Chapter 32

The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn Chapter 32 Atticus takes a deep breath, and I can tell that my words have broken his composure. He drops his gaze lower so that his eyes are glued to mine.

“I know it doesn’t look good, Autumn, but I swear my intention was never to hurt you any of those times. And I’m telling the truth.

I didn’t know Anya was going to be there. She’s having difficulty coming to terms with this marriage; she’s been acting out because of it. I’m only trying to help her.” He tries to reason with me. “I’m not saying that I’m innocent in any of this; I’m just trying to prove to you that I’m not as bad as you think I am. Ask anyone here; I was helping to look for Maya last night. Ask Clarissa if you want to; she won’t lie to you; she likes you. She will tell you the truth. I was with my siblings the entire night, and Anya was nowhere near any of us. I’m not even sure what she did after we left the house. What you saw in front of you last night was the most that happened between us. I left her there. I didn’t speak to her again since then. And that’s the truth. I know you have no reason to trust me after everything that’s happened since this wedding was announced, but I’m asking that you please trust me this once.”

While his words did make me feel a little better, they didn’t dull the pain completely. This explanation still didn’t cover the voice note. And I knew that he actually said those things; Gabriella and Maya confirmed it for me. They were there; they heard everything. What made this harder to accept was the day he chose to make those promises to her. The same day we repeated our vows; his promises to her were more meaningful than the ones made to me.

“I’ve listened to your explanations, but there is still something that I’m not okay with,” I confess. “Something I don’t think I’ll ever be okay with. I don’t think there is anything you can say to make up for it, but I still want to give you a chance to explain yourself.”

His body stills, “what is it? Tell me so that I can at least try and fix it. I don’t want things to be bad between us, Autumn. I want to make this work.”

I can see the curiosity and worry on his face as he waited for me to give a proper explanation. I take a deep breath as built up the courage to confront him about the one thing that broke all of the trust I had in him and our marriage.

“The voice note.” I snap; my voice is sharper than it’s ever been in my entire life. “I want you to explain the voice note to me. I want you to explain everything that you said in that recording.”

He looks surprised by my words. “Voice note? I don’t know of any recording. Are you sure it was me?”

I took my phone out and sent it to him. I could have played it for him from my phone but I wanted him to always have it with him so he could replay it and remember how much he’d hurt me. I wanted these words to haunt him just like I knew they would haunt me for the rest of my life.

“I just sent it to your phone,” I inform him. “You can listen to it and tell me your thoughts on it. I want your opinion on what I should do after you listen to the recording. I want to know what you would have done if you were in my position and someone sent something like that to you.”

He’s about to open our chat when Damon’s caller ID shows up. I frown; why was he calling now? He ends the call in front of me, showing me that I was more important to him now. However, Damon calls again in a split second; it has to be serious.

Dante messages at the same time and insists that he picks up his phone.

“Give me one second.” He whispers before walking away to answer his brother’s call.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

~ATTICUS~

I wanted to hear what else Autumn had to say to me, but I knew my brothers wouldn’t be this impatient for any trivial matter.

“What’s going on?” I ask as I answer Damon’s third call.

“Come home now!” He shouts from the other end. I stopped walking; I could hear the panic and fear in his voice.

I’m now frozen on the spot. What could have happened while I was gone?

“What’s wrong?” I demand. I held my breath as I waited for an explanation.

“Anya tried to harm herself. She threw herself out of the yacht.” He explains. “She almost drowned. She’s in the hospital. She’s in critical condition. We need you here with us. She needs you.”

I can’t move; his words have left me dumbfounded. I knew Anya was taking everything hard, but never once did I think she was capable of trying to hurt herself over this.

“I’ll tell Autumn, and we will both return home as quickly as we can,” I promise him.

“And Atticus,” he adds, “please don’t say anything that could hurt her feelings when you return, it’s hard to see her like this.”

I take a deep breath; I’ve been an ass to her this entire time; never once did I think Damon would ever have to ask me to watch what I say in front of Anya.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be good.” I promise him.

I end the call and walk over to where Autumn stands, a little distance from me. She was still hostile toward me, but I didn’t have time to fix it anymore. Anya needed both of us. My brothers needed me home as well. I never let them down, and I didn’t plan to do it now.

I can only hope that Autumn would understand my situation. As soon as this was over, we could continue this conversation.

“We need to get home now,” I tell her. “Something horrible just happened. Everyone needs us back home.”

Her entire demeanor changes, “home? But I’m enjoying the party. Why must we leave? What could be so bad that we must leave right away?”

“Something happened with Anya—”

Her eyes immediately darken a shade at the mention of Anya.

“Are you being serious right now?” She demands. “Are you trying to ask your wife to leave this wonderful party so you could get home to your mate and ex-girlfriend? Do I look like a joke to you, Atticus?”

When she says it like that, it sounds worse than it was. I would never do this if it weren’t this serious. But Autumn doesn’t think that way and it’s understandable why she’s reacting like this.

I don’t have time for this, however; we could talk about it in the vehicle.

“Autumn—”

“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say to me, Atticus. I’m not leaving this party. I don’t care what you have to say.” She snaps. “I’m happy here. These are my friends and unlike the person you want me to look after, they actually treat me well.”

I exhale loudly and run a hand through my hair, “Autumn, she’s in the hospital. She almost drowned. She tried to hurt herself. I know your friendship is strained, but she was your friend at one point. Don’t you want to make sure that she’s okay? She needs you right now. She needs both of us. My brothers need us. Can’t you put your differences aside just this once?”

She looked surprised by what I said, and I saw the flicker of concern in her eyes. She still cared about Anya, even if she tried to deny it.

Her gaze hardens suddenly, and she folds her arms stubbornly, “what does that have to do with us, Atticus? She has your brothers to tend to her. They do a good job of protecting her. She doesn’t need me.”

She wasn’t listening to me.

“Anya needs me, Autumn,” I growl. “I’m leaving now with or without you.”

I know my words have struck her, but I needed to get back home. I know I’ll regret leaving her, but I’m not thinking right. Hearing that Anya was in the hospital sent me into a panic mood.

“Then go.” She hissed. “I’m staying here for the party. Since I’m not the one that you care about, I’ll find my way back home on my own.”

“Okay,” I say. “If that’s what you want, so be it.”

I turn and walk away from her without saying anything else. I know I’ll pay for this shortly. Leaving Autumn here is the worst thing I can do tonight. I felt my heart squeeze the further I went away from her.

I hope she forgives me.