Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

Lizetta could tell it was jewelry without even looking. Remington knew how to play the game–slap you one minute and hand you a candy the next. He was slick.

Was he training a dog?

Lizetta cracked a smile, but the very next second, she grabbed the brocade box and chucked it at the jerk.

“Ouch!”

Who would’ve guessed she nailed him right on his arm wound, causing Remington’s brows to pinch together.

Lizetta got a bit flustered, practically jumping out of her skin.

But she quickly settled down and fired back, “Don’t even try to play it up! It was just a brocade box. Anyone else might’ve thought I threw a brick at you!” Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

She served herself a bowl of porridge. The scumbag was infuriating, but a girl’s gotta eat.

The little one inside her belly needed nourishment, after all.

In her head, she was secretly gloating. “Baby, I just gave him what he deserved for you.”

But her joy was short–lived because she noticed blood seeping through Remington’s arm, staining his light grey sweater red.

“Why the heck is it still bleeding? Don’t move, I’ll go grab the first–aid kit.”

Lizetta put down her utensils and scurried off.

She carefully untied Remington’s bandage–thankfully, the wound hadn’t reopened, just a bit of oozing.

As Lizetta reapplied the medicine and bandaged him up again, she couldn’t help but express her concern, “What did the hospital say about your blood test last time?”

His wound had been dragging on for half a month, not healing properly, which was totally not normal.

Remington glanced at her, “How sweet of you to care.”

Lizetta shot back. “Don’t get it twisted. I’m just checking if you’ve caught some deadly disease, so I can prepare to inherit your massive fortune.”

“Don’t hold your breath. The blood tests came back fine; nothing to worry about.”

He said it so casually, but Lizetta was even more worried now.

On her way to work, she still called Cedric to ask about Remington’s wound.

Cedric’s voice was heavy, “Preliminary results didn’t show anything, but the doctor wants to send the samples abroad for a more detailed analysis. It’ll be a few days before we get the results.”

Cold sweat broke out on Lizetta’s palms. If there were no problems, why the need for an international checkup?

“Ma’am, Mr. Remington doesn’t like people fussing over him and doesn’t take that injury seriously. I’m a bit worried. You’ll have to keep an eye on him to make sure he’s properly medicated and changing his bandages.”

Lizetta’s heart sank. Even if the love was gone with Remington, he was still her brother.

There were bonds that couldn’t be cut, especially since his injury was connected to her.

“Got it,” she responded.

Cedric hung up and glanced at the rearview mirror.

“Mr. Remington, Mrs. Lizetta seems really worried. Her voice changed and everything. If you keep this up and she

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finds out, she’s gonna be even more pissed.”

Remington, sitting with his legs crossed reviewing documents, didn’t even look up but his thin lips slightly curled.

“If you keep your mouth shut, she won’t find out. Mind your own business!”

Remington’s arm injury happened when he dived into the deep sea to help an injured diver, spending too long in seawater, leading to inflammation and pus.

He had it cleaned up before returning home, but why the wound hadn’t healed these past few days, Cedric was clueless. Still the boss was surely tougher than a bull.”

Cedric hesitated, then said, “Mr. Remington, I think you should be honest with your wife.”

Remington looked up, “My wife just called to check on me. If I remember correctly, your girlfriend hasn’t even contacted you since you’ve been back, right?”

Cedric was speechless.

But Remington just smirked. He was different.

His wife cared about him alright. Just last night she made him a hangover soup, and she purred like a kitten in his arms all night long. This morning, she nearly cried when she saw his arm was still not healed.

Even though they had a spat in the morning, she still called Cedric, clearly still concerned about him.

Cedric glanced back unintentionally and almost popped his eyeballs out.

Was Mr. Remington love–struck?

His expression was like a young man in the throes of spring.

Cedric blinked hard, and as Remington raised his cool gaze, Cedric shrank back in his seat.

Scary stuff, he must’ve seen it wrong.

Lizetta had just arrived at the Mermaid Restaurant when she ran into Mr. March, the guy who had hassled her before.

Dressed in a white suit today, he looked like a modern–day Prince Charming, walking towards Lizetta with a bunch of flowers.

“For you, Ms. Gardenia. Hope you like them.”

Behind him, a few restaurant servers cheered, and Lizetta almost rolled her eyes at the sight of the big bouquet of roses made from cash.

“For me?”

“Yeah, if you like them, I can send them every day!”

Daniel thought Lizetta was charmed and pushed the bouquet closer.

Lizetta sidestepped and nodded.

“Then I’ll use this cash to pay you to never show up in front of me again, OK?” Dropping that line, she briskly walked into the restaurant.