Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 246

Chapter 211: The One Who Should Leave

(Author’s POV)

Afterward, Jasper and Sienna went upstairs to the bedroom. Someone on the household staff had clearly

made an effort – there were candles on the dresser, the sheets were turned down, there were white roses

in a vase by the window. The room looked like exactly what it was supposed to be: a wedding night.

The tension between them had softened into something warmer. Sienna sat on the edge of the bed and

reached back to unzip her dress, and Jasper came to help her, and for a while the day’s disasters seemed

to recede.

Then there was a knock at the door.

Small. Hesitant. Unmistakably Rosalind.

Jasper went still.

“Daddy?” The voice was muffled through the door. “I had a bad dream. I’m scared.”

Sienna turned to look at him. “Jasper-”

“It’s our wedding night,” she said. “She’ll be fine. She just needs a minute to settle back down.”

Jasper was already reaching for his shirt. “She’s scared.”

“She’s five. She knows how to go back to sleep.”

“Sienna.” His voice was gentle but final. He pulled the shirt on. “There’ll be other nights. This isn’t going

anywhere.”

He opened the door. Rosalind was standing in the hallway in her pajamas, clutching a stuffed rabbit, her

eyes wide and her lower lip wobbling.

“Come on,” he said, and picked her up. “Let’s get you back to bed.”

The door swung shut behind him.

Sienna stared at it for a long moment. Then she grabbed one of the decorative pillows off the bed and

threw it at the floor.

The candles flickered. The roses sat in their vase, perfectly arranged, completely indifferent.

She sat back down on the bed and pressed her hand flat against her stomach. The anger was still there, hot and tight, but underneath it was something else. Something quieter and more persistent.

Everyone in this house had a claim on Jasper that predated her. His mother. His daughter. His ex–wife, who had shown up at her wedding and walked away without a scratch.

Sienna looked down at her hand, still resting against her abdomen.

What she needed was something that couldn’t be contested. Something that was hers alone, that no one

1.3

Chapter 211 The One Who Should Leave

could take from her and no one had a prior claim to.

She needed a child of her own.

Claim

The next morning, Jasper drove them to the Everett estate. Victoria sat in the passenger seat. Rosalind was quiet in the back beside Sienna, still half–asleep, clutching her rabbit.

Rosalind had been nervous about coming. The last time she’d visited, she’d knocked over something she

shouldn’t have and been scolded for it, and she hadn’t forgotten. It took both Jasper and Victoria

reassuring her twice before she’d agreed to get in the car.

William met them at the door with a broad smile. He clapped Jasper on the shoulder, ruffled Rosalind’s

hair, and nodded at Victoria. He looked at Sienna and said, “Welcome,” in the tone of a man completing a

formality, and that was the entirety of his warmth for her.

Sienna scanned the room. No Aurora. She let out a slow, quiet breath.

They settled into the sitting room. Tea was brought out, and then coffee, and the morning moved at a

comfortable pace. Rosalind sat close to her father and didn’t touch anything.

Then, just before noon, Phineas walked in.

Aurora was beside him. His hand was around hers, their fingers laced together, and they moved like

people who had nowhere else to be.

Jasper saw them the moment they came through the doorway. His gaze dropped to their joined hands

and stayed there for just a beat too long.

Phineas looked around the room and gave a brief, easy nod. “Morning.”

Jasper pulled his eyes up. He kept his expression steady. “Uncle Phineas.”

Then he turned to Aurora. Her eyes met his, and they were completely flat. He forced the words out.

“Aunt Aurora.”

Beside him, Sienna’s jaw was rigid. She produced the same words in the same order, each one sounding

like it cost her something.

Aurora felt something settle in her chest. It wasn’t triumph, exactly. It was simpler than that. It was the

particular satisfaction of watching something land exactly where it was supposed to.

Then Rosalind looked up from her rabbit.

She went still. Her eyes locked onto Aurora, and her face cycled through recognition and then something

harder.

“You.” She pointed. Her voice was loud and clear in the quiet room. “You’re not supposed to be here. Nobody wants you here. Go away.”

The room stopped.

Chapter 211 The One Who Should Leave

Claim

Phineas turned his head and looked at Jasper. His expression didn’t change. His voice came out level,

almost conversational.

“A child who doesn’t know basic manners,” he said. “That tells you everything about how she was raised.”

He crouched down, bringing himself to Rosalind’s eye level. His voice stayed calm. Unhurried. Every word

distinct.

“This is my home,” he said. “Aurora is my wife. So if there’s anyone here who should leave-” He held the little girl’s gaze without blinking. “It isn’t her.”

Comments