In all the years Arthur had known him – had watched

Chapter 164 Standing With My Brother

Cers

him operate, had seen him close deals and cut losses and walk away from things most men would have

fought to keep – he had never seen his brother look like this. Certain. Immovable. Like the decision had already been made and everything else was just logistics.

That, by itself, said enough.

Arthur made his decision.

This time, he stood with his brother.

(Aurora’s POV)

The moment the statement went live, something in my chest finally loosened.

My phone buzzed almost immediately. Olivia.

“Tell me your husband just obliterated the Rathbones,” she said, skipping hello entirely. “Tell me that’s what

happened.”

“He helped.” I sat down on the edge of the couch. “But I wasn’t exactly sitting on my hands either. Half the

wording in that statement was mine, Olivia. You know I’m not the type to wait around for someone to ride

in and save me.”

“God, I know.” She let out a long breath, half laugh, half relief. “I just – Aurora, you actually did it. You really

picked right this time.”

“Seems like it.”

“Seriously though.” Her voice warmed. “This is nothing like before. Anyone can see that.”

Then her tone shifted, dropping into something sharper.

“Can I just say – that entire family is like a bad penny. Every single one of them. They keep turning up, and

not one of them is normal. The Rathbones, Sienna, all of it. There’s something fundamentally wrong with

that bloodline.”

I almost smiled. “You’re not wrong.”

She lowered her voice. “Okay, and I’m only telling you this because I overheard it – Richard actually called

my father. Asked him to put in a word, smooth things over somehow.”

“And?”

“My father hung up on him.” She sounded deeply satisfied. “Apparently Phineas isn’t taking calls from anyone in that family. Won’t see them either He’s got them completely locked out, and the word going around is that he’s serious about taking the whole group down if they don’t come correct.”

I was quiet for a moment.

“Olivia.” I kept my voice even. “I need you to tell me honestly how much is this actually costing him? Because if he’s burning himself down just to settle a score on my behalf, I’m calling it off right now. I don’t

<Chapter 164 Standing With My Brother

need anyone fighting a war for me that I wouldn’t fight for myself.”

“Aurora-”

Claim

“I mean it. This started as a contract. Whatever this is now, it’s already more than I expected. I’m not going to let him wreck something real over my pride.”

“He knows what he’s doing,” she said. “Phineas Everett did not get where he is by miscalculating.”

She wasn’t wrong. But the worry didn’t leave.

Before I could say anything else, my phone buzzed against my ear. Another call coming in.

Sienna.

“I have to go,” I told Olivia, and switched over.

“Get to the point,” I said.

A beat of silence. Then Sienna’s voice, clipped and controlled in the way it gets when she’s performing composure she doesn’t actually have.

“My father and uncle managed to get a meeting with Phineas.” She paused. “He told them the decision wasn’t his to make. That it was yours.”

“That’s correct.”

“They’re proposing that Zachary and Tiffany come to your office. Privately. To apologize in person and

this behind us.”

I didn’t hesitate. “No.”

put

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