He Traded My Trauma for Her Redemption - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

“I didn’t expect someone as respected as the great Mr. Dickenson to stoop so low just to steal another man’s wife. Anyone who didn’t know better would think all the women in Arkansas had died out!”
Jayden’s words were vicious and cutting.
It was just like the way Ivy used to bully the weak back when we were in high school.
Mervyn clearly bristled with anger, but something seemed to shift in his heart. In the next second, he suddenly wrapped a strong arm around my waist, his smile mocking and cold.
“It makes sense that you’d think that way,” he said lightly. “After all, in your eyes, even a dog would be worth your affection.”
Jayden’s gaze dropped to our intertwined hands.
“Cordelia,” he said, voice strained, “if you still love me, don’t do this to hurt yourself. Just say the word, and even if it costs me my life, I’ll—”
I cut him off with a sigh.
“Jayden, I’ve told you this before.”
His eyes were bloodshot, and it looked like he might burst into tears at any moment.
“I don’t love you anymore.”
News of my marriage to Mervyn had, in the end, stirred up the entire city of Fayetteville.
Even my relatives who rarely contacted me suddenly began inviting me home more often.
Our mutual friends even started forwarding screenshots of rumors, one after another, asking if it was true.
It wasn’t until a reporter managed to reach me by phone that I realized I had underestimated the Dickensons’s reputation.
“Ma’am, we hope you’ll seriously consider allowing our news agency to cover your wedding. At the event, we’ll be able to…”
Head aching, I glanced toward the study, where my fiancé was still focused on his work.
As if sensing my gaze, he looked up and met my eyes.
Then, without a word, he put down what he was doing, took the phone from my hand, and said flatly, “If you’re really that free, I don’t mind giving you something to do.”
The other end of the line instantly went silent—then the reporter hung up.
“Don’t mind them,” Mervyn said. “Do whatever you want. You don’t need to consider me when it comes to ignoring people like that.”
I nodded. “Got it. Go back to work.”
But he didn’t move. Instead, he sat down beside me again, shoulder to shoulder.
Ever since our relationship changed, he’d become increasingly clingy by the day.
His body radiated heat, even through our thin clothes.
“Do you regret accepting my proposal?” he asked suddenly.
I rubbed my forehead helplessly. Ever since that day, he’d been asking me that question again and again, each time with a slightly different spin.
Whenever I gave him reassurance, he’d be happy for a while. But by the next day, the self-doubt would start all over again.
“No, I don’t regret it,” I answered truthfully.
But he didn’t react much. In his eyes, something intense and dark flickered beneath the surface.
I blinked, and suddenly a thought struck me like a revelation.
“From now on,” I added, “you’re my family and my lover. I don’t even have enough time to love you—why would I regret it?”
The gloom between his brows completely vanished.
From the nearby computer came a cautious voice of his assistant, muffled slightly by distance.
“Sir… should we continue the report?”
Mervyn gave my cheek a playful pinch, then strode off with a clear spring in his step, like a cat whose fur had been smoothed down.
“Go on,” he called back.
I was left sitting there, face flushed and heart pounding.
A week before the wedding, I received an anonymous phone call—clearly from Ivy.
Her streaming career had completely collapsed. Someone had posted under their real name, exposing her for school bullying and knowingly being a mistress.
Even Jayden’s business had been affected by the fallout.
She wanted to see me—probably just to vent her anger.
The voice on the phone was dripping with sarcasm.
“Trying to get in touch with the Dickensons’s lady is no easy task, huh?”
A short pause followed before the sneer returned, sharper this time.
“Tell me the truth. You and that guy from the Dickensons—were you already sneaking around behind Jayden’s back? I mean, come on. You’re the illegitimate child of the Blumenthals. Just like a weed—cut it down and it grows right back. I really underestimated you before. You’ve got more tricks up your sleeve than I thought.”