Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 245

<Chapter 210 The Apology

Chapter 210: The Apology

(Author’s POV)

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Sienna looked down at their joined hands. Her father’s words were still running through her head – *you

walked into this, you made your choices, now do the work* – and underneath all of it, the thing she never said out loud, the thing that kept her moving forward no matter what: she wasn’t Richard Rathbone’s real daughter. The moment that came out, everything she’d built would be at risk. She needed Jasper. She needed this marriage to hold.

“Are you still angry with me?” she asked. Her voice came out smaller than she intended.

“No.” He lifted her hand and pressed his lips to her knuckles. “I’m not angry. I just – today wasn’t what either

of us wanted. And I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a better wedding.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Some of it was.” He looked at her. “I should have handled things differently.”

Sienna leaned into him. “I lost my temper. I know that. It’s just – Aurora standing there like that, in front of everyone, refusing to leave and saying what she said-” She stopped. “I wasn’t prepared for it.”

Jasper’s jaw tightened slightly. He thought about Aurora showing up with Phineas, standing in the front row, that composed expression on her face. He’d spent an hour trying to work out what she was doing there, and by now he’d landed on the only explanation that made sense to him.

She was there to make a point. She’d walked in on his arm, flaunted Phineas Everett like a trophy, and made sure everyone in that room saw it. It was a performance, start to finish. Revenge, dressed up as

indifference.

The thought settled something in him. Because if that was what she was doing – if she’d gone to all that trouble just to get a reaction out of him – then whatever she felt for Phineas Everett was theater. A stand–in. The real thing was still here, still between them, whether she admitted it or not.

He pulled Sienna closer. “It’s our wedding night,” he said, his voice low. “We’re not spending it like this.”

Sienna looked up at him. A faint flush moved across her cheeks. “No,” she agreed. “We’re not.”

He kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes.

They came downstairs a while later, composed, hand in hand. Richard was waiting in the sitting room. He

looked at them both, and some of the tension in his shoulders released.

“Better?” he asked.

“Better,” Jasper said.

“Good.” Richard stood. “You should head home. Get some rest.”

Sienna crossed to her father and kissed his cheek. “We’ll come back in a few days.”

<Chapter 210 The Apology

Claim

“No rush.” He walked them to the door, then paused. “I was thinking of going to the cemetery. Leaving

some flowers.” He kept his voice casual. “If you want to come along, we could have dinner after. Just the

family.”

Sienna went still for just a moment.

The grave he meant wasn’t her mother’s. The woman buried there wasn’t her mother at all. She didn’t know whose grave it was, not really – only that it wasn’t hers to grieve.

She pulled a smile into place. “Of course. Just let me know when.”

Richard nodded. He watched them walk to the car, watched the door close, watched the headlights

sweep across the drive as they pulled away.

Then he went back inside and stood in the empty sitting room, and the quiet pressed in around him.

*Just let them have a good life*, he thought. *That’s all. Just let them be all right.*

He turned off the lamp and went to bed.

Back at Jasper’s house, Victoria was waiting in the sitting room with her arms folded and a look on her

face that could have stripped paint. But Jasper caught her eye the moment they walked in, and something in his expression told her to hold it. Tomorrow they were going to the Everett estate. The situation was

already complicated enough. This was not the moment to make it worse.

Victoria pressed her lips together and said nothing.

Rosalind was on the living room rug, arranging a set of small figures with focused concentration. She

didn’t look up when Sienna walked in.

Sienna hesitated, then crouched down beside her.

“Rosalind.”

The little girl kept her eyes on her figures.

“I’m sorry I raised my voice at you today,” Sienna said. “That wasn’t fair. I was upset, but it wasn’t your fault,

and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

Rosalind considered this for a moment. Then she looked up. “You can’t do it again.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” Sienna kept her voice even. “And this weekend, if you want, we can go to the theme park. The one with the big roller coasters.”

Rosalind’s expression shifted. The sulk wasn’t entirely gone, but it had loosened. She looked at her father, who gave her a small nod, and then she looked back at Sienna.

“Okay,” she said. “But you still can’t yell at me.”

<Chapter 210 The Apology

“Deal.”

Jasper watched the exchange and felt some of the day’s weight lift. Rosalind went back to her figures. Sienna straightened up and met his eyes, and he gave her a brief, quiet look that said *well done*.

Claim

Dinner was subdued. Victoria ate without speaking. Rosalind talked about the theme park. Sienna listened

and answered in the right places.

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