Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
Part of her wanted to reach out and embrace Luna.
But reason pulled her back sharply.
Luna wasn’t that kind, loving foster mother anymore.
She knew Mathilda was their biological daughter. Of course they loved her more. That was only natural. Lily had even once resolved to care for Mathilda herself, knowing how long she’d been lost and how much she’d endured.
But none of that justified the way they’d cast her aside. The way they’d tossed her into the abyss to make room for Mathilda.
She was a living, breathing person-with feelings. She could hurt. She could grieve. She could feel drops And she could not, would not, accept such betrayal without consequence.
She had seen through Luna’s selfishness and coldness. She knew this sudden show of care wasn’t genuine it was manipulative.
And sure enough, the next words out of her mouth confirmed it.
“I know this whole situation has been hard on you. But Wendy is still your elder and my best friend. She didn’t mean to hurt you. For the sake of the ten years I raised you… could you consider letting this go and forgiving her?”
The flicker of warmth in Lily’s gaze iced over completely.
Her eyes locked on Luna with a glare as sharp as blades, and then a mocking laugh escaped her lips. “Mother… raised me for over ten years… Ms. Luna, you really are forgetful when it suits you. When I married James in Mathilda’s place, we made things crystal clear-you and the Ginger family owe me nothing, and I owe you nothing. So how dare you bring up the so-called kindness of raising me just to guilt-trip me? And Wendy didn’t mean it? She didn’t mean to do it-so I forced her to have that truck crash into me, then held her down and made her pour liquor down my throat, so everyone would believe i was drunk and ran someone over? Ms. Luna, your shamelessness is truly something else.”
“I…”
Luna faltered, momentarily caught off guard and ashamed.
But faced with Lily’s eyes full of scorn, embarrassment turned to anger. She scowled and snapped, “You say you don’t owe us anything? I raised you for over ten years. That’s a fact. Lily, you’ll never be able to repay what the Ginger family did for you! If you have any conscience left, stop persecuting Wendy!”
“I owe the Ginger family nothing.”
Lily’s voice carried a biting edge of self-mockery. “Yes, I ate your food, lived under your roof. But once I earned my own money, I paid it all back-twice over. The money from the Luke family? I left it all with you. I owe you nothing. It’s you who owe me. Ever since Mathilda came back, you believed every twisted word out of her mouth and turned against me-mocked me, bullied me. You threw me into a freezing river in the dead of winter. When I fought to swim to shore, you kicked me back in again. Over and over, until I was nearly drowned. Because of that, I lost my ability to ever have children.
“If anyone here owes anything-it’s you. You owe me a healthy body. You’re not worthy of my trust or my love. None of you deserve to be called parents, or brothers. You don’t even deserve to be human.”
At the mention of the river, the expressions on the faces of the three Ginger brothers shifted, a flash of guilt passing through their eyes.
They hadn’t known the punishment they’d given her would cost her the ability to ever have children.
But in their minds, they had acted only because she had tried to drown Mathilda first. So they shoved their guilt aside.
What happened to her, in their eyes, was her own fault.
“What did you say?”
John stared at her in disbelief.
He hadn’t known. He hadn’t known Lily had gone through something like that. That she couldn’t have children anymore.
He only ever wanted her. Even if they never had kids, he wouldn’t mind.
But what shattered him was knowing she had been so cruelly abused and tormented.
Fury boiled in his chest. He turned and threw a vicious punch at the nearest person-Taylor-who took the blow square in the jaw.
“How dare you treat her like that?! You deserve to rot for what you did!”
“She had it coming!” Taylor roared, retaliating with a punch of his own. “If she hadn’t tried to drown Mathilda first, we wouldn’t have taught her a lesson! She brought it on herself!”
John clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.
He didn’t want Lily to suffer. But if she’d been the one to start it, then maybe she wasn’t entirely in the right either.
So he stopped, turning back to her with a hoarse voice. “I don’t care if we can’t have kids. Lily, as long as you agree to forgive Wendy, I swear I’ll treat you well for the rest of my life.”
If this had happened back when she loved John the most-if she’d found out she couldn’t have children and he’d said this to her-she would have cried from how touched she was.
