Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
His voice cut her down, heavy with contempt.
“You climbed into Hudson’s bed because you were forced? You stole Lily’s pendant because you were forced? You lied about having cancer-was that forced too? Elsa, you make me sick.”
“I…”
Her face went pale, her whole body as fragile as dry petals ready to crumble at the faintest breath.
He knew too much. There was no clearing herself now. But after everything she’d sacrificed, everything she’d schemed for, how could she give up?
Her voice cracked, low and broken. “I admit it-I never had cancer. But I didn’t mean harm. John, it’s because I loved you too much. I couldn’t forget you, couldn’t let go. You already had someone else by your side… so I told a little lie, just to bring you back to me.”
A little lie.
John laughed again, bitterer than before.
His lips curved upward, but his eyes were nothing but shadows, sharp and merciless. “Lies, tricks, schemes-you ripped me away from the only woman I ever loved, over and over. And you call that love? You’re really so ‘kind,’ Elsa. Look at yourself. Fake. Filthy. Cheap. Shameless. And I-God, I thought I owed you. I tried to make it up to you. I hurt Lily again and again because of you. I was blind, stupid -beyond saving.”
Fake. Filthy. Cheap. Shameless.
The words crushed her, iron flooding her mouth with the taste of blood.
She could accept him being obsessed with Lily. But for him to look her in the eye and call her cheap, shameless? The shame burned hotter than fire.
Before she could even recover from the shock, his next words hit like a hammer.
“Everything I gave you-all the money, all the gifts-I’ll prepare a list. You’ll return it within a week.”
He hadn’t bothered to calculate exactly, but even rough, the total was close to twenty billion.
He had more wealth than he could spend in a lifetime. But the thought of that fortune wasted on a deceitful fraud sickened him. He would rather throw it to dogs than let her keep it.
“John… what did you just say?”
Her lashes trembled, heavy with fresh tears. She had thought his contempt was the worst humiliation she could endure tonight. But this-this was worse. He wanted it back?
So cold. So cruel. How could he?
“You heard me. Pay it back.”
His voice was flat, dripping with disgust.
Her tears, her trembling, her broken pride-none of it moved him anymore.
The woman before him was a stranger. A grotesque stranger.
And the man who had once been blind enough to believe her-he despised that man most of all.
If only he had seen Elsa’s true face earlier. If only he had trusted Lily a little more, cared for her a little better… things would never have come to this.
“John, you can’t treat me this way…”
“Those gifts, those things-you gave them to me. I don’t have that kind of money, I can’t possibly-“
“Pay it back.”
John’s eyes cut through her like knives, void of pity, void of mercy-only a coldness that froze to the marrow.
“I gave you money, I bought you gifts, yes. But the only reason I did was because I believed you were kind, because I thought I owed you, because I thought you were dying of cancer and I didn’t want you to leave this world with regret. Turns out I was a fool who mistook garbage for pearls.”
“John…”
Elsa staggered back and collapsed onto the floor, fragile and helpless.
When he had called her filthy and shameless earlier, it had already cut her to pieces. But now-now he had called her dog shit.
Never, not even in her darkest nightmares, had she imagined that the elegant, noble John would look her in the eye and call her that.
The pain hollowed her out. She could only lift her tear-streaked face, broken and trembling, staring at him as if he were the one who had betrayed her.
John’s laugh was thin and bitter.
He had no patience left for her charades. “If I remember right, even this apartment was a gift from me. Be out by tomorrow night-or I’ll have you thrown out.”
“John, you can’t… you can’t do this to me…”
This two-hundred-square-meter penthouse in the heart of the city was worth over
? thirty million. To her, it was her home, her prize. She couldn’t bear to give it back.
Tears poured harder, dragging her down like a rose crushed into mud. “You promised you’d always be good to me. You can’t-“
“Shut up!”
His voice cracked like a whip. “If you refuse to repay what you owe, that’s fine. Jones Corp’s legal team has more than enough ways to make sure you rot in prison.”
Her face, her tears, her act-every look at her made him sick, dragging back the memory of his own stupidity. The more he thought of it, the more nauseated he became.
He turned to leave. But then his eyes fell on her neck.
A necklace. A rare purple diamond, shining under the light.
He froze.
That necklace… he had bought it for Lily.
That day, he was supposed to marry Lily. He had chosen it especially, planning to give it to her to make up for standing her up at the registry office. But then Elsa had gotten into a car accident, and he had rushed to the hospital.
Later, Elsa had seen the necklace in his office. She had said she loved it. Said she didn’t have much time left, and if she could own something so beautiful, it would make her happy.
And like a fool, he had given it to her.
Now, looking at it, his stomach turned.
A woman like her wasn’t worthy of wearing what he had once chosen for Lily.
Without a moment’s hesitation, his face darkened, and he strode forward. His hand shot out, yanking the necklace from her throat.
“John…”
Her breath caught. For a split second, she thought he was softening, stepping close to embrace her. Her eyes lit with hope, her voice soft as she called his name.
But then he ripped the necklace away, cold and merciless, tearing the million- dollar jewel from her neck.
Before she could recover, he stripped the priceless bracelet from her wrist. Then, without a pause, he pulled off the diamond ring from her finger-the very ring he had placed there on their wedding day.
The ring had been sized for Lily’s slender hand. On Elsa, it fit too tight. When he forced it off, it scraped away her skin.
He didn’t care.
Clutching the jewelry in his fist, he turned on his heel and walked out without a backward glance.
Elsa stared at her finger, the skin raw and bleeding. Rage burned her chest, shook her body. Her vision swam, and with a violent tremor, she coughed up a mouthful of blood before collapsing to the floor, motionless.
When Elsa opened her eyes again, three days had passed.
Marilyn was seated by her bedside, eyes red from crying, watching her closely.
“You’re finally awake. The doctors say you’re very ill. It’s late-stage stomach cancer, and your condition is fragile. You can’t afford any more emotional stress, or-“
“What did you just say?!”
Elsa’s shriek tore through the room before Marilyn could finish.
Marilyn knew. She knew the cancer was a lie.
So why-why was she saying this?
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