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?!”

Atticus’s words sounded like a poisoned knife, stabbing hard into Dixie’s heart.

She opened her eyes and stared at him, her face pale.

Atticus’s expression was terribly dark as he spoke in a cold voice, “I ask you, do you do it?”

Dixie stayed silent. She slowly rose and calmly watched the man standing in front of her, both known and strange at the same time.

A smell of hospital disinfectant clung to him, likely because he came straight from the hospital.

Dixie coldly laughed. “It is not me.”

“If it is not you, who else could it be?” Atticus laughed coldly. “Last night I only went to keep her company, and today she almost lost her innocence. Dixie, do you still have any conscience?”

“Conscience?” Dixie laughed quietly, her eyes full of dislike. “Atticus, you break your vow. What right do you have to speak to me about conscience?”

“It is not me. Believe it or not.”

Atticus coldly laughed. “That thug already confessed he accepted money from you.”

After saying this, he roughly pulled her out of the villa and pushed her into the car. “Jennifer is still frightened. You’re coming with me to the hospital to apologize.”

Dixie laughed angrily. “I already said I didn’t do it. I’m not apologizing!”

She tried to open the door, but the driver had already started the Phantom.

When they reached the hospital, Atticus ignored her resistance and dragged her into the ward.

Jennifer was lying on the bed, her face bright and healthy, nothing like someone who had just been frightened.

When she saw Dixie, a brief look of pride and challenge flashed in her eyes. Then she acted scared and gave a fake apology.

“Miss Chapman, I know I was wrong.”

“I’ll stay away from Atticus. Please don’t send anyone to destroy my innocence again!”

Dixie clenched her teeth in anger at her fake behavior. “Stop pretending. From the time I found out you and Atticus were together, I already stopped thinking about staying with him. Why would I have someone to rape me?”

Right after she finished talking, Atticus spoke in a low tone, “The criminal already pointed at you himself. It cannot be wrong. Say sorry!”

Seeing the man with the dark expression, Dixie suddenly remembered the words he once told her.

“Even if one day you shoot me, I will believe the gun fired by accident.”

Atticus, who once trusted her completely, now believed the words of a criminal…

No, in the end, it was because of Jennifer.

Dixie’s heart held chaotic feelings, and her chest hurt every time she breathed.

Suddenly, a strong pain spread from her wrist. It was Atticus.

He held her wrist hard and pulled her toward the bed, his voice cold with no warmth. “Say sorry to Jennifer. Right now.”

The cornersof Jennifer’s mouth rose a little, her tone fake and sickening. “Forget it, Atticus. Am I not okay? Since Miss Chapman refuses to admit it, just let her return.”

Dixie could not bear it anymore and lifted her hand to slap her. “Jennifer, stop spreading lies about me!”

“If you want Atticus, I will give him to you. Why spend so much effort setting up such a scene?”

Jennifer clearly had not thought Dixie would hit her. Her face showed complete shock. Atticus’s face turned dark, his voice cold. “Dixie, you really go too far! Not only do you refuse to say sorry after doing something wrong, but you even hit someone…”

“I already said it was not me.” Dixie felt deeply hurt. With red eyes, she looked at him. “She set me up. The one who should say sorry is her!”

After speaking, she turned around and walked away quickly without turning back.

Atticus paused for a moment, then hurried after her.

But in the next moment, Jennifer rushed into his embrace and spoke in a soft, clingy tone, “Atticus, don’t leave me by myself. I’m really afraid!”

Atticus hesitated briefly, and at last he agreed, “Alright, I will not go.”

Soon after, Dixie went back to the villa and got a WhatsApp text from Atticus.

[Since Jennifer no longer wants to continue this issue, we stop here.]

[The one I care about most is still you. Don’t overthink, and don’t act in ways you shouldn’t. I never allow anyone to threaten your place as Mrs. Reid.]

Dixie coldly laughed again and again, then quickly typed. [I refuse to marry!]

Atticus: [Do not speak mad words. Your dad’s state grows worse each day. I already asked Dr. Colton, the top-known doctor across the United States, to do heart bypass surgery for him. Also, the care and drugs he uses right now all come from hospitals owned by the Reid Group. If those suddenly end, what do you think happens?]

Dixie’s breath cut off at once, her nails pressing hard into her palms.

The Reid family held control over more than half of Jefferson City’s health services. The truth that Terrence could stay alive until this day truly had close ties to the Reid family’s help.

One more new message appeared in the message window. [Quietly stay and become my bride. I take care of Jennifer’s matter and do not allow her to trouble you again.]

Dixie rested on the wide, warm bed, yet her whole body felt very cold.

Jennifer was cruel enough to plan this kind of trap to blame her, and surely would not drop it.

As expected, Dixie’s thought was not mistaken.

Later that evening, Atticus’s bodyguards suddenly forced their way inside, pushed her into a vehicle with no reason given, and took her to the hospital.

Later, it became clear Jennifer had taken poison and kept vomiting and having diarrhea.

At that moment, she rested on the hospital bed with a pale face and pretended kindness while speaking to Atticus, “Miss Chapman is only confused for a brief moment and does not really want to hurt me.”

Atticus laughed coldly and stared at Dixie with cold and merciless eyes. “I already warned you not to hurt Jennifer again. Why do you not obey?”

Dixie looked at him calmly and showed no fear. “Atticus, yesterday’s issue and the poison have no connection with me! If I truly do it, she will not lie here still completely safe. This is clearly planned and acted by herself!”

She only said the truth, yet Atticus believed she made excuses, and his expression grew darker. “If I do not punish you, I believe you will not learn to be obedient!”

After saying it, he coldly ordered the bodyguards. “Bring her back to the villa, take away her phone, and shut her inside the underground basement. Without my permission, do not allow her to come out!”

The proud look in Jennifer’s eyes passed by. She pushed her hair aside, showing unclear red marks along her neck, and pretended to say, “Is this not a little inappropriate? Miss Chapman only completed an operation recently and has not fully healed. Atticus, I am truly alright. Just remain beside me more…”

“Alright.” Atticus’s tone sounded unbelievably soft. “I remain here beside you and go nowhere.”

Seeing them behave sweetly as if nobody else stood nearby, Dixie felt her heart stabbed again and again.

In the end, the bodyguards escorted her back toward the villa and locked her inside an underground basement without any windows.

Inside was dark and wet, and the air smelled of decay.

Dixie hugged her knees and sat on the floor, wondering how she might escape.

She did not know how much time had gone by when the cellar door was kicked wide open. The bodyguards brought three young men inside.

“Mr. Reid asks me to pass you a message: since you enjoy doing things secretly, then let you also experience what it is like to be raped!”