Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
She would become the true mistress of the Luke family,
She, Marilyn, was destined to stand above all others!
“Elsa, could you… could you lend me five million?” Marilyn glanced at the bracelet on her wrist and hurried on, “Don’t worry, once I marry Victor, I’ll pay you back double.”
To her, marrying Victor was inevitable.
The most expensive piece of jewelry she owned now was a heavy gold bangle worth six thousand, gifted by the old man who had once kept her.
Back in college, she had adored that bangle. Her roommates had envied her- while they scraped by on two hundred a month, she had something worth si thousand.
But times had changed. That bangle no longer suited her status.
Especially when she thought of the glass cabinet full of priceless jewels Lily possessed, her own gold bangle felt cheap, pathetic. She wanted real pieces, jewelry that could truly match her rising position.
“You said what?”
Elsa’s face darkened instantly.
This wasn’t the first time Marilyn had come asking for money.
She had borrowed several times already, each time promising to repay soon, yet she still owed tens of thousands, with not a single cent returned.
And now she dared to ask for five million…
Still, since Marilyn would marry into the Luke family and they both knew too many of each other’s secrets, Elsa wasn’t about to break things off with her.
But she wasn’t a fool either. She wasn’t about to hand over that much money like some sucker.
Masking her irritation, she put on a pained expression and said, “Marilyn, you’re my best friend. If I had money, of course I’d think of you. But… do you know why I collapsed? It was because John cut ties with me for that bitch Lily and forced me to repay every cent he ever spent on me, doubled. I don’t have that kind of money… even if I sold everything Simon gave me, I’d still be tens of millions short. Marilyn, can you lend me ten million instead?”
“I…”
Marilyn was furious.
She had wanted to borrow money from Elsa-how had it ended with Elsa eyeing her own possessions instead?
Besides, Elsa knew her situation well. Where was she supposed to come up with that kind of money?
Still, she didn’t want to lose the support Elsa’s background offered, so she forced herself to sound sincere. “John is unbelievable! Spending money on a woman and then demanding it back… he’s so stingy! Elsa, you should go to Simon. I’m sure he’ll help you repay it. Yes, I’ll call Simon right now and have him come keep you company!”
Afraid Elsa might press her for money again, Marilyn called Simon and then hurriedly excused herself, fleeing the hospital.
Yet even as she left, one thought burned in her mind-how humiliating it was, as the future lady of the Luke family, to not have a single piece of jewelry worthy of her new status.
But how could she get something valuable enough?
Then an idea struck her, making her eyes shine.
Her uncle Greg was a university professor. The Xander family, though not wealthy, had a cultured background.
When her aunt married Greg, his mother had given her a pair of jade bangles with exceptional clarity as a wedding gift.
Marilyn had always believed those bangles should rightfully belong to her.
But then her aunt had adopted Adeline and later given birth to her own daughter.
To Marilyn, that was unacceptable. Those bangles were hers. She had to claim them.
After all, she was marrying into the most powerful family in Capital City. If her aunt and uncle didn’t want to offend the Luke family, they would have no choice but to hand the bangles over to her to curry favor.
With that thought, she wasted no time, hailing a cab straight to the Xander family villa.
Lately, Lily and Holly hadn’t been performing opera on stage, but their popularity online had only grown, gaining a wave of devoted CP fans.
Their fame brought offers-an invitation to sing the ending song of a film, and another from a television station to perform at a gala.
Tonight, Adeline and Lily were scheduled to appear on TV together. Marilyn planned to stop by the theater first, then head to the studio later.
But as she pushed open the villa’s front door, she found Marilyn already there, waiting.
“Auntie!”
Ignoring Adeline completely, Marilyn shoved her aside and rushed straight inside, too eager to demand the bangles.
Adeline frowned but followed her into the living room.
“Dad, Mom, tonight I’m going to watch my sister perform!”
It was Sunday, so Holly and Greg were home.
On the couch, Millie clung to Greg’s arm with one hand and held Holly’s with the other, begging them to take her to the show.
“Of course, we’ll go cheer for your sister together!”
Holly pinched her younger daughter’s chubby cheek with affection, then turned- only to see Marilyn storming in like a whirlwind.
Her smile froze instantly, though she still forced a polite greeting. “Marilyn, what brings you here?”
“Auntie, I’m marrying Victor!”
Marilyn saw the faint, unchanged look on Holly’s face and knew she hadn’t connected the name to its true weight-the second son of the Luke family, the richest household in Capital City.
Lifting her chin, she added proudly, “Victor is the second son of the wealthiest family. We’re getting engaged in a few days!”
“That’s nice.”
Holly’s expression didn’t shift at all.
To her, it made no difference who Marilyn married.
She herself had been born into a family that valued sons over daughters to a brutal extreme. She had studied hard, fighting for a future, but her parents had wanted her to drop out. If not for a teacher’s help, she never would have made it.
Despite being top of her class, even being admitted into Imperial University, her parents had tried to sell her to an old bachelor in the village, taking money to secure a wife for her brother.
She refused, of course. But they locked her up, ready to tie her down and deliver her to the man.
?????
If not for a neighbor girl who secretly reported it to the police, Holly never would have escaped, never would have gone on to university.
She had never returned home since.
Adopting Adeline was her choice, partly because she had no children, but mostly because she saw herself in that little girl.
…
Because she had suffered from her parents’ cruelty, she had once treated Marilyn with extra care.
Until the day she overheard Marilyn spit venom at her, saying she hated Adeline.
That if not for Holly adopting Adeline, she would have had Millie sooner. family’s wealth should have gone to her and her brother.
At the
All of it-Marilyn blamed Adeline for stealing what she thought was hers.
For a moment, Holly felt her heart plunge into an icy abyss.
From that day on, she had lost not only her parents and brother’s family’ her nephew and niece.
As she drifted in those memories, Marilyn’s arrogant voice pierced her ears again. “Once I marry Victor, I’ll be the envy of everyone as the Luke family’s lady. If I marry well, you and Uncle will benefit too. But right now I don’t have any valuable jewelry, and if I show up empty-handed, I’ll be looked down on. I remember you have a pair of emerald bangles with exceptional clarity-why don’t you give them to me as my dowry?”
Holly’s still-beautiful face turned to ice.
Years ago, she had already seen through Marilyn’s selfishness and greed, recognized her as an ungrateful wolf.
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.