Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 265

Chapter 230 Wedding Night

Chapter 230: Wedding Night

(Aurora’s POV)

+25 Points

She prodded the cake on her plate with her fork. “Honestly,” she said, “we’ll just sign the papers next week and do the rest of it whenever we get around to it. A small ceremony, a dress, the works – just on our own timeline. The big party can wait.”

I looked at her. She didn’t sound resigned. She sounded relieved.

“Whatever you decide,” I said, “I’ll be there.”

Across the room, I could see Eleanor sitting with Arthur and William. Serena was moving through the remaining guests, and she stopped, looked around, and came back to the family table with a slightly puzzled expression.

I didn’t need to hear the conversation to know what she was reporting. Jasper and Sienna had slipped out at some point – I’d noticed the empty seats an hour ago and hadn’t given it much thought.

William said something. Phineas answered. Even from across the room, I could read Phineas’s expression – calm, direct, nothing wasted.

Then he glanced over at me, and whatever he saw on my face made him excuse himself from the table.

He came over and stood beside me, one hand resting on the back of my chair.

“Ready to go?”

“Almost.” I finished the last of the bisque. “What did your father ask?”

“He noticed we skipped the processional.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That someone didn’t want the wedding to go smoothly.”

I set the bowl down. “He must have had questions about that.”

“He mentioned that Sienna wouldn’t have a reason to interfere – that Jasper’s already part of the family, so she’d be hurting her own people.” Phineas said it without any particular inflection.

“And you said?”

“Nothing.” He pulled my chair back. “Come on. Say goodbye to your mother-in-law.”

The drive home was quiet. I leaned against Phineas’s shoulder and watched the city move past the window. The light was going gold and long in the way it does in late afternoon.

Chapter 280 Wedding Night

Chapter

“Do I need to go to the station?” I asked. “For a statement or anything.”

“No. It’s handled.”

I nodded. The silence stretched comfortably for a moment.

“Leo won’t be able to get anything out of Martha,” I said. “You know that, right? No mother is going to destroy her own image in front of her child. It doesn’t matter how guilty she is.”

Phineas’s hand found mine on my knee and closed around it.

He didn’t say I was wrong.

(Author’s POV)

The visiting room at the detention center smelled like industrial cleaner and recycled air. Leo sat on one side of the reinforced glass partition and looked at the woman on the other side of it.

Martha looked smaller than he remembered.

“Why?” he asked. “Why does it keep being her? Why is it always Aurora?”

Martha’s mouth curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “I thought I was building something for you. Every step I took – I told myself it was for you.”

“I never asked you to.”

“I know.” She folded her hands on the table. “I know that now.”

“You said you’d tell me the truth when I graduate.” His voice cracked on the last word. “Why not now? What’s the point of waiting?”

“Because you’re not ready. And neither am I.”

Leo’s eyes were burning. He pressed his lips together and looked at the ceiling for a moment.

“I don’t need any of this,” he said. “I never needed you to do any of it. I just wanted us to be okay. That’s all. Just – okay. Together. That’s the only thing I ever wanted.”

Martha was crying. She didn’t try to hide it.

“Finish your degree,” she said. “Don’t come back until then. Promise me.”

He walked out of the detention center into the afternoon light and stood on the pavement for a moment, blinking against the brightness.

He’d missed the wedding. He didn’t know how to call Aurora after that. He wasn’t sure he deserved to.

A thought moved through him, dark and quiet: if he hadn’t survived that illness at fifteen, if everything had ended then – would she have been spared all of this?

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Chapter Wedding Night

+25 Points

He stood there until the thought passed. Then he put one foot in front of the other and walked.

(Aurora’s POV)

Back at the estate, I changed out of the gown and sat at the vanity to take off my makeup. My reflection looked tired in a way that went past the surface.

I heard the bathroom door open. Phineas came out in a loosely belted robe, his hair still damp, and crossed the room toward me.

He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, his chin dropping to my shoulder. In the mirror, his grey eyes found mine.

“You worked hard today,” he said quietly.

“I’m still in the middle of something.” I reached for the cotton pad. “Don’t distract me.”

He didn’t move. His lips brushed against my ear, and his voice dropped lower, with an unhurried certainty that left very little room for argument.

“It’s our wedding night,” he said. “Leave it.”

I didn’t even have time to react.

One moment I was sitting at the vanity, cotton pad in hand. The next, Phineas had pulled me up One moment I was sitting at the vanity, cotton pad in h from the chair, his arms locking around my waist, his mouth close enough to my ear that I felt the warmth of his breath before I heard the words.

He said he was infertile. That I didn’t need to worry.

The words hit me like a brand. My face went hot all the way to my ears.

I tried to pull back. His arms didn’t give.

“Phineas-”

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