Marry Ex's Billionaire Uncle After Divorce (Aurora and Jasper) novel Chapter 295

(Aurora’s POV)

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.

“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.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify