Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

Lizzie's deepest, most hidden emotions, the ones she'd buried far from sight, were ruthlessly torn open by him, leaving her raw and exposed. She glared at him, frustration boiling over. "Remington, you're so full of yourself!"

"You push away my kiss, yet you don't despise it. I can tell," he said, his words a cold, cruel revelation.

Even through the pain, even if it suffocated him, he was determined to awaken her love for him.

His stance had been unwavering from the start.

Foolishly, she had thought his agreement to divorce meant he had seen reason, that he was finally letting her go, no longer clinging to her.

Lizzie's face paled in an instant, despair in her gaze as she looked at Remington.

Her lips trembled, words failing her.

Remington gently caressed her chilled cheek, "You want a divorce, custody of Daisy, your freedom; I'll grant it all.

But you need to give me something in return, let me know I'm doing the right thing, not just pushing you further away!"

He was letting go just enough to hopefully win her back, not to truly lose her to another.

Lizzie saw the possessive madness in his eyes, her own eyes beginning to sting with tears.

Remington, stroking the redness under her eyes, softly said, "Liz, after the divorce, let's bury all our past grievances. Let's start over, this time I'll be the one courting you, from scratch, okay?"

Courtship, romance...

Such beautiful concepts.

man like Remington, from the man she'd been infatuated with

sweetest honey,

her usual refusals and

of nowhere to protect her

joyous shock at Daisy's

but she was someone who couldn't stand even a speck of dust in her

couldn't sustain her through another moth-to-flame

long pause, she still shook her

relationship with three is too crowded, you can't ignore

fell silent

wasn't surprised by his reaction,

in front of me, I felt such regret and guilt, just like I could never ignore Yoli's matters in this

always suspicious."

was gone, but Stella, motherless, still wouldn't

Remington had

Stella for life, no

looking after

woman.

deeply in love with