Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 270

Chapter 235 Minis

Chapter 235: Hints

(Aurora’s POV)

It wasn’t.

+25 Points

Two days later, Harrison called me to say that Phineas had summoned him to the executive floor. Not for anything specific, apparently. Just a casual question about whether the R&D department had been particularly busy lately. And then Phineas had forwarded him a Wall Street Journal article on occupational burnout, with a note about the company’s commitment to employee wellbeing and the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance across all departments.

Harrison had gone back to his desk in a cold sweat.

He’d pulled the attendance logs immediately, found zero overtime records for me – because I was working from home, off the clock – and spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out what Phineas actually wanted.

He landed on team morale.

Which is how, the following Monday, Harrison announced a three-day team-building retreat at a resort about two hours out. Full department. Family members welcome.

The room erupted.

Harrison looked pleased with himself. He fired off a message to Phineas to confirm, and apparently got a reply within thirty seconds.

I heard all of this secondhand, from Sylvia, who was already researching the resort’s spa menu.

That afternoon, I knocked on Harrison’s door.

“I need to request a leave for the retreat weekend,” I said.

He looked up.

“The project data can’t be processed here,” I explained. “I’ve been doing it at home. I’m only a third of the way through, and three days away will push the timeline significantly. I’d rather stay and work.”

Harrison stared at me.

I watched his expression shift – from confusion, to realization, to something that looked very much like a man understanding, all at once, that he had made a series of consecutive errors.

Phineas hadn’t come to ask about team morale. Phineas had come because his wife was working until midnight every night and he wanted it to stop. And Harrison, in his attempt to fix that, had

organized a retreat that would take me away for a weekend – which solved nothing and possibly

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Chapter 235: Hints

made things worse.

“No,” Harrison said.

“Sorry?”

+25 Points

“Leave request denied.” He cleared his throat. “Work-life balance. It applies to you too. The project timeline can flex. You’re coming.”

I opened my mouth.

“It’s three days,” he said firmly. “The data will still be there when you get back.”

I gave up. “Fine. But I’m bringing my laptop, and I’m making up the lost time when we return.”

“That’s between you and your conscience.”

I stood to leave.

“Aurora.” He paused. “You can bring your husband. The notice said family members are welcome.”

“He’s busy,” I said.

I wasn’t entirely sure that was true, but I said it anyway and walked out.

Harrison watched me go with the expression of a man who knew, with absolute certainty, that he was going to get this wrong no matter what he did.

The weekend came.

I packed a bag Friday morning, checked that my laptop was charged, and came downstairs to find Phineas leaning against the kitchen counter with his coffee, watching me with an expression I couldn’t quite read.

“The notice said family members could come,” he said.

“It did.”

“You’re not inviting me.”

I set my bag down. “Phineas. I’m going to spend most of the weekend in the hotel room finishing the data analysis. You’d be sitting there watching me type. That’s not a good time for anyone.”

He looked at me for a moment.

“I see,” he said.

He didn’t argue. He didn’t say anything else. He just set his coffee down and went back upstairs, and I told myself that was fine, that he understood, that a man like Phineas Everett had approximately ten thousand other things to do with a free weekend.

The company bus was a charter – comfortable, full, and already buzzing when I arrived at the

Chapter 135 Hints

+25 Points

pickup point. I climbed the steps with my bag and laptop case, looked toward the back, and stopped.

Every seat was taken.

“Aurora, you’re late,” Harrison called from the second row. He waved toward the front. “Only spot left is up here.”

I looked at the first row.

One seat remained. The window seat was occupied.

Phineas sat there in a charcoal sweater and dark trousers, one arm resting on the windowsill, looking entirely at ease. Like he belonged there. Like he’d been there for years.

I stood in the aisle and didn’t move.

He turned his head and looked at me. The corner of his mouth lifted – just slightly, just enough.

“The bus is about to leave,” he said. “Sit down.”

I looked at Harrison.

Harrison smiled at me with the serene expression of someone who had, at last, done one thing right.

I looked back at the seat. At Phineas. At the complete absence of any other option.

I sat down.

The moment I did, his hand found mine. His fingers closed around my hand, warm and unhurried, and his thumb moved once across my knuckles.

Then he leaned in, close enough that I could feel the words before I heard them.

“Did I surprise you?”

***

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