Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
Back then, he hadn’t minded gatherings with friends.
Now, though, he found them pointless. All he wanted was to finish quickly and return home.
“James, you’re here-come sit!”
When James arrived, Jetson was already waiting in the private room.
He poured him a glass of liquor in a hurry. “We haven’t seen each other in years-we’ve got to drink properly tonight!”
James calmly pushed the glass aside. “My wife’s pregnant. I’m not drinking.”
Jetson blinked. It was her pregnancy, not his-why couldn’t he drink?
But he’d never been able to win against James, even as kids. As baffled as he was by James’ wife- obsessed attitude, he wouldn’t dare complain.
When Jetson lifted his own glass, James shifted away, his expression full of disdain.
Lily disliked the smell of alcohol. James wasn’t about to risk bringing it home to her.
Seeing James lean away with that cold face, Jetson nearly shut down.
He had heard about James marrying, divorcing, and becoming a father. But as a lifelong bachelor, Jetson believed that marriage and fatherhood shouldn’t mean giving up drinks and gatherings. Why was James acting like even a sip would offend him?
He reached out, trying to sling an arm over James’ shoulder and tease him.
But before he touched him, James brushed him off with visible disgust. “Stay away. Don’t get that stench of alcohol on me.”
Jetson froze. So the old saying about forsaking friends for a woman wasn’t just a legend-it was real.
As he sat there sulking, the door opened. Renee stepped inside, eyes red.
She had been released on bail after four days in detention.
Renee had grown up with James and Jetson; their friendships went back years.
Jetson, however, didn’t know she had tried to drug Lily to cause a miscarriage. All he knew was that she claimed there had been a misunderstanding with James, and she’d asked him to smooth things over.
Since they were all childhood friends, Jetson had agreed. He thought a friendly talk could mend things.
“Rence, it’s been years-you’ve really grown into a young lady!”
Jetson greeted her with a bright smile. “Come, sit down. Girls don’t need to drink. Want juice? Warm water?”
Obediently, Renee sat-right next to James.
Jetson’s smile stiffened. He had meant the other side of the sofa, not there.
As unimpressed as he was with James’ wife-worship, he still had principles. James had a partner, he was about to be a father-sitting so close to another woman wasn’t appropriate.
He hesitated, wondering if he should intervene, but James was already on his feet, face cold as ice.
“You brought her here?”
The look James leveled at him made Jetson shiver. Something told him the rift between James and Renee was deeper than he’d imagined. Maybe he’d made a mistake.
“James…”
Before Jetson could say more, Renee’s tears spilled.
She wore an exquisite gold-trimmed couture dress and flawless makeup, radiant and striking. Her tearful expression was like a flower battered by heavy rain-fragile, pitiful, begging to be cherished.
But James wasn’t moved.
Where others might see beauty, he saw nothing but pretense.
His gaze swept over her like ice. His voice was devoid of emotion. “Get out. Other than facing me in court in a few days, I don’t want to see you again.”
“James, I don’t want to go to court with you…” Renee sobbed harder, as though the entire world had wronged her.
“What? You’re suing Renee?” Jetson blurted. He’d guessed there was tension, but he hadn’t expected James to drag her to court.
Surely, he thought, old friends didn’t need to go that far. “Can’t you settle it privately? Why escalate it to court and ruin everything? You-“
“Shut up.”
Jetson opened his mouth, wanting to argue.
But one icy glare from James was enough to remind him of his old friend’s terrifying strength. He shut his mouth like an obedient child.
James turned his frigid gaze back to Renee. “You don’t want to face me in court, yet you harmed my wife…”
“Renee, are you insane?”
A few days earlier James had coaxed Lily into re-registering their marriage certificate.
So now he could rightfully call Lily his wife.
He gave Renee no quarter. Before she could answer, he barked, “Get out!”
“I didn’t mean to hurt Lily…”
Renee sobbed so hard she could barely catch her breath. After a long, shuddering inhale she found her voice again.
“I was foolish for a moment-that’s why I did something so stupid. James, Lily didn’t drink that bowl. I know I was wrong. Please, don’t be mad at me anymore.”
Jetson gaped in shock.
Renee-who’d always seemed harmless-had actually tried to harm James’s wife?
And James’s wife was carrying twins.
If Renee had really done such a despicable thing, James suing her wasn’t unexpected.
“I don’t believe you were just careless.” James’s voice remained cold as iron. “I only believe you’re vicious and deserve every punishment. Get out.”
“Wah…”
Renee didn’t want to leave.
She knew Jetson genuinely considered her a friend. She’d hoped his support might soften James. Maybe a few drinks and a real conversation could thaw things-perhaps more. She’d counted on that chance.
But after James snapped at Jetson, Jetson dared not utter a word. With no one to defend her and James so merciless, she had no opening to turn the night around.
She left the private room in tears, stomping as she fled-not willing to concede defeat.
No. She couldn’t give up like that.
She had to sleep with him and get pregnant by him, no matter what. Even if it meant using the low, despicable tricks she’d once scorned, she’d make him leave Lily and secure her place. If she could force a child with him, Lily would have to be driven out of the Luke family.
With that thought, she wasted no time and hurried back to the villa the Luke family had gifted to Susan.
“Renee, why are you back so soon?” Susan asked.
Susan had known part of Renee’s plan that night. She’d assumed a few days would cool James’s temper; with childhood ties and Jetson’s help, the two could reconcile-and perhaps, under the cover of a tipsy night, something more might happen.
She hadn’t expected her daughter to come home in tears so soon.
“Mom, Jetson wouldn’t speak up for me, and James is still furious,” Renee said, wiping her eyes and speaking with burning resentment. “James told me to get out… he’s already been completely bewitched by that vixen. Even if I’m prettier and better than her, he can’t see it.”
To be fair, Renee was a rare beauty-one in a thousand. But Lily’s face was a different kind of breathtaking; Renee knew she couldn’t truly compete. Still, with a mother’s biased eye, Susan believed her daughter far superior.
Susan frowned. “That little bitch certainly has ways about her-she’s managed to make James obey her.”
“But I took care of James for three years. I did him a favor-there’s no way he’ll forget that. Renee, get ready: I’ll call James over. Hold your chance; tonight you have to make him stay. James hasn’t experienced other women-he treats that little slut like treasure because he doesn’t know better. Once he tastes something better, he’ll value you. After you’re pregnant, and my he’ll be bound to you. My darling, you’re so excellent-once you marry him, he’ll be yours completely. Nancy will be finished. Blanc and I will be there to take care of you precious grandchildren.”
“Godmother really doesn’t measure up to godfather,” Renee cooed, clinging to Susan. “He has the better family background, but otherwise-Mom, you’re still young and beautiful. Maybe if you married godfather you could even give me a little brother. Then I’d have you by my side.”
Susan always took pride in herself; she truly believed she surpassed Nancy in everything except family lineage.
What Susan hated most was Nancy’s arrogance, the way she looked down on people simply because of her family background.
When she was a child, Susan’s family had been poor. They barely had food to eat, let alone pretty clothes.