Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

But compared to Remington's other cufflinks, these were rather modest.

Lizetta wanted to celebrate her brother's coming of age, not expecting him to wear them often. If he wore them just occasionally, she would be thrilled.

Little did she know that upon receiving them and discovering she had taken up tutoring to afford the custom design, sacrificing much of her rest, Remington reprimanded her.

Lizetta felt quite wronged at the time, sulking through the night until the next morning. Emerging from the kitchen, she looked up to see Remington descending the stairs, fastening the very cufflinks.

For a time, Remington wore those cufflinks to many significant events.

Despite being the cheapest pair he owned, their relationship later grew strained, and Lizetta never saw those cufflinks again.

She thought Remington had long disposed of them.

"How did these end up with you?"

Suddenly thrust back into memories, Lizetta's fingertips trembled as she coldly stared at Stella.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

Stella, seeing her guard down, smirked.

Leaning in, she teased Lizetta, "What scenario do you imagine would lead a man to leave something so personal with another woman? Lizetta, don't tell me you actually believed that after you left for four months, Remington just sat around waiting for you?" Stella's voice was sultry, laced with innuendo.

It was almost as if she was blatantly suggesting she'd been intimate with Remington.

Lizetta looked at Stella coldly, scoffing.

"So what? You're proud to pick up a man I'm tired of? Moreover, you think I'll believe anything you say?"

Stella chuckled, attempting to take the cufflinks back, saying, "Claiming not to care, yet you should see how upset you look now."

But Lizetta swiftly closed her hand, leaving Stella grabbing at air.

She raised an eyebrow, amused, "I was the original owner of these cufflinks. What is there to return?"

"But they're not yours now!" Stella reached out to snatch them.

Lizetta, smirking, retorted, "Why the sudden frustration, Stella? Knowing the origin of these cufflinks, why keep a pair I gave to Remington? Do you take them out to spite yourself?"

Stella scoffed, "Of course, I plan to return them to Remington. It's basic courtesy." Lizetta pocketed the cufflinks.

"Perhaps I should return them for you?"

Stella was taken aback, expecting someone as principled as Lizetta to lose her cool upon seeing such a personal item with her, and to believe without verifying.

Was Lizetta actually planning to confront Remington with the cufflinks?

That couldn't happen.

As Stella reached out, the two struggled fiercely. Stella,

V

exasperated, said, "This was left to

me, so of course, I should personally

return it to him! You... ah!"

In the midst of their tug-of-war, Stella suddenly screamed, stumbling back a few steps and falling to the ground.

The glove she had been wearing, specially designed to conceal her missing fingers with padding, was torn off and landed beside her.

Exposed and on the ground, her injured hand started to bleed.

Echoes of Stella's screams filled the underground parking lot.

Lizetta, unmoved, looked down at her from above.

"Stella, don't always be so eager to demean yourself!"