Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
John didn’t like Lily calling him a secondhand man. It stung.
His face darkened like a storm cloud, but he forced himself to keep calm for fear of losing her. “Once Wendy wakes up, I’ll talk to her and ask her to settle things peacefully. I won’t let you go to prison. Tomorrow, I’ll go with you to finalize the divorce from James. Then come home with me, okay?”
“John…”
Elsa was shaking with rage, her jaw clenched so tightly it ached.
She had to take several deep breaths just to keep her face from twisting in fury.
She thought once John believed Lily had drunk-driven and hurt someone, he’d hate her, send her to prison himself.
She never imagined he’d be asking her mother to forgive Lily-or worse, asking Lily to come back home. Lily was a used-up woman, damaged goods. How could she possibly be worthy?
Elsa lifted her chin with an air of wounded pride, tears spilling one by one. “You want my mom to forgive Lily? My mom is lying in the ICU, covered in blood, barely hanging on to life-and you want forgiveness? Lily did this on purpose! She almost killed her! She tried to take away the woman who gave birth to me, raised me! John, how can you be this cruel to me?”
As she spoke, her body suddenly buckled-she bent over and vomited a mouthful of blood.
“Lizzy!”
Simon’s heart shattered. He rushed forward with a cry.
He turned his fury toward John, voice like a blade. “John, are you out of your mind? Lily committed attempted murder! Look at what she’s done to Lizzy and Wendy, and you still want to protect her? I’m telling you right now-if you stand with Lily, you stand against me. She needs to pay for what she’s done. I’ll make sure she rots in prison!”
John’s expression wavered.
He didn’t want Lily to go to prison.
He wanted to build a future with her-grow old together, raise children.
But Wendy was still in critical condition. If he kept defending Lily, how much more pain and heartbreak would that bring to Elsa?
How could he let her spend her final days suffering even more?
He shut his eyes in anguish. “I’ll make sure Wendy gets the best care. Lily should apologize to both her and Elsa-ask for their forgiveness.”
“An apology’s not enough!”/
Simon looked down at Elsa’s bleeding lips, his concern rising into fury. “Lily doesn’t just owe them an apology-she should spend the rest of her life in prison!”
“Simon, Lily didn’t drunk-drive and hurt anyone. What nonsense are you spouting?”
Simon was Nancy’s nephew. She’d always doted on him. But Lily was her daughter-in-law-and she wouldn’t stand for anyone attacking her like this.
She snapped at him in a sharp, angry voice.
“Oh, I swear-who raised this stupid boy? Doesn’t even know how to protect his own family! You’re gonna kill me with this stress! I think I’m about to have a heart attack-oh, my heart…”
Henry clutched his chest and let out exaggerated groans, all while sneaking glances at James to observe his reaction. James frowned.
He didn’t want to see Henry suffer a heart attack. And he certainly didn’t agree with what Simon had said. His voice came out cold. “Simon, shut your mouth. There are too many inconsistencies in this case. Lily may not be the one at fault. Until the facts are clear, you have no right to accuse her.”
Lowering his gaze, he caught sight of the red marks on Lily’s neck again.
For some reason, he really hated the color red today. Those marks made his chest tighten with irritation.
His tone grew even colder. “Simon shouldn’t have put his hands on you, Lily. Hit him back.”
Henry immediately stopped groaning, hiding a grin behind his hand.
Lily instinctively looked down at her own hands.
Simon was James’ cousin. She genuinely hadn’t expected him to tell her to hit him.
James’ sense of right and wrong was sharp. He stood by principle, not by blood.
She actually wanted to hit Simon.
But he was Nancy’s nephew, and Lily liked Nancy too much to feel comfortable raising a hand in front of her.
Nancy noticed her hesitation and gently encouraged her. “Simon was the one in the wrong. You should absolutely hit him back, Lily. Do it.”
Not just Simon-if any of her three sons ever raised their hands against a woman without cause, she’d insist the woman hit back even harder.
With Nancy’s approval, Lily had no reason to keep holding back.
Steadying herself, she walked right up to Simon and, without hesitation, slapped him hard across the face. “Lily!”
Simon’s face turned gray.
He never thought Lily would actually strike him in front of all these people.
And he certainly hadn’t expected James-who never even liked Lily-to be the one defending her.
Being told to take the hit by both his beloved aunt and his most admired cousin left him simmering with rage and frustration. He lost control of his mouth.
“You’re seriously letting Lily hit me? You don’t even like her! You were so desperate to get rid of her that you told her to go on a blind date-with me! And now you’re protecting her like this? Have you completely lost it?!
The entire room froze.
Grace had once jokingly told James to set Lily up with someone else-but she never thought he’d actually do it.
Now she couldn’t believe her eldest grandson had really sent his own wife to meet other men.
Henry was instantly furious. He stopped pretending to have heart trouble and just shut down emotionally. Blanc and Nancy were both stunned.
Neither of them could believe their son had done something so absurd-setting up his own wife on a blind date.
They felt deeply guilty toward Lily.
The only one who wasn’t upset was John. The dark cloud hanging over him lifted, and the bitter jealousy in his heart began to ease.
So James was planning to divorce her after all.
Of course he was-he had someone he liked. Why would he ever allow his family to force him into marrying a woman he didn’t love?
Lily had probably only ended up marrying into the Luke family because James was in a coma at the time.
John had heard about James’ engagement to Mathilda. The Ginger family probably didn’t want to sacrifice their biological daughter to a vegetable, so they forced Lily to take her place.
Lily must have agreed because she thought James would never wake up-and maybe to spite him, John.
She still cherished the silver bracelet he’d made for her. She still cared about what they buried beneath the silk tree. There was no way she’d stopped loving him so suddenly.
She was clearly just trying to make him jealous. Trying to force him to finally let go of Elsa.
The thought filled him with certainty.
She had gone too far this time. He wouldn’t make it easy for her anymore, wouldn’t offer her an easy out or beg her to come home.
He would wait. Wait for James to divorce her, for her to be kicked out of the Luke family, with nowhere to go-then she’d come back, begging his forgiveness.
“The doctor’s here!”
Ivan rushed in with several doctors, sensing the tension in the room the moment he stepped through the door.
But he didn’t dwell on it. He assumed everyone was just worried about Lily’s injuries and quickly urged the doctors, “Her wounds are bleeding again. Please, take care of them immediately!”
Nancy and the others were furious about James setting Lily up on a blind date.
Tue, ue, zz Jul
But since there were outsiders in the room, and Lily’s health was more important right now, they held back.
They’d deal with James later-when it was just family.
Simon was still furious about getting slapped in public..
But when the doctors began treating Lily and revealed how deep her wounds were, something twisted painfully in his chest.
For a moment, he forgot all about the slap and his anger…
Seeing Simon and John both staring at Lily with worry in their eyes. Elsa nearly exploded from rage. Quietly, she sent a message on her phone.
Moments later, one of the maids who had come with her and Wendy bursa through the door, sobbing. “Miss You need to come quickly! Wendy just threw up a lot of blood-the doctor said her condition has taken a serious turn. She might not make it…”
“What?”
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