Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
Her body hurt.
But what hurt more… was her heart.
Because all this pain and all these injuries-were gifts from her own daughter.
“Mom, things were so dangerous last night. Why would you go back just to grab those cat-shaped hairpins you gave Lily?”
Bodger furrowed his brow, looking at his mother with a mix of confusion and pain. “I know you can’t let Lily go. Those hairpins were her birthday present. You didn’t want to see them destroyed in the fire.”
“But come on-how could a pair of hairpins be worth your life? How could you…”
Hairpins?
When had she ever gone back for a pair of cat-shaped hairpins?
But hearing Bodger say that brought the memory back. She did remember those diamond cat hairpins.
She gave them to Lily for her eighth birthday.
But when Lily turned eighteen, she had seen it herself-Mathilda, who had just returned to the Ginger family, snatched them from Lily’s hands.
“Mom, you really shouldn’t have gone back for those hairpins.”
“If you hadn’t gone back for them, you wouldn’t be this badly hurt. You care so much about Lily, and she doesn’t even care enough to visit you…”
Listening to her sons vent their anger at Lily, Luna finally began to piece things together.
Her injuries had nothing to do with Lily.
She had been hit by that massive portrait because, at the last possible moment, her precious daughter had shoved her aside-selfishly-just to protect herself.
Clearly, Mathilda was afraid her husband and brothers would find out she was the reason Luna got hurt. So she lied-she blamed everything on Lily.
But Luna had already wronged Lily far too many times. How could she let her take the fall for something. she didn’t do?
“I got hit by that portrait not because I went back for anything. It had nothing to do with Lily.”
“I was hurt so badly simply because-“
“Mom!”
Mathilda shrieked in panic.
She was terrified Luna would reveal what she had done-how she’d pushed her.
She hadn’t meant to do it.
She’d just been too scared.
If she hadn’t pushed Lunn in the moment, the huge portrait would te landed on her instead.
Lans was already over fory. Even if she got badly binned, even disfigured, it didn’t matter.
But sheshe was only twenty-two. She hadn’t even married James yet. If she ended up scarred beyond recognition, her life would be ruined forever.
Lana noticed the panic and desperation in her daughter’s eyes.
That selfish shove from the night before had crushed her.
But when Mathilda was six, it was their carelessness that got her lost, that caused her to be sold into a den of monsters, where she endured unimaginable suffering. That’s what had shaped her into someone so selfish and self-serving.
In the end, it was their fault. They had let her down. They were the ones who had failed her.
How could she bear to let her become a target now?
In her heart, she whispered, For the last time.
Then, with effort, she bit her tongue and changed her words. “I was hurt because I happened to get hit by the portrait. It had nothing to do with anyone else.”
At those words, Mathilda let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Thank God. Her mom was still choosing to protect her.
But who could say whether one day, she’d change her mind?
As long as her mother was alive, the truth could still come out.
She couldn’t leave a time bomb like that ticking.
“You should all go. I want to be alone for a while.”
Bodger and the others wanted to stay and keep her company.
But Luna clearly didn’t want to talk, and the doctors had warned against spending too much time in the ICU. So they left.
In the past twenty-four hours since Luna’s accident, Jerome hadn’t slept a wink. The three Ginger sons. urged him to rest. Once he was gone, they turned on Mathilda.
Bodger glanced toward the ICU and snapped, “Mathilda, Mom never went back for any cat-shaped hairpins. So why’d you lie and make us believe she got hurt trying to save something of Lily’s?”
“I… I didn’t mean to lie, I just thought you’d blame me for not protecting her…”
Mathilda looked pale as death. She was struggling to come up with an excuse when Taylor’s voice cut through the air like ice.
“I don’t believe for a second that Randy acted alone when Lily was trafficked-or that you had nothing to do with it. Mathilda, why did you have Lily sold like that? She was pregnant. The two men who bought her had blood on their hands. If she’d really fallen into the hands of those monsters, she’d be as good as dead. Why were you so set on destroying her?”
Thinking about how Lily might’ve ended up-tortured, used, discarded-if James hadn’t gotten there in time, Mergan’s face darkened with rage.
Taylor’s gaze pierced into Mathilda like a blade. “Mathilda, yes-Lily hurt you in the past. But that doesn’t mean you should’ve tried to take her life!”
“And Sharon… If you hadn’t betrayed her and Jenn back then, she wouldn’t be dead. Even four years ago- if you’d just said something, she might still be alive. Why didn’t you try to escape yourself, and why wouldn’t you help anyone else? Why, after you were saved, did you refuse to pull those other innocent girls out of hell too? Mathilda-why? Why are you so selfish and cold?”
Mathilda’s face was as pale as a ghost as she stumbled back in panic.
She had already tried to explain herself-tried so hard to prove her innocence.
She couldn’t believe the brothers she admired and trusted most were still convinced she had something to do with Sharon’s death and Lily’s kidnapping.
She wasn’t about to take the blame for all that. Tears streamed down her face. “I really didn’t know what Randy was doing. I never meant to hurt Lily.. I only betrayed Jenn and Sharon because I was forced to! Four years ago, I didn’t tell you what happened to them because someone deliberately misled me. I thought they were already dead. I was scared, that’s all.. You’re my brothers-you’re my family. Why won’t you believe me? I never intentionally hurt anyone! I’m not a bad person. Is it only if I die that you’ll believe I’m innocent?”
With that, she turned and ran
The three Ginger sons still didn’t believe she was innocent.
But she was their little sister, the one they had failed time and again. Afraid she might do something reckless, they snapped out of their shock and chased after her.
Mathilda ran all the way to the hospital rooftop,
“Mathilda, stop right there!”
Seeing her inching closer and closer to the edge, the three brothers were frantic.
She’d never actually jump-they were sure of that. But the performance still had to be convincing,
She cried harder, as if the entire world had turned against her.
Choking back a sob, she said hoarsely, “I’m not as bad as you think. I never wanted to hurt anyone.”
I’d die to prove I’m innocent…”
“Mathilda!”
Bodger couldn’t just stand there and watch her fall. Seeing her take one more step toward the edge, he clenched his jaw and sprinted forward, grabbing her tightly and pulling her into his arms.
“Let me go! Don’t stop me, Bodger! Let me die!”
Mathilda sobbed like her soul was breaking apart. “You don’t believe me. You don’t care. What’s the point of me staying alive?”
“If you’ve all decided I killed Sharon, then fine-I’ll repay her with my life!”.
“Mathilda, don’t do this!”
Doubt had already taken root in their hearts, and the three Ginger sons couldn’t trust Mathilda like they once had.
But she was still their sister-the person they cared for most.
No matter what she’d done, they couldn’t bear to lose her.
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.