Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

In a cluttered storage room at the hospital, an old man with outdated clothes and a gaunt face sat on a chair. His demeanor was timid, but his eyes sneakily scanned Remington standing in front of him. "You seem like a man of means; can you really pay me a lot if the information I give is valuable?" He asked with a heavy accent, visibly trembling.

Remington, evidently impatient, simply gestured to Ray, who was standing behind him. Ray promptly dropped a black duffel bag at the old man's feet, revealing stacks of cash inside.

"If your information holds up, all this is yours," Ray announced, before zipping the bag back up and picking it up.

The old man immediately stood up from the chair in a hurry, "Every word I'm telling you is the truth. That girl, her right thumb was chopped off right here, crudely wrapped in some cloth.

She had many injuries, was running a high fever, unconscious. They left her in the woods, looked like she was as good as dead. I just went over to take a look and pulled something off her wrist." "What was it?" Remington demanded urgently.

"A bracelet made with red string. I saw that girl, soft and delicate, thought I could get some money for it.

it was just a peach pit carved into a charm because of the fancy design on it. I kept it when they said they were looking for the girl, hid the red string

subtly. Stella had indeed been wearing a

"Show it to me!"

and produced an old red string with a peach pit-shaped

of the bracelet. A figure rushed over, snatched the bracelet, and inspected

Remington, this was hand-carved by Stella's grandfather for her

was Martin, holding the bracelet tightly, his body shaking slightly. Remington supported him, his eyes showing a

made of mahogany, carved into the shape of a peach pit, with birds and

had been cremated with

wasn't taken to Celestia after all. I'll have someone search the area again immediately; we

Maybe we can still reunite Barbara with