Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
Once James finished collecting the pearls, his gaze fell upon Lily-her whole face hidden tightly under the blanket.
He frowned instinctively, worried she might suffocate like that.
But then, the memory of pulling that same blanket off her… the bracelet snapping… his wild, unrestrained hunger as he tore through all restraint-it came rushing back.
Restraints
He forced himself to look away.
They were destined to divorce.
Destined to part ways.
Whether she suffocated herself under that blanket or not had nothing to do with him.
“You drunk-driving piece of trash! What kind of disgusting human are you?! Lily, get out here right now!” Lily had just finished her breakfast when she heard Sean’s furious voice outside the door.
A second later, the door-left ajar-was kicked open violently, Sean stormed in, Mathilda right behind him. with the others in tow.
Last night, Henry had stopped Ivan from posting the video online.
He’d said Wendy had been placed on a pedestal for too long. When the truth finally came out, the fall would hurt more. Let her enjoy one last night of undeserved praise.
Only half an hour ago did Ivan finally release the video to the public.
Early that morning, Mathilda had come across a headline about Lily’s supposed drunk driving. In a hurry to turn her three brothers against Lily, she hadn’t even stopped to ask Elsa what had really happened, nor did she bother checking for any updates. She just embellished the news and told them that Lily had intentionally rammed someone with her car.
The Ginger sons-despite sharing a moment of concern at hearing Lily was hospitalized-were now overwhelmed by disgust and fury. They saw her as a poisonous snake, a disgrace to the Ginger family, and came to the hospital with the sole purpose of condemning her.
Lily was still hooked up to an IV.
The moment they barged into the room and saw the cotton cushion taped over the needle in her hand, Bodger’s eyes flickered with something unreadable.
But his voice remained hard. “Lily, I let it slide when you used to bully Mathilda. But now you’re trying to take someone’s life? How did you become like this?”
Taylor’s eyes were filled with disappointment. “You weren’t like this when you were a kid.”
“Wendy is our elder. Just because you’re jealous of Elsa, you wanted to kill her mother? Lily, are you even human anymore?”
Seeing her brothers so full of loathing and rage, Mathilda could barely contain her glee.
But to maximize the damage to Lily’s reputation-and to look gentle and kind by comparison, especially in front of the Luke family and James-she forced herself to wear a pained expression. With tears in her eyes, she whimpered, “I saw the news. Wendy lost a lot of blood and still hasi gained consciousness.
Lily, I know you don’t like Elsa, and I understand if you don’t like Wendy either, but she’s still a human being. How could you be so cruel?”
She wiped away a tear, her voice trembling with carefully calculated grief. “You used to hit me, insult me) and even brought people to bully me. But I never held it against you. We’re family. I always hoped you’rt change, and I never wanted to hold you accountable. But what you did this time.. drunk driving and hurting someone-that’s a crime. You could go to prison!”
She looked around at her brothers, her voice breaking. “I don’t want her to go to jail… Please. I’m begging you, even if Lily made a mistake, she’s still our sister. Help her, please? Don’t let her be locked away”
“Mathilda, you’re too kind! After everything Lily’s done to you, and you’re still speaking up for her? You’re too soft-hearted!”
“She tried to kill someone this time. She has to go to jail. She needs to learn her lesson!”
“Lily, is there anything you won’t do? You’re absolutely disgusting!”
Sure enough, after hearing Mathilda’s little performance, the three Ginger brothers were even more convinced of her innocence and kindness-and even more repulsed by Lily.
Getting bombarded by this gang of psychos first thing in the morning? Lily couldn’t think of a more annoying way to start her day.
She ignored the three Ginger brothers entirely and looked straight at Mathilda. “Done with your show? If you are, take these three rabid dogs and get the hell out.”
“Lily!”
Bodger, Taylor, and Sean hadn’t expected her to call them rabid dogs. All three of them shouted in rage at the same time.
“I know my name’s Lily. No need to keep reminding me. Now get out!”
Nancy and Ivan had arrived early that morning to check on Lily.
