Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

The woman blinked in confusion, then shifted her gaze between Remington and Lizetta.

Having suddenly figured out what was going on, she hurriedly waved her hands to Lizetta and said,

"Oh dear, I think there's been a huge misunderstanding. Mr. Dashiell hired me to pretend to be Stella!" the woman hurriedly explained, waving her hands for emphasis.

Lizetta stared at her, with astonishment written all over her face, before turning to Remington with a puzzled look.

"She's not Stella?"

Remington's lips twisted into a bitter smile, "I wish she was. But I couldn't find her."

The woman, eager to clear the confusion, quickly added, "Mrs. Dashiell, my name's Eileen. I am not Ms. Stella West."

Seeing her nervousness and how she remained standing, Remington gestured towards a chair, "Please, take a seat."

just a teenager and lost all my childhood memories. About four months ago, Mr. Dashiell found me, believing I might

after a DNA test, it turned out I wasn't the

entire life, and now, she's on her deathbed. He didn't want her to pass away with that regret, so he

year and needed a transplant. We have a young daughter, and I couldn't bear the thought of her growing up without

for a miracle, and we were scraping by

help him, and I simply couldn't refuse.

she felt too

only a temporary resident, she hesitated to make herself too

Remington leaned over to pour two glasses of water-one for Lizetta, as to the other one, he pushed it

him and took a few sips to quench

was still processing the information

shown the same care when helping Eileen with the car door and catching her when she missed a step at the hospital

seem trivial to others, but they were uncharacteristic