Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

"Would you mind taking off your gloves to show my wife?" Remington asked gently, his voice filled with a subtle curiosity. "I don't mind at all. I was just worried about startling Mrs. Dashiell," came the calm reply.

Lizetta was somewhat puzzled by their exchange, but Eileen set down her glass of water and slowly removed her gloves. Despite preparing herself for something unusual, Lizetta couldn't help but flinch and pale slightly at the sight of Eileen's hands.

Eileen's right hand was missing a thumb, cleanly it had been severed at the base.

The scar was smooth, healed over time, but the sight was still jarringly discomforting.

Lizetta, managing to suppress her shock, politely averted her gaze and spoke with a strained voice, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, really. It's been many years. I've gotten used to it."

take Lizetta's trembling hand in his own, before saying to Eileen, "I'd like a

into the living room, carrying Dorothy upstairs with

turned to Remington.

suspicions but hoped the reality

her hand that led me to her. I thought she was Stella."

skipped a beat; it seemed disbelief

rather not talk about it, that's okay. I won't

share his past with her, a past that included Stella; it was a taboo subject that he had never

But Stella, always the adventurous one, had cut her hair short to match mine. I had gotten hot and took off my jacket and hat, and she picked

down. "The ransom drop went wrong; the cops showed up, and the kidnappers, furious and panicked, took us both and ran. We

day we managed to escape, we chewed through our bindings while the remaining