Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
But now? Now she saw it for what it was-her own foolish fantasy. His promise had been nothing more than the empty words of a man lost in the moment.
Her silent love, all those years of aching glances and stolen hopes, had always been hers alone.
The pain came swift and suffocating. Her eyes burned despite herself, reddening in front of Marilyn.
So he hadn’t been single. He had a girlfriend all along.
Which meant she… had been nothing more than the other woman. The thing she despised most.
Marilyn noticed her tears at once. Her own eyes glittered, but with venom. She smiled brighter, twisting the knife.
“Oh, and after our engagement, the wedding will be soon. Would you be my bridesmaid?”
“No.”
The word slipped out before Adeline could stop it. She forced herself to breathe, forced herself upright. “I… might be abroad by then. I can’t attend.”
Marilyn barely cared. She believed in time, in charm, in her ability to secure Victor’s heart. And as long as Lily was cast out, the elders would embrace her too.
The Luke fortune would be hers. The wedding would be lavish, billions spent-something a provincial girl like Adeline could never fathom.
She tilted her head coyly. “Do you have a boyfriend yet?”
And without waiting for an answer, she launched into her performance, cheeks pink, voice syrup-sweet.
“Being with the right man is such happiness. Victor has been so good to me all these years. He just… well, he has such stamina, sometimes it leaves me exhausted. But here’s my advice-find a man with long legs. Trust me, long legs never disappoint in bed. Of course I worry sometimes, with all the foxes out there eyeing him. He’s too outstanding not to attract them. But Victor tells me other women disgust him. He only wants me. He says I’m the only one who’s ever made him want forever. I love him so much… You’ll bless us, won’t you?”
Each word was acid. Each smile, a blade.
Adeline’s face went white as chalk. In Marilyn’s mouth, she herself became the fox spirit, the seductress.
She couldn’t take more. She muttered a curt goodbye and ended the call.
The screen went black.
Her control crumbled. Tears welled, spilled, fell like glass beads onto the dark reflection of her own face- heartbroken, hollow, and alone.
So this was the truth-people should never chase impossible dreams.
Parallel lines were just that. They never met.
Adeline loathed herself for becoming the very thing she despised-a mistress, even if by accident. She swore she would never again allow herself to covet Victor, never again disturb his life.
Last night would remain what it was: a fleeting, impossible dream.
“Bitch!”
Once the video call ended, Marilyn’s smile vanished. Her face twisted with malice, and she spat hard on the floor.
“A backwoods stray, a disgusting foster brat-how dare she even think about Victor?”
Victor belonged to her. And once she had his heart entirely, she would crush Adeline, grind her into Capital City’s dirt until she disappeared.
For Marilyn’s wealth, for her rise, for her place at the top-Adeline had to be ruined.
After breakfast with Grace, Lily let James whisk her to the bridal salon.
Six custom gowns stood in a row, each dazzling, each more exquisite than the last. Lily’s head spun just looking at them, unable to decide which one to try first.
James had no such hesitation. He stepped forward and picked up the gown displayed at the center-a snow-white, jewel-dusted piece of art.
“Try this one first.”
Lily adored it too. With the help of two attendants, she carried it into the fitting room. The gown was heavy, the kind of dress a bride couldn’t manage alone. But with careful hands tugging and adjusting, she was ready in minutes.
James sat waiting in the lounge, head bent in thought. Something tugged at him; he looked up just as the curtain parted.
And there she was.
For one breathless instant, he swore every light in the world bent toward her.
She was breathtaking.
Elsewhere in the shop, John had come to collect the ruined wedding dress Lily once stitched with her own hands, the one Elsa had maliciously cut apart. The staff had done their best to restore it; he had been pressing them for weeks. Today it was finally ready.
He stepped upstairs, following the murmur of voices toward the lounge. And then he froze.
Lily emerged in her gown.
Words could never capture how beautiful she was.
The strapless neckline glittered with scattered diamonds, flowing down to a perfectly cinched waist. The skirt billowed in airy layers, clouds chasing her as she moved. Her hair was swept up high, a gossamer veil draping her cheeks, its golden embroidery glinting like sunlight.
Her eyes shone through the veil, luminous, unearthly.
John’s eyes burned. Years ago, in their happiest days, she had smiled at him and said she would only ever wear a wedding dress for him.
Yet hère she was, radiant beyond words-dressed for another man.
His chest ached as though caving in.
Simon had come too. Elsa had pressed him again and again, threatening death if he didn’t marry her. He couldn’t-he wouldn’t. So he sought John out, determined to push responsibility where it belonged.
When John slipped into the bridal salon, Simon followed. And that was when he saw her.
Lily.
Her back to him, the gown dipped low, baring the graceful line of her shoulder blades. The satin shimmered like moonlit water. She lifted her chin toward James, the veil slipping slightly, revealing pearls pinned in her dark hair, stray wisps brushing her cheek.
White should have been simple. On her, it became majesty.
Simon’s breath caught. His heart fell from his chest.
And James-James saw no one else. His world was filled entirely with the dazzling girl walking step by step into his arms.
Step by step, Lily crossed the floor in her wedding gown, the white fabric whispering around her ankles like drifting clouds.
James, who was always so composed, felt his heartbeat thunder out of rhythm. Heat rushed up his neck until he felt like a schoolboy seeing his first love, hands awkward, breath uneven. He locked eyes with her radiant smile and nearly lost control of himself-he wanted to seize her, hold her tight, never let go.
But before he could move, a voice, thick with pain and desperation, cut through the air.
“Lily…”
James’s jaw tightened. He hadn’t even noticed John and Simon slip inside until now.
John’s eyes were full of torment and regret, unwilling to let go. Simon, trailing just behind, was shamelessly staring, his expression dazed and hungry.
The warmth in James’s gaze iced over. He pulled Lily fiercely into his arms, voice like a whip. “Get out.”
But John didn’t budge. He stared straight at Lily, his voice breaking as he stepped forward.
“You promised me… you said you’d only ever wear a wedding dress for me… You can’t go back on your word.”
Lily’s smile vanished. The sight of John here, spouting nonsense, made her feel sullied. Trying on wedding dresses in front of an ex-it was the worst kind of bad luck.
Her voice was sharp. “The only thing I remember is you taking the gown I sewed with my own hands and giving it to Elsa without even asking me.”
The color drained from John’s face. His regret hollowed him out.
Back then, when Elsa claimed she was terminally ill, he had thought he was doing something noble- handing her the dress Lily had stitched, believing Lily would always belong to him no matter what. He had been wrong. Painfully, irreversibly wrong.
“I regret it,” he whispered hoarsely, over and over. “I regret everything.”
Then, as though seizing onto one last straw, his eyes lit with a fragile hope. “But Lily-I had the gown repaired. The one Elsa destroyed. It looks just like when you first finished it. You said you wanted to wear your own gown at our wedding. I’ll cut Elsa out, I’ll never let her near me again. Just… try it on. Please.”
He barked at the staff. “Bring it here. Now.”
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.