Hidden between the words was a challenge and a proud attitude.
Dixie curved her lips in a sarcastic smile.
She had always considered Jennifer nothing more than a spoiled heiress, overbearing but not very scheming.
Now it seemed she had completely underestimated her.
Someone who could secretly take Atticus away and still generously share teaching videos, how could she be an ordinary person?
Dixie did not bother arguing with her. She handed the phone to the man next to her. “Is this how you say you handled it?”
Atticus lowered his gaze to the screen. The gentle expression on his face vanished, and his voice turned cold.
“If this matter gets exposed, it won’t benefit anyone. Our parents are elderly and can’t take such a shock.”
“On the fifth of next month, just behave and become my most beautiful bride. As for Jennifer, she won’t threaten your place as Mrs. Reid.”
Dixie laughed coldly. “Atticus, have you stopped pretending now?”
“Wife.” Atticus sighed softly and put on his familiar warm smile. “I stayed up the entire night. Can’t you at least pity me a little? Come on, stop making a scene. As long as you settle down, houses, cars, jewelry, whatever you want, just say it…”
Dixie coldly laughed. “I’m definitely calling off this engagement!”
Hearing that, Atticus’s expression turned cold, and his voice sharpened. “Everyone in Jefferson City knows you went through ninety-nine surgeries for me. If you cancel the engagement, are you sure anyone else will still marry you?”
“Dad is already old, and his heart is weak. Do not make him worry.”
“Atticus!” Dixie clenched her teeth in anger. “Are you using my father to threaten me?”
Atticus neither agreed nor refused. “If you stay quiet and behave well, I promise the old man remains healthy and unharmed.”
Dixie suddenly lost control of her feelings and raised her hand to slap him.
He had prepared for it and suddenly seized her wrist. His grip was so powerful that it felt as if her bones would be crushed.
The pain was so strong that Dixie’s features twisted, and tears quickly rose in her eyes.
Atticus quickly released her hand, his voice returning to the same gentle tone as before. “Sorry, wife. Do I hurt you?”
His fake expression made Dixie feel disgusted. She quickly drew her hand back.
She refused to look at him again and turned her face toward the window.
It was the twelfth month of the lunar year, bitterly cold, just like the feeling in her heart right then.
The car became completely quiet.
Atticus seemed not to mind her response and leaned back in the seat again.
As if he had already decided that Dixie had given in.
He drove Dixie back home and left after dropping one line. “Don’t go wandering, so our parents don’t worry.”
Dixie’s eyebrows pressed together tightly. Before ending the engagement, she had to think of a way to send her parents away.
That night, Atticus did not return.
Very late at night, the phone that had stayed silent for a long time shook again.
The picture Jennifer sent was Atticus’s sleeping side view.
The caption had only five words. [He’s so tired he falls asleep.]
Dixie had just taken a screenshot to keep it when Jennifer removed the picture and the message.
She mockingly laughed and put the phone onto the bedside table, accidentally spotting a picture of herself and Atticus.
Inside the picture were the two of them from ten years before, standing beneath the big school trees, smiling carefree.
At that time, Atticus would fight with others whenever she was bullied and would awkwardly wipe away her tears.
After returning to awareness, she tossed the picture frame into the trash and lay on the bed in a blank state.
The shapes on the ceiling seemed to bend and intertwine, just like the more than twenty years between her and Atticus, looking clean and lovely on the surface, yet actually long, full of breaks and schemes.
Dixie almost stayed awake the whole night and only slipped into a faint sleep when dawn arrived.
She did not know how much time had passed when sounds rose from downstairs.
Before long, Atticus pushed into the bedroom with a dark expression.
“Jennifer almost got raped. Was it you who arranged someone to do it?!”
