The Broken-hearted She And The Icy He

Chapter 1 A Wedding for the Woman He Loved

“Lily, you must marry that comatose man James in place of my daughter. This is what you owe the Ginger family! You-”

“I will.”

Lily’s reply made her foster mother gasp in disbelief. “What did you say?”

Lily could understand her shock. After all, in this massive capital city, who didn’t know how madly she was in love with John Jones? She’d loved him so much she’d given up her future, her dignity–everything.

She had refused her foster mother many times before, all because of John. Her foster mother clearly hadn’t expected her to actually agree this time–to marry a total stranger who lay in a vegetative state.

Calm and numb, Lily repeated, “I’ll do it.”

Once it was clear Lily was serious, her foster mother let out a breath of relief before snapping at her again. “One month from now, the Luke family will register your marriage with their eldest son. They have decided on that day, and it’s final. Someone will come to pick you up for the wedding that day. I’ve already accepted the bride price from the Luke family. It’s what you owe the Ginger family, and I’m not giving it back. If you dare go back on your word or stir up trouble, I will…”

“I won’t,” Lily cut her off coldly.

“The Luke family is rich. I trust the bride price was generous. You took me in from the orphanage and raised me for sixteen years. Now I’ll take your daughter’s place and marry into the Luke family. That settles my debt to you and the Ginger family. From now on, we owe each other nothing.”

With that, she hung up.

Sitting quietly at the dining table, Lily couldn’t help but reopen the news article she’d just seen.

It was everywhere–videos of John and Elsa Quinn’s wedding flooded the internet, dominating the trending charts.

In the video, he and Elsa stood hand in hand, surrounded by their friends, vowing to spend their lives together.

The entire internet was offering their blessings, rejoicing that the two had reunited and wishing them a lifetime of happiness.

Everyone except Lily.

Because John was her boyfriend–the man she had loved with all her heart.

years ago, he’d been paralyzed in a car accident. The cold–hearted Jones family had abandoned him, and Elsa had gone abroad and

he was the

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so long. On that freezing, snowy night when he

everything she could to take care of him, to lift him out of the darkness one step

about a hospital overseas that could help him walk again. To raise the money, she

two years ago, she

promised he would treat her well for the rest of his life, that

that everything they’d been through was finally behind them, and

expected things to fall apart the moment

and only had six months to live. Her last wish was to

loved suffer, so the wedding Lily had spent

had sewn with her own

ring John had custom–ordered for her–Elsa wore

vision, Lily saw a pendant

She recognized it instantly.

the keepsake her

had lost it while trying

found it and would give it to

had said she liked it…

realized there was no

Didn’t beg him to come

candle on her birthday cake and stared blankly as it slowly burned down. The whipped cream cake melted into a

nearly dawn when

with red eyes, clearly having stayed up

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Chapter A Wedding for

haven’t you gone

up. And tell Elsa to return my parents‘ keepsake as soon