Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
Ivan, who had woken up starving, lost his appetite completely at her words.
He slammed his fork on the table. “What do you mean ‘with’? Lily and John were openly dating-an honest relationship. Don’t twist it into something shameful. And she wasn’t thrown away. John was trash who didn’t deserve her, and she dumped him!
“You say you like Lily, want to be friends, but then you drip poison like that? Anyone hearing would think she dug up your ancestors’ graves. You’re ridiculous!” you
Renee’s fingers shook so hard her fork nearly slipped to the floor.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
She’d thought bringing up Lily’s past would spark disdain, even doubts about the child she carried. Instead, Ivan-idiot that he was-still shielded her.
Didn’t he care that his brother might be cheated by a woman like that? Or… did he have something going on with Lily too?
“Renee, I heard Susan hasn’t been well lately.”
Grace’s voice cut through. Hearing her full name made Renee’s chest seize.
But then she realized Grace was asking after her mother, and her courage returned. “Yes. The doctor said she needs rest for some time.”
“Then take care of her properly. Don’t run around everywhere.”
Renee’s smile froze.
The meaning was clear-Grace was telling her not to come to the Luke estate so often. Just yesterday, Grace had held her hand warmly, urging her to visit more, to keep her company.
And now, overnight, her attitude had turned completely.
They weren’t questioning Lily’s past, weren’t doubting her baby’s bloodline. Instead, they were pushing Renee away. Were they out of their minds?
Of course, she couldn’t say that aloud.
She still dreamed of becoming the family’s daughter-in-law. She couldn’t afford to alienate them.
So she bit down her anger and played the meek card.
“Grandma, I’ll take good care of my mother. But in my heart, you and Mom are also my family. I just wanted to spend more time with you. I know I’m not clever, my words clumsy, and I must have upset you. But I really don’t have bad intentions. I only felt that jerk John wronged Lily, and I wanted to stand up for her.”
“I think it’s not that you don’t have schemes-it’s that you have too many!”
Ivan rolled his eyes arrogantly, then pressed on. “Every word out of your mouth today has been aimed at Lily. Don’t tell me you meant nothing by it. She’s never touched your family’s grave, so why act like she has? You’ve been overseas for years and only just came back-Lily’s never wronged you. So why do you keep going after her? Unless…” His eyes narrowed. “You’ve got improper thoughts about my brother and you’re jealous of her?”
The jab hit Renee’s heart like a knife. For the first time, her composure cracked.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. James is about to be a father. How could I possibly…”
“Ivan, that’s enough.”
Nancy’s voice cut through.
She remembered Renee as a little girl-bright, clever, endlessly endearing. Looking at her now, so full of calculation, Nancy felt a wave of disappointment and strangeness.
Her younger son’s blunt words stirred a suspicion in her too-that Renee’s hostility toward Lily truly might have sprung from James.
James, too handsome, too magnetic, had always drawn trouble.
She would need to warn him sternly later to keep his distance.
But with Lily still sitting at the table, Nancy knew how sensitive a pregnant woman’s mind could be. She didn’t want to risk her imagining things and upsetting herself further. She shot her younger son a glare, silently telling him to hold his tongue.
James already had rumors in the past of preferring men-if Ivan went on about childhood crushes or childhood sweethearts, Lily might imagine all sorts of nonsense. What if she left her son over it?
“Enough,” Nancy said quickly. “No chatter at the table. Eat first.”
But Ivan bristled. He thought she was defending Renee.
“Mom, Renee’s been targeting Lily all morning, trampling right over her. How do you expect me to shut up? I know you and Grace love Susan and treat Renee like your own daughter. But if she’s scheming, she’s scheming-you can’t cover for her. Lily’s pregnant-she can’t be upset, 1/3 can’t be wronged. Renee shouldn’t be coming around anymore. And James mustn’t be alone with her either. My gut is never wrong. She wants to break them up! If Lily leaves James, what happens to my two little nieces? You’ll have to sit back and watch James find a son-in-law or a groom instead!”
