Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

Chapter 83

Remington had headed back to Oakridge Heights early, pulling up to a stop.

Leaning back in his seat, he was eyeing the villa with a gaze as heavy as the air pressure around him.

The place was pitch–dark, a dead giveaway that Lizetta hadn’t come home again.

He lingered in the car, not getting out, until Cedric piped up. “Mr. Remington? You freaked out Lizetta’s friend at the hospital, she might be steamed. Maybe you should sweet–talk her a bit?”

Remington glanced over. “And how do you suggest I do that?”

“Grab a bouquet? Throw in some sweets, girls dig that stuff. Flowers and treats always cheer them up.”

Cedric felt partly to blame for today’s fiasco and was eager to make amends, throwing out suggestions left and right.

Remington’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “Girls also dig jewelry, don’t they?”

He hadn’t forgotten the morning’s episode, where he pushed a jewelry box towards the girl, only to have it chucked squarely at him.

Remington was starting to think his assistant was becoming useless; his skills were going downhill.

Forty minutes later, in the shadows beneath Yolanda’s apartment building.

There he was, in the driver’s seat, with a bunch of gaudy red roses, courtesy of the florist’s hard sell, sitting on the passenger seat.

lights off. Lizetta

at his watch again, pushing nine o’clock, growing impatient, when he spotted a familiar graceful figure

reached for the flowers, ready to step out.

lanky guy caught up with Lizetta, taking the shopping

other, obviously, chatting and laughing as

guy even patted Lizetta on the shoulder, and instead of

emotion draining from

chatted for a bit outside the building. Lizetta waved goodbye cheerfully

watching the lights flick on floor by floor until they hit the sixth, then he turned

car, Remington let

long shot. She seemed in high spirits, simply not in

that’s all:

the roses into the trash bin and

for some necessities and bumped into Granny Susan’s

the flowerbed a few days back, and Lizetta was the one who found her and called

קיד.

14-20

Chapter 83

to give her the good news that Granny was stable

fainting could lead to big trouble; she could rest easy now.

pour herself some water and

over to the window for a peek.