She would’ve given him her heart, her soul, everything.
But now? She didn’t feel moved. Didn’t feel touched. Just… insulted.
He said he’d treat her well, but he still believed she’d been the one to hurt Mathilda first. That she deserved her punishment.
He still stood on Wendy and Elsa’s side, expecting her to be a saint and forgive them all.
So what right did he have to ask for her love?
“John, don’t flatter yourself. You’re like trash I’ve already thrown out. Whether I can have kids or not- what’s it got to do with you? As for Wendy…”
Lily’s voice turned as cold as ice. “I don’t care who tries to plead for her. I will see this through to the end.”
“Lily…”
Wendy, like Elsa, had always carried herself with a certain smug pride. She looked down on Lily and had never once considered apologizing to her.
But last night, she’d consulted her lawyer. What she’d done was serious. If Lily pressed charges, she’d go to jail. No question.
To save herself, she gritted her teeth and bent her arrogant head, stepping up to Lily’s bedside.
“I know I was wrong about last night. I regret everything. I’ll make it up to you. I swear, I’ll never do anything to upset you again. I’m begging you, don’t back me to a corner… please?”
“No.”
Lily lowered her gaze and looked down at Wendy with chilling indifference. Her voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. “Your phony regret means nothing to me. What I want is for you to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Lily, don’t go too far!”
Just moments ago, when Simon heard that Lily had once struggled in freezing water for nearly an hour and lost her ability to have children, his chest had tightened with guilt.
But now, seeing her relentlessly press Wendy while Elsa stood there pale, blood at the corners of her lips and looking like she might collapse, his temper snapped. “Wendy already apologized to you! What more do you want?”
Lily let out a cold laugh. “You’re so forgiving, Simon. So tell-me-if I murdered you and then apologized at your grave, would you choose to forgive me?”
“Lily!”
Veins bulged at Simon’s temples, his fury boiling. Why couldn’t this woman ever just let things go?
“Lily, please… I’m begging you, let my mom go.”
Elsa couldn’t bring herself to apologize to Lily, but humiliation colored her cheeks and eyes nonetheless as she pleaded. Just as she finished, her body shuddered violently, and a harsh cough tore from her throat, blood oozing from the corners of her mouth.
“Elsa!”
John rushed to her, catching her before she fell. He pulled her tightly into his arms, then turned sharply on Lily, his voice laced with accusation.
“Elsa’s condition has worsened fast these past two days. Are you really going to keep pushing until she dies? Lily, I don’t want Elsa spending the last moments of her life filled with regret. I’ll say it again-make peace with Wendy. Stop being so cruel!”
James had no interest in meddling in Lily’s personal affairs.
Least of all her tangled drama with John and the rest.
But strangely, seeing John act like her boyfriend, ordering her around, something about it unsettled him.
And when he looked over at Lily’s pale face, those familiar eyes that so closely resembled Leila’s glistening with unshed tears, a heaviness tightened in his chest.
That dull ache made his mouth move before his brain could stop him.
“John, whether I end up divorcing Lily or not, the fact is, she is still my wife. And as James’ wife, no one has the right to dictate her actions-not you. There will be no reconciliation. Wendy at…cked and framed my wife. That means she made herself an enemy of the Luke family. As far as I’m concerned, we’re mortal enemies now.”
John’s face darkened.
He hadn’t expected James to publicly call Lily his wife like that.
Wasn’t he desperate to divorce her? Why was he defending her like this?
But then he remembered-James already had someone he loved. He’d even tried to set up Lily with Simon not long ago. That reminder soothed a bit of the jealousy gnawing at him.
Still, in his mind, Lily was his. His future bride. And hearing James say otherwise lit a fire in him.
A sharp, icy fire flared in his eyes as he stepped forward, staring James down without backing off.
“Lily isn’t your wife. She’s my girlfriend.”
“Heh.”
James let out a short, scornful laugh. The air around him turned cold and imposing.
“Everyone knows you already held a wedding with Elsa. You’ve got a new woman, and you’re still chasing your ex? You and Elsa are a perfect match-selfish, hypocritical, and shameless.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.