Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

Lizetta froze. What was he doing?

Given Remington’s pride, persistently obstructing and entangling like this was out of character for him.

*Remington, let go.”

Lizetta glanced around nervously. The hospital was bustling with people coming and going. What on earth was he thinking?

But the man was acting like nobody else existed, lowering his head to rest his chin heavily on Lizetta’s shoulder.

“Isn’t it more delightful to stay by my side than to struggle with raising funds to leave me? Liz, is it that hard to admit you can’t live without me?”

His embrace was warm and comforting, something Lizetta secretly craved. NôvelDrama.Org © 2024.

His voice was mesmerizing, his tone slow and seductive, making Lizetta’s breathing quicken.

Remington sensed her emotions and his thin lips slowly curled into a contented smile

But then, in the next second.

Lizetta reached out, grabbed his arm wrapped around her waist, and firmly pulled away

She turned around, raising a smile.

“Nope, I’m itching to see the world outside. And that 3 million? I’ll gather it as soon as I can I just hope Remi, you’ll honor your agreement and let me go when the time comes.”

With that, she turned and walked away without looking back

Couldn’t she live without him?

Maybe. To Lizetta, Remington was like a drug

But she was in the process of kicking the habit, and she had always succeeded.

And Remington thought she couldn’t leave him, simply because he was convinced she lacked the ability to gather those 3 million, to survive, and could only depend on him.

Behind her, Remington’s figure stiffened, his deep eyes fixated on her gradually shrinking and disappearing silhouette, the frown between his brows deepening significantly

Even though Lizetta had been throwing tantrums lately, Remington always felt she was within reach, still that little girl who would listen to him.

But now, for the first time, he felt a serious loss of control.

And the feeling sucked!

Evelina had just left the Riverbend Abbey when she spotted Jolin waiting by the roadside.

The car stopped, and Jolin hurried in.

Evelina handed over a card, which Jolin stuffed into his pocket, grinning.

“Eve’s always the good kid.”

She was all dirty and wet, shivering with cold. She reached for Evelina’s cashmere shawl.

“I’m freezing to death! That brat Lizetta! I should have beaten her more when she was young to scare her

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into submission, so she wouldn’t be as disobedient as she is now!”

A look of disdain flickered in Evelina’s eyes as she tossed the shawl to her.

“That was way out of line, how could you be so harsh on her? Don’t worry, you took care of me until I was six; as long as you do as I say, I won’t abandon you.”

“Mommy trusts you, dear, but is this month’s money not here yet? We had a deal, remember? There’s supposed to be an amount every month.”

Back when Evelina was six, she promised to give Jolin 2,000 a month from her allowance in exchange for a favor. As Evelina grew up, Jolin wasn’t satisfied anymore. Using the past as leverage, she bumped the allowance up to 5,000 a month.

Even though Evelina wasn’t hurting for that 5,000, over the years it added up, and it was a serious chunk of change.

It was a real pain for her.

These days, she had been overwhelmed by internet issues, spending a lot of money to pull negative news and hire internet trolls, which strained her finances, so she didn’t transfer the money on time.

Jolin had just pocketed her card and was now bringing up the money again. Even Evelina couldn’t help but frown.

Jolin wasn’t happy, “Eve, you’re a precious daughter and about to marry into the Dashiell family, benefiting from your

child. You can’t short–change me! I don’t have any other options; your brother ended up like that, Lizetta is no daughter of mine, all my hopes are on you.”

Evelina’s eyes flashed sharply, “Zip it! What are you blabbering about? How is Sis not your daughter? Even if

you

didn’t raise her till she was six, she’s still your daughter!”