"This is my home. I don’t want to go anywhere else."

Cecilia Croft naturally pulled her hand away and turned to sit down in a chair.

Jude Sheridan saw the faint, almost imperceptible smile in her eyes and felt a surge of impatience. He lowered his voice and said,

"Cecilia, must you pick a fight with me here in your grandmother’s house?"

His expression seemed to say to Cecilia Croft, ’I’ve already explained everything, what more do you want?’

It was as if by his logic, as long as he offered an explanation, her failure to forgive him was just her being unreasonable.

’Why did I ever think Jude Sheridan was different from other men?’

A mocking smile touched Cecilia Croft’s lips. She took the jade bracelet out of its brocade box and casually toyed with it in her palm.

Jude Sheridan’s dark gaze faltered.

Cecilia Croft looked up, meeting his restrained gaze with a smirk.

"You came looking for me because of this, didn’t you?"

Jude Sheridan lowered his eyes. Seeing the cold smile on her lips, he decided not to hide his purpose any longer.

"Yes."

"The Walker Matriarch’s birthday is coming up..."

Cecilia Croft cut him off before he could finish his explanation. "This bracelet is mine now. If you want it, you’ll have to buy it from me."

Jude Sheridan’s face hardened, a hint of anger flashing in his eyes.

"Cecilia, we’re about to get married. Do we really have to draw such a clear line between us?"

Cecilia Croft’s expression was indifferent.

’What gave him the right to think she would still marry him without a second thought after he cheated on her?’

"Yes, we do."

Her reply was firm, her eyes devoid of any emotion.

Jude Sheridan stared intently into her eyes, his brow furrowing.

Cecilia Croft met his gaze, refusing to back down.

In a staredown like this, one person was bound to break.

Ultimately, it was Jude Sheridan who pulled out his phone.

The screen of Cecilia Croft’s phone, which was on the table, lit up with a text notification for a received payment.

She didn’t reach for it.

Jude Sheridan watched her, a look of contempt in his eyes. "Aren’t you going to check if it’s enough?"

Cecilia Croft actually picked up the phone, unlocked it, and checked.

Jude Sheridan’s face instantly darkened. "I didn’t realize you’d become so greedy."

Cecilia Croft didn’t look at him, her tone light as she said, "That just goes to show how poor your judgment is. Seven years, and you never really knew me at all."

Jude Sheridan’s expression grew cold.

Cecilia Croft smiled. "Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get to know me completely from now on."

As she spoke, she held out the jade bracelet.

With a stony expression, Jude Sheridan reached for it. The moment his fingertips touched the bracelet, Cecilia Croft let go.

A sharp, crisp CRACK echoed through the room.

Suppressing the upward curve of her lips, Cecilia Croft struck first.

"Why weren’t you holding it properly?"

Jude Sheridan’s expression was ugly. His cold, dark gaze shifted from the shattered jade bracelet to her.

"Did you do that on purpose?"

Cecilia Croft shook her head. "I already took your money. What good would it do me to do that?"

Jude Sheridan saw the smile she could no longer suppress, and his deep, dark eyes turned glacial.

"Since you’re this angry, let’s not see each other before the wedding. You can just stay here with your grandmother and cool off."

He said this with a cold face, but when he saw not a single ripple of emotion in Cecilia Croft’s eyes, he frowned and turned to leave.

"Wait."

He had just reached the door when Cecilia Croft called out to him.

Jude Sheridan’s gloomy expression softened slightly. As long as she was willing to admit she was wrong, he was willing to give her an out.

His mood improved a little, and he turned around.

"What—"

He had just started to speak when Cecilia Croft cut him off.

"The bracelet broke because you weren’t holding it properly. I won’t be refunding the money you just paid me."

Jude Sheridan froze on the spot. The brief improvement in his mood was instantly incinerated, and he squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth.

"You’d better be a greedy miser your whole life! I hope you and your money live happily ever after!"

Cecilia Croft: "I’ll take that as a blessing!"

The room instantly became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Jude Sheridan’s face was frighteningly cold. In the dim, yellow light of the old house, he stared at the calm and composed Cecilia Croft, his lips pressed into a thin line, not saying a word.

After a long time, he was the first to speak, as if in concession, his voice sounding a little weak.

"How did you become like this?"

Cecilia Croft watched him in silence.

"You should be asking yourself what you’ve been doing lately."

For Cecilia Croft, giving up on their seven-year relationship was as agonizing as having her flesh scraped from her bones, piece by piece.

And he was the source of all this pain.

’He was the one who cheated, yet he had the audacity to ask her how she had become like this. It was utterly laughable.’

’The way he tried to shift the blame onto her, even though he was the one who had thrown away their seven years together, was truly disgusting.’

"Cecilia Croft! Do you have to keep fighting with me over this baseless accusation?"

Her indifferent, calm attitude infuriated him.

Cecilia Croft simply raised her index finger to her lips. "SHHH," she whispered. "You’ll wake my grandmother."

Jude Sheridan fell silent for a moment and actually managed to calm down.

"I’ll come pick you up tomorrow. I’ll clear my schedule and stay home with you."

Cecilia Croft didn’t answer. Amid the silence, Jude Sheridan turned and left.

The next day, he did not come to pick her up.

Instead, Cecilia Croft saw on some social media app that Jessica Keller had posted an update.

[Hey girls, it’s so awful, I’m pregnant. We were supposed to go our separate ways in just fourteen days, but now there’s this baby, and I really don’t know what to do. Please, give me some advice, and please be gentle.]

Above the text was a photo of a pregnancy test with two red lines.

The post was an hour old, and a long thread of comments had already formed below it, most of them scathing.

Soon, a comment from Jessica Keller herself was pinned to the top of the section.

[I already told him about the baby. He told me to go to the hospital for a check-up first, and from the way he spoke, it seems like he wants me to keep it.]

Cecilia Croft’s hand trembled slightly. It was impossible for her heart not to be in turmoil.

But she quickly calmed herself, rubbing the bridge of her nose before closing the app.

A light rain began to fall outside the window. As she put down her phone, she glanced out and saw a small basket her grandmother had woven getting soaked in the yard. She quickly got up to go get it.

The yard was covered in moss, which was very slippery after being soaked by the rain.

Cecilia Croft wasn’t watching her step. She slipped and fell, and the immense pain of a dislocated bone instantly drained all the color from her face.

The nearby neighbors had long since moved away, so she couldn’t call for help. She tried to climb up from the ground, enduring the excruciating pain, but it was so piercing that her face went white and she collapsed back onto the ground, letting the rain beat down on her.

After a while, once the pain had subsided a little, she managed to crawl back into the room, fumbled for her phone on the table, and called for an ambulance.

While she was waiting for the ambulance, Jude Sheridan called.

Cecilia Croft answered, putting the phone to her ear.

"Cecilia, something came up at the office, I..."

’Lying again.’ Before he could finish, she hung up.

Jude Sheridan didn’t call back.

Cecilia Croft closed her eyes, unable to hide the disappointment she felt.

She had given him so many chances to be honest, but all she got in return were lies.