Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 213

Chapter 178: Call Her Aunt

(Author’s POV)

“There’s one more thing,” Phineas said, setting the glass down. His tone was exactly the same as it always

was – level, unhurried, faintly conversational. “I wanted to tell you properly, while we’re all here.”

Eleanor looked up.

“Aurora’s first husband,” Phineas said, “was Jasper.”

The room went quiet.

Not the polite quiet of a pause in conversation. The other kind.

William’s face moved through several expressions in rapid succession – disbelief, the particular blankness

that preceded real shock, and then something that was working very hard not to become rage. His

breathing changed.

He stood up.

“Excuse us,” he said, and looked at Phineas.

They went into the adjoining sitting room. The door closed.

Eleanor sat down beside Aurora and touched her hand lightly.

“Give him a moment,” she said. “He’ll come back.”

Aurora nodded. Her fingers were still, but Eleanor noticed the small tension in them.

“He always does,” Eleanor added.

Behind the closed door, the first sound was the sharp crack of a walking stick against something solid.

Phineas didn’t move.

William stood in the center of the room, breathing hard, the cane still in his hand. He’d hit his son across

the leg and Phineas had simply stood there and taken it, which somehow made it worse.

“You knew,” William said. His voice was low and controlled in the way that meant it wasn’t going to stay

that way. “You knew what she was to Jasper. You knew the entire time. And you still went and registered the marriage.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because my marriage doesn’t require Jasper’s approval.” Phineas’s voice was the same as it always was. “And because you’re the one who brought him back into the family. You made that decision knowing what he’d done to his brother’s widow. You knew and you said nothing.”

Chapter 18 Calc Her Aunt

William raised the cane again.

Phineas stepped to the side. Calmly, without hurry.

“If

Glarm

you can’t accept this,” Phineas said, “I’ll take Aurora and we’ll leave. The marriage stands either way.”

William stared at his son.

“Is that what this is?” he said. “Did you do this specifically to-” He stopped. Pressed his hand against the

back of a chair. “What is the point of this? What are you actually trying to accomplish?”

Phineas was quiet for a moment.

Then he said, almost conversationally, “Honestly? I want the day to come when Jasper has no choice but

to look Aurora in the face and call her Aunt Aurora.”

William stared at him.

He wanted to say something. Several things. He turned them over, discarded them, turned over several

mone.

There was nothing to say. It was done. The marriage was registered. Aurora had already called Eleanor

“Mom” and him “Dad” and the property documents were sitting on the table in the next room.

“Don’t cause any more problems for this family,” William said finally. “Whatever comes next – keep it clean.”

“As long as nobody starts anything,” Phineas said, “I won’t finish anything.”

They walked back into the dining room.

William sat down, straightened his jacket, and looked across the table at Aurora with an expression that had rearranged itself into something approaching warmth.

“Have you two set a date for the wedding yet?” he asked.

Aurora blinked once. “We’re leaving that to Phineas.”

William’s gaze slid to his son, who was lifting his water glass again with the serene composure of a man

who had not just been hit with a walking stick twenty minutes ago.

William looked back at his menu.

He thought, not for the first time and certainly not for the last, that the only thing he could reasonably hope for at this point was that when the wedding finally arrived, Phineas would manage to get through the day without producing any further surprises.

He was not particularly optimistic.

(Author’s POV)

Rosalind sat on her bedroom floor, arms crossed, jaw set.

She hadn’t touched a single bite of dinner. Not the roast chicken, not the mashed potatoes, not the bread

Chapter 178 Call Hey Aunt

Clair

roll Mrs. Potts had placed on the side of her plate specifically because it was her favorite. She’d pushed the whole tray away and announced, with great solemnity, that she wasn’t hungry.

She was very hungry. But that wasn’t the point.

Jasper stood in the doorway of her room, looking down at his daughter with an expression that hadn’t softened since he’d sent her to her room two hours ago.

“You can sit there all night,” he said. “I’m not changing my mind.”

Rosalind’s lower lip trembled. “I’m not eating.”

“Fine.”

“I’m never eating again.”

“That’s your decision.”

She stared at him, clearly expecting this to work the way it always worked – the wobbling lip, the big eyes,

the declaration of starvation. It had worked on him a hundred times before.

It wasn’t working now.

“Daddy.” Her voice cracked on the word.

“Rosalind.” His didn’t. “If you don’t learn to behave properly, no amount of crying is going to fix it. Not with

1. me. Not anymore.”

That was when she snapped. She grabbed the small wooden drawing board from beside her knee and

hurled it at the floor. The clatter rang through the room. Then she opened her mouth and screamed – a full–throated, heartbroken wail that shook the walls.

Jasper stood there and let it happen.

Thirty seconds later, Victoria appeared at the end of the hallway, moving faster than she had in months.

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