Nancy was exasperated.
When had she ever covered for Rence?
She only feared Lily would misunderstand James and Renee, not that she sided with the girl.
But this foolish boy-bringing up James’s past and throwing fuel on the fire! Was he trying to doom his brother to die alone?
Her glare sharpened, and she opened her mouth to scold him.
But James’s icy voice cut her off.
“Renee does harbor malice toward Lily. I’ll tell the gatekeepers not to let her in anymore.”
James had intended to keep the peace through breakfast and speak later.
But with the mood already ruined, he saw no reason to delay.
His tone dropped, measured and cold. “Yesterday morning, she deliberately told Lily the wintersweet tree in the garden was planted by me and her together.”
“What?”
Ivan leapt to his feet. “That tree is my wife! How could it have anything to do with her? Wintersweet’s called the ‘tree of love. Saying that to Lily-that’s vicious!” you and
James ignored his antics and continued evenly, “Last night when I was away, she made a social post visible only to Lily, to make her think I was with her. This morning at the hospital, while I was in the washroom, she answered Lily’s call from my phone and said I was sweating and showering at her place. She wanted Lily to believe I’d been with her.
“Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, Mother-I know you’re fond of Renee, and Grace, you have reason to feel indebted to Susan. But Renee is not as innocent or pure as she pretends. She even tried to drive Lily away from me. From now on, don’t let her come and go as she pleases.”
The elders’ expressions turned complicated.
They were no fools. They had noticed Renee’s admiration for James before, but never imagined she could be so shameless-plotting to make Lily believe James had slept with her.
* Free Coin
Grace and Henry exchanged a look; both of them felt the cold fear mirrored in the other’s eyes.
If Lily hadn’t spoken up to their eldest grandson, and had instead kept these things bottled inside, growing distant from him-then what if, in despair, she lost the baby? Their precious great-granddaughter might be lost because of Renee. They would never allow that wornan into the Luke household again.
“I told you so-Rence has impure motives toward my brother!” Ivan crowed, shaking his head. “Some people’s faces are so thick. After my brother drove her out, she still clings to our house like she belongs here-what’s she made of?”
Renee trembled with hatred. She had thought that by answering James’s phone and letting Lily misunderstand, Lily would keep it to herself and grow distant. She never imagined Lily would tell James everything.
Provoked by Ivan, she was rendered speechless with shame.
Just then a servant set a bowl of white fish maw down in front of Lily.
That morning she’d overheard the cooks say that since Lily became pregnant, Grace had insisted every morning on a bowl of white fish maw for her-specifically a rare, wild-grade batch. With the extra ingredients, one bowl cost tens of thousands.
Her mother had once cared for James for three years and had done the Luke family a favor, for which they’d only given her twenty million and a villa. Why did the Lukes spend so much on Lily, who hadn’t done anything for them? It was unfair.
Renee couldn’t accept the family lavishing such expense on Lily.
When she watched Lily lift the bowl, a flash of pleasure flickered in her eyes.
The Luke family’s indulgence, she thought, had nothing to do with Lily’s worth or birth-it was all for the sake of the child in Lily’s belly. Once that child was gone, Lily would be worthless.
This morning, while fetching something in the kitchen, she had slipped something into the fish-maw broth: a drug that would induce a miscarriage. If Lily drank the bowl, the child in her womb would turn into a pool of blood. She might even lose her ability to conceive forever.
Then Lily would have no value, and the Lukes would cast her out. If Lily bled out, who would they suspect but the cooks? The blame would fall on them.
No one would think to suspect her.
Drink it. Die from it.
Her hands clenched so hard her fingertips trembled. She was certain she would soon see Lily’s skirt wet with blood, collapse in agony-she could not imagine a better sight.
But Lily suddenly pinched her nose and set the bowl aside.
“I must have overeaten last night. My stomach’s too bloated- I can’t take this right now.”
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.