Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

Chapter 28

“Evelina’s bun in the oven is super important, and it can’t be messed up. I’ll admit I jumped the gun today and gave you a hard time without getting the facts straight, but…”

Lizetta froze, and then everything before her eyes blurred.

He said Evelina’s kid was important.

What a joke, turns out it’s not that he didn’t want kids; it’s just that he just didn’t want to have them with her, his wife.

Before he dropped that bomb, she’d been in denial; she couldn’t believe that Remington would cheat on her, and that he could be so cruel.

But now, the ugly truth was staring her in the face.

Lizetta’s breathing was painfully tight; she nearly screamed as she cut him off.

“Remington, why do you have to be such a jerk!”

On the other end of the phone, the man’s breath hitched, and then his voice went cold.

“Lizetta, enough’s enough, quit your games and come home. I’ve told you a gazillion times that teaching dance ain’t your thing!”

When Evelina popped up at the age of six and took everything from Lizetta, it was just a cruel twist of fate; Lizetta couldn’t blame anyone.

Now, Evelina was about to take everything all over again, and Lizetta sadly realized that she was still as powerless and small as she was when she was a kid.

Because the Dashiell family was never really her home.

Remington, they were just a fluke;

she’d stolen.

bitterly, “Go home? Do I even have

Looks like I’ve been spoiling you rotten and letting you get all

anger in the man’s voice,

where’s my place in all this? Let’s get a divorce, so you can go back to her, make a happy family of three, and get things back on track; just stop wasting your precious time on me, how’s

talking marriage, and Evelina had chased

had them pegged as an item, but then came the scandal of Lizetta climbing into

1/3

10-100

and hadn’t come back for four years, and

him back to Evelina and

sneer came through the phone, “Mrs. Dashiell, aren’t you the generous saint! If you knew you were holding me

I’ve told you I

worth something only if I forgive you, and if I don’t, your regret ain’t worth a dime! Get back here on the double, and I want to see you at Oakridge Heights

The call ended.

her phone; her knuckles turned white as if

going back.

had cut her off one path, there were others

left in the lurch as the evening darkened, and her injured foot began to bleed again. She sat on

dimmed, and Lizetta looked

tree, a familiar Bentley slowly pulled up; Cedric got out

in a three–piece tailored suit sat with his legs crossed; his posture was relaxed, looking distinguished and as perfectly matched to the luxurious car as

1. be.