Ex-Mate Wants Me Back (Seraphina and Mortimer) novel Chapter 257

Chapter 257

Third Person’s PQV

“Oh, by the way,” Caldwell said, are you mentoring a team for next semester’s Medical Student Innovation Competition?”

“I am.” Seraphina nodded. “I’m supervising the oncology research team, and we’ve already locked in our project topic. ”

Caldwell smiled. “What a coincidence. I’m heading up a team focused on foundational neurosurgery research. Looks like we might end up competing against each other.”

Then he grinned and teased, “Go easy on me when the time comes, alright?”

Seraphina laughed, about to reply, when her phone rang. The caller ID showed an unfamiliar landline number.

She picked up. “Hello, who’s this?”

When the caller introduced themselves, she paused in surprise. “The title company?”

After hearing what they had to say, she answered distractedly, “Alright, I understand. Thank you.”

She hung up, her brows knitting together.

The caller had informed her that Mortimer was transferring more than a dozen properties in downtown Los Angeles into her name and that her signature was required to complete the process.

Suddenly, she remembered the revised dissolution agreement Mortimer had handed her that day. She had been so eager to sign that she hadn’t even read the fine print. Was this what he’d changed?

Just as the thought crossed her mind, her phone pinged with a bank deposit notification. The string of zeros was so long she

almost lost count.

She counted them carefully, several times over, and broke into a cold sweat-ten billion dollars had just been transferred into

her account.

“What’s wrong?” Caldwell asked quietly, noticing her expression shift.

Without trying to hide anything, Seraphina turned the screen toward him. “I think… I just became insanely rich.”

Caldwell chuckled. “Then congratulations.”

But the moment his eyes landed on the notification, the smile on his face faded slightly. After a brief silence, he asked, “From Mortimer?”

Seraphina ruled out every other possibility. Only one person had that kind of money: Mortimer.

It had been a week since they filed their bond dissolution paperwork. If he had already initiated the transfer, the timing made

sense.

So… it really was him? Had he lost his mind?

She didn’t know how multinational companies worked, but ten billion dollars in cash had to affect even someone like Mortimer right?

She frowned. The money was undeniably tempting. But she simply couldn’t bring herself to accept it.

She had signed the contract for his benefit, so taking the agreed amount felt fair. But accepting this massive extra sum just didn’t sit right with her conscience.

“I’ve got something I need to take care of,” she said to Caldwell. “I’m heading home.” Without waiting for a response, she hurried out of the office.

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Back home, she pulled out the signed dissolution agreement and went straight to the clauses Mortimer had revised-he’d transferred to her all of his properties except the Alpha Villa, plus all of his available liquid assets.

Seraphina stared at the agreement for a long time, unable to say a word.

She never could have imagined that ending a marriage would make her a billionaire.

After much deliberation, she called Mortimer.

Just like the previous few times, he answered almost immediately. “Sera?” His cautious voice came through the phone. “Do you need something?”

“Was that money from you?” Seraphina asked.

After a moment of silence, Mortimer quietly replied, “Yeah.”

“It’s too much. I don’t need it. Just give me what was originally stated in the contract.”

Another brief silence followed. Then Mortimer spoke, his tone firm. “You deserve it.”

Seraphina wanted to say that she had no right to take so much of his money. After all, they had spent three years married only on paper, never building a real life together like true mates.

“Sera…” Mortimer hesitated, his voice low and hoarse. “Everything I’ve given the Davis family adds up to nearly ten billion. You are my Luna. You deserve more than they do.”

Seraphina still couldn’t bring herself to take that much.

Throughout their marriage, Mortimer had given her everything she could ever want-everything but his heart.

The one hundred million dollars promised in their contract was fair compensation, and she could accept it without guilt. But ten billion? She couldn’t.

After all, every self-sacrifice she’d made during those three years had been her own choice. Using that to justify taking this much money felt wrong.

Mortimer knew what she was thinking, but he didn’t argue. He simply said, “We should wrap up the property transfer before the New Year holiday. When are you available?”

Seraphina opened her mouth to refuse again. Before she could speak, he added, “It’s all written into the agreement, and you’ve already signed it. If you have objections to the terms, I’ll withdraw the application tomorrow, and we can draft a new one–”

“I’ll take it. I’ll take all of it. There’s no need to withdraw anything.” The words came out almost instinctively the moment she heard the words “withdraw the application.”

A quiet, bitter laugh drifted through the line. “All right,” Mortimer said. “Let’s meet tomorrow, then.”

“Okay,” Seraphina replied, moving to hang up-then paused as Mortimer’s voice came through once more. “Sera.”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry for how I treated you these past three years.” His voice was filled with regret.

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