Ivan was fiercely protective of his own. So seeing the three Ginger brothers barging in to cause chaos for no reason and Mathilda putting on her little victim act yet again, disturbing Lily’s recovery-he wasn’t about to let it slide.
The moment Lily’s words ended, he gave Sean, who was standing in front, a shove and sneered, “You got donkey hair stuffed in your ears or something? Didn’t you hear Lily tell you to get out? Out, out, out! What are you waiting for? If you’re sick, go find a damn doctor. Or is the Ginger family too broke to treat rabid dog syndrome?”
“Ivan!”:
The three Ginger brothers’ faces twisted in fury.
They had grown up with Ivan and the others.
Taylor and James were college roommates. Sean and James went to the same high school. They had all been on good terms.
And now Ivan-who always used to greet them with a friendly “bro”-was turning on them for Lily?
Ivan couldn’t care less about their anger.
Sure, the Ginger brothers could fight-but his big brother was even better. The three of them combined still wouldn’t be a match for James.
And with James here, Ivan wasn’t even remotely worried.
He shot them a smug look, then turned his sharp gaze to Mathilda.
The moment he saw the tears sliding down her cheeks, goosebumps broke out all over him.
The Ginger men all treated Mathilda like she was some angel sent from heaven,
But Ivan? Ivan had been a walking lie detector since birth. Her fake little victim act didn’t fool him for a second.
Shaking off his goosebumps, he snapped, “Mathilda, can you not whine about Lily bullying you every damn time you open your mouth? With the way you act, who’s bullying who isn’t so cleart And Lily drunk- driving and hurting someone? That garbage rumor’s already all over the internet. You seriously didn’t see the video proving Wendy framed her? What, you forget to bring your eyes and brain when you left the house today?”
He smirked. “Oh, wait-I get it. You’re blind and brainless. Only thing you’ve got left is a stomach full of manipulative crap and that fake-tears act you use to smear Lily. If your eyes don’t work, stay home. If your brain got caten by a dog, go get a new one. What are you even bouncing around for? You trying to puke up all that dirty water inside you for everyone to see?”
“Ivan, I…”
Mathilda was stunned.
She’d thought she was acting like the very picture of purity and kindness. Every man in the room should be seeing her halo by now, ready to declare Lily unworthy to even carry her shoes.
Never-not in her wildest dreams-did she expect Ivan to stomp her self-image into the floor like that.
Tears welling in her eyes, she turned to James, silently begging him to defend her. “James…. I came here today because I was really worried about Lily. I don’t know why Ivan’s saying such awful things about me. I’m not a bad person. I just…”
“Shut up.”
James’ voice was like an icy blade, slicing right through her pathetic little speech.
“I’ll give you this,” he said coldly. “You’re not just bad. You’re stupid and bad.”
“James! How could you say that to Mathilda? Apologize to her-now!”
Taylor couldn’t take it anymore. Fury boiling, he raised a fist and hurled it at James’ face.
But James moved faster. He caught Taylor’s wrist in one hand and landed a clean, punishing punch with the other.
“Taylor,” he snapped, “the truth is all over the internet. Instead of standing here being a dumbass, why don’t you go read it?”
“Mathilda, don’t cry…”
Sean couldn’t take it. The sight of her tears was like a knife to the heart.
He gave James a furious glare, then turned to Lily.
“Lily,” he said tightly, “this is your last chance. James clearly doesn’t want you. Co. home with me. Apologize to Mom and Dad. Stop bullying Mathilda. If you do that, I’ll handle the rest of this mess for you.”
Scan really did hate how Lily constantly picked on Mathilda, not to mention that drunk driving incident. His anger was real.
But what could he do?
He kept telling himself to let her go, to stop caring about the ungrateful brat.
And yet… he still found himself standing in front of her hospital room in a daze.
Late at night, whether his eyes were open or closed-it was always her.
Four years ago, when she ran away from home, he thought she’d come crawling back eventually. That she’d be out of options, and return home with her tail between her legs.
He never imagined she’d disappear for over four years… and never come back, not even once.
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.