Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
They obeyed quickly. He had paid for the restoration, after all. A moment later, he held the dress as though it were a relic, trembling fingers unfolding the fabric for her to see.
Lily blinked. The restoration was impressive-nearly identical to when she’d first finished sewing it.
But cloth could be mended. A heart crushed under betrayal could not.
Her voice was cold. “John, I don’t want it.”
She had six gowns from Lars, masterpieces made just for her. Why would she ever want a dress Elsa had touched, let alone worn?
Her words sliced him apart, but her actions finished him.
She yanked the gown from his arms. “Elsa wore this when she called herself your bride. And now you bring it to me? Do you not see how disgusting that is? She’s already dirtied it. I won’t wear something tainted.”
Before he could react, Lily reached into her bag, pulled out a pair of sharp scissors, and-without hesitation-drove the blades into the gown.
Fabric tore under her hand, diamond beading scattering across the floor like broken promises.
John staggered back as though stabbed himself, watching in horror as she cut his last hope into shreds.
“Lily, don’t cut up this wedding dress… This is the one you were supposed to wear when we got married. Please, don’t destroy it…”
John’s voice trembled with pain, helplessness, and raw pleading.
His face was ashen, his chest felt as if a dull blade was sawing through it. The heartbreak was so sharp it turned his body rigid, like a lifeless branch.
He stood frozen in place, unable to summon the strength to snatch the scissors from Lily’s hands.
All he could do was watch as the delicate, impossibly beautiful gown-the one carrying all of his hopes-was slashed into ruin, reduced to a pile of mangled fabric.
“Don’t ruin this dress…”
His voice kept echoing like a broken record.
But unlike John, who felt as if his heart was being torn apart, Lily felt a deep, liberating thrill as she shredded the dress and tossed the scraps to the floor.
She had sewn this wedding dress herself. She would decide what to do with it.
Just like her life-she would be the one in control.
Only when Lily threw the tattered pieces down did John seem to snap out of his trance.
He stumbled forward, collapsing awkwardly to the floor. His fingers trembled as he scooped up a few scraps, his eyes rimmed red.
Desperately, he tried to piece them back together.
But just like his relationship with Lily, no matter how hard he tried, it could never return to what it once was.
“John, just seeing you ruins my mood. Can you do me a favor and get out? Stop disturbing me and James while we take our wedding photos.”
“You’re really going to remarry James?”
John couldn’t accept that Lily had fallen for another man.
Clutching the shredded pieces in his hands, his voice cracked. “He doesn’t even love you. The only reason he’ll marry you is because you’re carrying his child. If he truly cared about you, he never would’ve forced you into divorce in the first place! He-“
“Shut up!”
James cut him off sharply, unwilling to hear another word.
He tightened his grip on Lily’s hand, his tone cold as a blade, tinged with mockery. “I don’t love Lily, is that what you think…? John, do you think you can read my mind? Get out! Don’t disgust my girlfriend again. I told you before-your presence makes her sick, and that affects the baby.”
When John refused to move, James snapped at the guards who had rushed over after hearing the commotion. “Throw him out.”
John resisted.
He didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want Lily taking wedding photos with James.
But Lily’s eyes, filled with hatred as she looked at him, pierced straight through him, leaving him bleeding inside, humiliated and broken.
In the end, his face pale, he turned stiffly and walked step by step out of the lounge.
The weather outside was beautiful-bright sun, soft breeze.
In theory, standing under such sunlight should have felt warm.
But as he walked farther and farther away from her, it felt like he was back on that snowy night more than four years ago, when despair had driven him to the edge of the river.
His heart was just as cold now as it had been then.
So cold that he almost lost the strength to keep living.
Without Lily, he couldn’t survive.
So even if it meant ruining everything, even if it meant dragging himself into hell, he would find a way to keep her trapped by his side.
“Lily, are you really going to remarry James?”
Truthfully, watching Lily shred the gown and draw such a decisive line with John made Simon happy.
But the thought of her marrying his cousin left his chest hollow with pain.
“You treated me the way you did before, and now you’re going to torment my cousin too. You can’t-“
“Get out!”
James had no patience for Simon’s nonsense about Lily stealing his first kiss or pecking at him in the bathroom. He cut him off with an irritated kick.
“I…”
Simon felt completely wronged.
He was telling the truth.
To him, Lily was irresponsible and reckless, not good enough for his brilliant cousin.
Still, they were close relatives. The baby in Lily’s belly would be his family too. If she would just take responsibility for what she’d done, he wouldn’t mind raising the child-he could certainly afford it.
“Didn’t you hear James tell you to leave? Can’t you understand plain English, or are you too blind to see that none of us want you here?”
Before he could finish, Lily’s voice rang out, sharp and dripping with contempt.
“If you obediently call me cousin-in-law from now on, maybe we can all manage to get along. But if you dare accuse me again of peeking at you in the bathroom or spouting nonsense, every time I see you, I’ll beat you up.”
She actually wanted him to call her cousin-in-law… and even threatened to hit him.
Her words infuriated him.
But looking at her-bold, dazzling, full of fire-he found himself unable to get angry.
Instead, like he was under a spell, his gaze locked onto her lips as they moved. He couldn’t help but remember the moment she had crashed into him, stealing his first kiss.
His fingers brushed against his own lips, his face burning red, his heart pounding wildly.
Lily had no idea what was running through Simon’s head.
To her, he was just a weirdo. After being scolded, he suddenly touched his own lips -there was no way she’d connect that to anything romantic.
But James, watching the way Simon’s face flushed as red as if it were bleeding, had a good idea of what it meant.
His expression grew colder, his voice like ice. “Get out. Or do you want me to call Uncle to drag you back myself?”
That night in the bathroom, when he’d punished Lily because of Elsa, his elders had nearly beaten him half to death. His grandfather and father had both laid into him, and he’d almost come away with broken legs.
If his cousin really called his father here now, he’d never escape another round of brutal punishment. And with Elsa calling to cry about not wanting to live anymore, Simon felt hollowed out, soulless. He turned and left.
He had to find John-make sure John took good care of Elsa.
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.