Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
That’s when she saw his face clearly.
It was a face of cold elegance, carved to perfection…
James’ face.
Lily froze, completely stunned.
She never could’ve imagined that the Elias she’d come to trust and confide in-was actually James.
She really liked talking to Elias.
She even felt a little attached to him.
But because she’d never met him in person, chatting with him made her feel warm-just not the kind of fluttery, heart-racing warmth.
To her, Elias was more of a reliable, trustworthy friend.
But James… James was someone she might have a crush on.
If Elias and James were two completely separate people, there was no way she’d have intense feelings for either of them.
But now that she knew Elias was James, it was like a chemical reaction set off inside her.
All those feelings she had forced down-sprang up like wild weeds.
That quiet attachment buried deep in her heart suddenly took root and grew into a towering tree.
Into something she couldn’t ignore anymore. Something she couldn’t suppress.
She liked… James.
But she was Leila. And she was also Lily.
Distance creates beauty.
Because they hadn’t met face-to-face, James had developed some feelings for Leila.
Maybe it was even love.
But what he loved more was the version of Leila he’d imagined in his mind-not her, not Lily.
He’d known Lily in real life.
And he didn’t like her.
He couldn’t stand being touched by her.
He couldn’t even bear to look at her without wincing.
Just that morning, he had warned her in a cold, hard voice to stay away from him unless absolutely necessary.
If he found out that Leila was actually Lily, all of that affection would vanish in an instant.
They wouldn’t even be friends.
Elias was her best friend.
Her only friend.
She couldn’t bear to see the look of disgust on his face.
She couldn’t bear to lose him/
Call it cowardice or just plain fear-she simply didn’t have the courage to face James.
She definitely couldn’t bring herself to confess that she was Leila.
That she liked him.
That she wanted to be with him.
All she could do-was run away.
Lily fled in such a rush, so panicked, she even forgot to head to the parking lot for her car.
Capital City was always bustling.
Cars everywhere. Lights in every window.
But in this whole city, not a single light was lit for her.
She stood on the sidewalk, surrounded by go. sea of strangers, and for a moment, she had no idea where to
“Leila, where are you right now?”
Lily, eyes rimmed red, stared dazedly at the flickering neon signs when her phone chimed several times in a row.
James had messaged her.
“If you’re having trouble getting to the caf?, just tell me where you are. I’ll come find you. Leila, will you please text me back? I’m really worried about you.”
She glanced at the time on her phone. It was already 7:45.
He’d been waiting at the caf? for far too long.
She’d been so overwhelmed and panicked earlier, she hadn’t even thought to message him to say she wasn’t coming…
She wasn’t going to make it tonight. She couldn’t let him sit there waiting any longer.
Fingers trembling, she slowly stroked his message on the screen as if reluctant to let it go. After nearly thirty seconds, she finally began typing.
“Elias, I’m sorry. Something came up tonight and I can’t make it to the caf?. I’m so sorry for making you wait.”
Almost immediately, his reply popped up.
“It’s okay. If you’re not free tonight, then let’s meet tomorrow instead.”
He responded so quickly-he must’ve been staring at his phone the whole time, waiting for her reply.
He cared about Leila:
He truly wanted to meet her.
The Leila he imagined must be an extraordinary girl.
What he wanted from meeting her wasn’t just a simple face-to-face-it was the hope of feeling that spark, that rush of excitement when expectations meet reality.
But if he found out that Leila was actually her, it wouldn’t be a pleasant surprise-it would be a shock.
The more Lily thought about it, the worse she felt. Even though she was doing her best to tilt her head up, forcing herself not to cry, tears still slid from her chin and splashed onto her phone screen.
When they blurred the message he’d just sent, she scrambled to wipe them off, but no matter how many times she swiped, more just kept coming.
“Leila, same time and place tomorrow. I’ll be waiting by the window,” he messaged again.
Lily quickly used her sleeve to dry the screen, then carefully typed her reply.
“Can we… not meet after all?”
She knew how selfish that sounded.
She knew James didn’t like her. And yet, she still wanted to hide her identity, still wanted to keep chatting with him as “Leila,” still wanted to selfishly soak up the warmth he gave her like a thief pretending to belong.
“I think just chatting like this, staying friends… that’s good enough.”
James was still sitting in the caf?.
The second he heard the ping of a message, he opened their chat thread right away.
He’d thought she would agree to meet him tomorrow.
After all, she had agreed to meet tonight. She’d even seemed excited. Tonight’s change of plans had only happened because something urgent came up-he was sure of that.
He didn’t expect her to say no to seeing him again.
If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have cared.
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.