Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 226

Chapter 191: Four Seasons

(Aurora’s POV)

I hadn’t understood, until now, what it actually meant to have that kind of money.

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Yesterday morning I was standing in Alpine snow. Yesterday afternoon I was on a private island. Today I

was in a castle.

An actual castle. In the middle of Europe, surrounded by hills covered in autumn maples – red and gold so saturated they looked painted. The estate belonged to one of Phineas’s vineyard properties, apparently. He’d mentioned it the way someone might mention owning a spare umbrella.

We shot spring on the island – white sand, pale light, a gauzy dress that caught the breeze. We shot

summer there too, in the late afternoon heat. Then we flew here for autumn and winter, the castle’s stone

walls and frosted grounds standing in for the cold season.

Two days. Four seasons. Three countries.

I kept scrolling through the preview images the photographer sent. Every single one looked like it had been

pulled from a magazine spread. The woman in the photos looked composed and elegant and quietly

radiant, and I kept having to remind myself that was me.

In the castle’s courtyard, between setups, I found an old wooden swing hanging from one of the oak trees

and sat down on it. The rope was thick and weathered. I pushed off lightly with one foot and let myself

drift.

The autumn air was cold and smelled like woodsmoke and damp leaves. For a few minutes I just sat

there, swinging gently, not thinking about anything.

Phineas walked over. He stood a few feet away, watching me with his hands in his coat pockets.

“If you like it here,” he said, “we can come back. Every year, if you want.”

“It’s your property.”

“That’s why I’m offering.”

I dragged my foot along the ground to slow myself. “I like it. It’s very- “I searched for the word. “Still”

He nodded once. “The winery’s releasing this year’s red. The lake view at sunset is worth it. Come try a glass.”

I thought about it for exactly two seconds. “I’ll pass.”

“You don’t drink?”

“I drink. I just know my limits.” I looked at him. “And I’ve seen what your ‘just one glass looks like with other people.”

Something shifted in his expression – not quite a smile, but close. He looked at me for a moment with that

< Chapter 191 Four Seasons

particular quality of attention that I still hadn’t gotten used to, then let it go.

“Fair enough,” he said.

The photographer called us back for the next setup.

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By the time we finished the last shot of the day, I was done. Completely, thoroughly done. I’d smiled at a camera more times in two days than I had in the past five years combined. My face felt like it had forgotten how to do anything else.

Phineas, on the other hand, had been perfectly cooperative the entire time. Every lighting adjustment, every repositioning, every request to turn slightly left or tilt his chin – he handled it without complaint. At one point he’d even suggested a different angle himself, and the photographer had practically wept with

gratitude.

In the long gallery corridor, during one of the breaks, he came up behind me and settled his arm around

my waist. Before I could register what was happening, he bent down and pressed a light kiss to the back

of my neck.

I jumped half a foot sideways.

He straightened up, entirely unbothered.

“The photos have been beautiful,” I said, stepping to a slightly safer distance. “Though going through all the

proofs afterward is going to be a nightmare.”

“I’m keeping all of them.”

I stared at him. “All of them? There must be thousands of frames.”

“Then I’ll keep thousands of frames.”

I had absolutely nothing to say to that. I turned back toward the window and decided that the very wealthy operated on a completely different plane of logic that I was never going to fully access.

(Author’s POV)

Jasper was in his car when he saw it.

He’d been going through the final checklist for the wedding–venue confirmations, catering adjustments, the florist’s revised proposal. Sienna had handled most of it herself, but he made a point of reviewing the details. It gave him something to do.

The car was moving through a commercial street when he glanced out the window and stopped thinking about the florist entirely.

The bridal boutique had a large display in its front window. A promotional photograph, blown up to nearly full height. A bride in profile, the gown catching the light in soft folds.

He knew that profile.

<Chapter 191 Four Seasons

“Stop the car.”

The driver pulled over. Jasper was already out the door.

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He stopped about a hundred meters from the shop. He stood on the pavement and told himself it was a coincidence. That faces looked similar. That the light was doing something strange.

He walked closer.

With every step, the image sharpened. The line of her jaw. The way she held her shoulders. The particular

angle of her chin.

He stopped in front of the window.

It was Aurora.

He stood there for a moment, running through explanations. She’d left with her settlement, but maybe she’d taken on commercial work. Modeling contracts, promotional shoots – it was possible. People did it.

It didn’t have to mean anything.

He pushed open the door.

A shop assistant came forward immediately. “Good afternoon. Are you looking for something specific?”

Jasper pointed at the window display. “That photograph. The woman in it – was she modeling the gown, or

was it her own?”

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