Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

“Who is this chick? Not giving Ms. Hawthorne any respect, huh? Not afraid her high horse will throw her back out?” Celebrity Lulu chimed in.

Since Evelina was Remington’s date, she looked to butter her up and earn some good karma.

The vibe instantly got more awkward.

Lizetta gave Remington an icy stare; not intending to go in, she just said, “Can you come out for a sec?”

Remington’s lips were tightly pursed, and his eyes were frosty.

The dude was sitting there, with his legs crossed, idly swirling his wine glass and not budging an inch.

The place was lit up, booze flowing, with beauties and gents everywhere, and there he was, sitting like he owned the place, his sharp feature exuding this exclusive aura – he was definitely the center of attention.

He didn’t say a word, didn’t move, and nobody dared to make a peep.

The tension was worse than before, and this unbearable silence made Lizetta wish she could just turn around. and bolt.

But Thaddeus was counting on her rescue, so walking away wasn’t an option.

With her lips pressed together, she tried again: “I kinda need to…”

That’s when Remington finally spoke up, “Who told you to come here? If you’ve got business, we can talk later.”

His words might as well have been “You’re not welcome here, now scram.”

Lizetta felt a chill creeping up her spine. She shouldn’t have come, and this was utterly humiliating.

She was Timothy’s plus one, and he didn’t expect things to go south like this.

He raised a hand, trying to put it around Lizetta’s shoulder to keep her there, but he felt a death glare and stopped short..

Balling his hand into a fist, he coughed lightly and said. “Little Liz, you had a spat with Remi? No wonder he’s been sulking all night. Now you can’t leave, right? Come on, I’ve got high EQ, and let me mediate for you guys.”

Someone teased, “With the speed at which Timothy’s girls come and go, you trying to offload Remi too?”

“Get lost!” Timothy shot back with a laugh.

Evelina lowered her head down, with her eyes flickering. She knew exactly why Remington was being so cold to Lizetta.

She grabbed Lizetta’s arm, holding her back, “This is Lucian’s welcome back party. It must’ve been Lucian himself who invited you. After all these years, you and Lucian are still close. You never come out to these things, but for Lucian’s return, you show up.”

Lucian’s welcome back party?

Lizetta was clueless, she knew from the news that he was returning to the country, but she didn’t realize it was tonight. She missed Lucian, as she hadn’t seen him in two years.

With Thaddeus‘ thing tonight, she had to sort it out, so she let herself be half–dragged to the couch.

Evelina sat next to Remington, “Sit by me, sis. Let’s chat.”

She pulled Lizetta down, planting herself between her and Remington.

Remington’s whole vibe got even colder, and his grip on the wine glass turned his knuckles white.

14:16

He treated Lizetta like she was invisible, and she sure as hell didn’t want to throw herself at him. NôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.

She shook off Evelina’s hand, strode over to a solitary armchair on the edge, and said, “Keep it going, will ya? Who picked this song? Not gonna sing?”

The song that was cut off was Lulu’s claim to fame; she stood up and started to sway gracefully, as if she was ready to wow everyone.

The music started again, and the room came back to life, but there was still an odd undercurrent.

While everyone was having fun, they were also discreetly watching the trio.

Lizetta grew up in the Dashiell family but, being invisible from the very first, she was never really one of them.

Until she was twelve, when Remington almost killed a guy over her, and the Dashiell family had to pull some strings to hush it up.

Remi had a sister, who was drop–dead gorgeous and precious, and Zion City knew it.

But Remington was protective, and with the age difference, he didn’t bring Lizetta out much. The young gents there might’ve seen her once or twice at most.

Eventually, the little orphan girl from the Dashiell family became the future mistress of the house, in a not–so–glamorous way.

The taboo and scandalous gossip made Lizetta the talk of the town behind closed doors.

But with Remington being abroad for the past four years and having barely been seen with Lizetta, the whispers died down over time.

Today, the rarely seen couple was in the same room but not together, with Remington sitting with an ex–girlfriend instead.

And considering they’d been married for two years without a proper wedding.

Evelina went abroad, and Remington followed her to expand his empire in a foreign country, so the unspoken understanding grew. The looks towards Lizetta ranged from pity to disdain.

Lizetta was well aware of it and have been used to it by now.

She grabbed her phone and shot a message to Yolanda.

[Bit of trouble here, might take longer.]

Yolanda sent back a meme.

A knife stuck in a dog, with the dog’s head photoshopped to Remington’s.

Lizetta’s lips curled up, but then Evelina piped up.

“Are you messaging Lucian? When’s he getting here?”