Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
That night at the theater, James had publicly defended Lily. He’d seemed so concerned about her, so protective, they had all assumed-hoped-he was finally falling for her.
They’d been worried he might still go through with the divorce, but deep down, they thought he’d changed.
Apparently not.
Grace clung to one last shred of hope. “James, whose divorce certificate is that? Are you-“
Before she could finish, she grabbed the certificate from James and opened it.
There it was, black and white.
James and Lily.
The names were right there.
He’d really done it. He’d really divorced Lily.
“What divorce certificate?” Henry’s voice rose with alarm.
He strode over and glanced at the certificate in Grace’s hands. When he saw the names, his vision went black.
“You really divorced her? Have you lost your mind? Lily’s a gem-what were you thinking?!”
Even Ivan lost it.
He rushed up beside Grace, took one look, and his neck flushed red with fury. “You were so worried about her at the theater! Don’t tell me you don’t care about her-so why the hell would you divorce her?!”
“You idiot!”
Blanc snapped.
He kicked James in the leg, yelling, “You forced Lily to divorce you, didn’t you? Always looking for trouble! Watch me beat some sense into you!”
Their perfect daughter-in-law-gone, thanks to this stubborn son of his.
Too furious to care about appearances, Blanc kicked off his slippers and began smacking James with one.
“Hey-
Henry, Grace, even Nancy-all loved James deeply. But thinking about how he’d stubbornly clung to his “preferences” and ruined any chance of salvaging this marriage, they all agreed that he deserved it. None of them stepped in to stop Blanc.
James stood frozen in place, like the soul had been sucked out of him, accepting every blow without a sound.
He didn’t feel the pain.
His heart already hurt too much. The physical pain barely registered.
“Dad, stop hitting him!”
Lily couldn’t stand to see James getting hit. She quickly stepped in, trying to shield him.
“He didn’t force me to get a divorce. I… I was the one who wanted to marry Jackson. I made him come with me to the civil office.”
As soon as Lily said that, Blanc and the others were even more furious.
They didn’t believe for a second that Lily would choose Jackson over James.
They’d all noticed the way she looked at Jackson during dinner. There was no familiarity in her eyes. It was obvious she didn’t see him that way.
She must’ve been forced to say this-James must’ve made her.
“You bastard! You bullied Lily again? I swear I’ll kill you!”
“Dad, James really didn’t do anything. Please stop…”
When she saw that the back of James’s hand had gone red from the hits, Lily’s heart clenched. She couldn’t watch Blanc hurt him anymore. She threw herself in front of James, shielding him with her body.
“Lily, why are you protecting this idiot? He’s always acting like a fool-he needs a good beating!”
Blanc was still furious, breathing heavily.
“Dad, don’t be angry.
Lily didn’t want James to get hit again after she left.
She turned toward the family. “Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom… James is a good man. After we got married, he saved me more than once. I’ll always be grateful to him.”
“But we’re not right for each other. The divorce was something we both thought through carefully. Please don’t let it ruin your mood.”
Ivan, who had once joked about setting Lily up with someone else, had long since grown fond of her as his sister-in-law. He didn’t want to give up hope just yet.
His voice cracked a little as he looked again at the painful truth on that certificate and asked, “Lily… couldn’t you and James get back together?”
Hearing Ivan’s voice trembling with tears, Lily couldn’t help but get misty-eyed too.
She really did love the Luke family.
And she hated the thought of leaving them.
If James hadn’t been so against her-if he’d just been willing to give the baby she was carrying a chance, if he hadn’t been so determined to get divorced-she never would have chosen to walk away.
But if he ever found out she was pregnant, he would get rid of the baby.
He couldn’t accept women.
Staying by his side would only make him hate her more.
She didn’t want to return kindness with resentment.
After a long silence, her eyes still red, she shook her head. “James and I aren’t right for each other.”
“Lily…”
James could tell she didn’t want to make things difficult for Ivan. Before his brother could say another word, he cut in coldly, “I was the one who insisted on the divorce.”
The truth was, he didn’t only like men.
He had just mistakenly thought Leila was a man and assumed that meant he was into men.
But to completely kill off any hope his family had of pairing him up with Lily, he still said, “I like men. I can’t accept women. There’s no point in dragging this out and wasting Lily’s life. Lily, didn’t you say you wanted to travel? Go upstairs and pack-I’ll take you to the airport.”
“Oh, for god’s sake…”
That damn kid was saying he liked men again-couldn’t accept women again…
Henry clutched his chest in outrage and collapsed onto the couch.
Grace was so mad she could barely breathe.
Seriously, her eldest grandson was handsome, upright, full of masculine charm-he didn’t look like he bent that way at all. How could he be so dead set on only being with men?
Two men cuddling and whispering sweet nothings to each other… what kind of nonsense was that?
Just imagining her grandson, freed from his marriage to Lily, throwing himself into the arms of some man out there-Grace felt like life had lost all meaning. She clutched her chest and flopped beside Henry, half-dead from frustration.
After hearing James’s declaration, Blanc and Nancy were so angry they didn’t even want to speak.
They’d just started to let themselves hope their eldest son and Lily might have a happy future together.
But clearly, that was just their wishful thinking.
James had bent so far that he was beyond saving. It looked like they were fated to end up with a son-in-law instead of a daughter-in-law.
The thought that James might bring a man home any day now-holding hands, kissing in front of them- left them both mentally exhausted and completely drained.
Ivan still couldn’t accept reality.
He sniffled and asked James, “Can’t you just try to change and like women instead? I really don’t want a brother-in-law…”
“Shut up.”
James had no intention of marrying a man either.
He was already in a bad mood from the divorce, and Ivan’s whining only made him more irritable. He shoved his brother’s hand away coldly and urged Lily again, “Go pack.”
Lily had wanted to say a proper goodbye to Grace and the others. She had so much left she wanted to tell them.
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.