Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
That night, after what had happened with Marilyn, he knew he was no longer worthy of her, nor did he ever dare hope for anything to develop between them. Yet hearing her words now, the heaviness in his chest only multiplied.
“Victor, last night… I’m so sorry. I never meant to offend you.”
“Mm.”
Victor knew what she was worried about.
He pressed his chest again discreetly, his tone detached as he said, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell your boyfriend about last night, nor anyone else.”
“Thank you.”
Then, realizing something, Adeline quickly added, “How much was the room? I’ll transfer it to you.”
“No need.”
Afraid that if he faced her any longer he would lose his usual control, Victor tossed down those cold words and turned away, leaving without a backward glance.
The sound of the door closing-neither loud nor soft-left Adeline’s heart suddenly hollow.
He must have thought she wanted to use the excuse of transferring money to add him as a contact.
He really did guard against her as if she were a wolf.
He must truly care for Marilyn.
She would just go downstairs later, ask the front desk about the room fee, and transfer the money to Lily.
As for last night’s closeness, that fleeting tenderness, she would treat it as nothing more than a dream.
She and Victor were destined never to be.
The night before, Lily had waited until late, but James still hadn’t come home.
She had called him, but he never answered.
Thinking of the blooming wintersweet tree in the back garden, unease weighed heavier and heavier on her until she finally drifted into a restless sleep near dawn.
She didn’t sleep soundly. At daybreak, she opened her eyes in a haze.
The space beside her was empty.
Her face stiffened for a moment before she quickly grabbed her phone from the nightstand, checking for any missed calls from him.
There were none.
She had only slept about three hours in total, her head heavy and her body exhausted.
But the emptiness inside her hurt too much, so even tired as she was, she couldn’t sleep again.
She scrolled through short videos, then through her social feed to pass the time.
Yesterday, Renee had asked to add her as a friend with a bright smile.
Lily hadn’t liked Renee, didn’t want much to do with her, but the elders all adored Renee. With them watching, she couldn’t refuse, so she added her.
Now she saw Renee’s post.
“He peeled this apple just for me-it’s the best apple in the world!”
The photo attached showed a man peeling an apple.
His face wasn’t in the frame-only his wrist.
But Lily recognized it instantly. It was James’s hand.
She stared at his immaculately pressed shirt cuff, at the long, clean lines of his fingers, and suddenly felt unbearably cold.
That chill seeped through her limbs and bones, right into her heart.
She knew James wasn’t like John.
His values were upright, his sense of right and wrong clear. He cared for her, and she should believe in him.
But she had seen firsthand how devastating a crush could be. She wasn’t that confident.
And it was obvious that everyone in the family liked Renee. He cared about Renee, too. They had grown up together, childhood companions, a history of innocent intimacy. And now, he hadn’t come home all night. She couldn’t stop the fear, the unease, the dread that she would be betrayed again.
Her eyes rimmed red, she stared at the darkening phone screen for a long time.
After being frozen in place, she decided she had to call him to know the truth.
If he had really been with Renee last night, she wouldn’t cling to him. The baby inside her would simply be her baby.
If he hadn’t done anything improper, then her doubts and suspicions weren’t fair to him. either.
Unlocking her phone again, she dialed his number.
“James…”
This time, unlike the night before when she had called over and over with no answer, the call connected almost immediately.
But the voice on the other end wasn’t his.
It was Renee’s, sweet and unmistakable.
“Are you looking for James?”
Lily froze.
She told herself that James had been nothing but good to her, that she should trust him completely.
(40
But he hadn’t come home all night. And now, in the morning, it was Renee answering his phone. The hurt spread in her chest like a flood.
Swallowing down the bitterness, she forced her voice into a hoarse whisper. “Yes. Could please let James take the call?”
“James was sweating a lot. He’s in the shower now, it’s not convenient for him to take your call.”
Renee’s voice was still sweet, cheerful, and utterly natural, as if James showering at her place was the most ordinary thing in the world.
He was sweating… and in the shower.
Lily’s heart plummeted straight into a sea of pain.
Her lips trembled, wanting to say something more, but Renee’s voice came again. “Don’t worry. Once James is out, I’ll have him call you back!”
With that, Renee hung up.
Clutching her phone in a death grip, Lily felt as if she were right back in those days before her wedding to John, when he had disappeared night after night for Elsa.
She pulled the quilt tightly around herself, but still couldn’t get warm.
She kept repeating to herself that James was good, truly good-that he would never betray her like John.
But Renee’s self-satisfied sweetness clung to her like a curse, chilling her to the bone, gnawing at her heart until she felt trapped between life and death.
“Lily…”
When James finally came home, the sun was already up.
After a night apart, he had missed her desperately.
He strode quickly to the bed, wanting to pull her straight into his arms. But what he saw was a little hedgehog, wrapped so tightly in the blanket that only half her face showed.
Her exposed eyes were red and swollen, pitiful beyond words.
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.