Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

She was clutching an ice pack to her face, hissing in pain, “I’m so jealous that sis has you totally doted on her, allowing her to act recklessly.”

Evelina’s recent actions had been careless, and she was already at fault. Now wasn’t the time to play the sympathy card, let alone adding fuel to the fire.

April thought Evelina was out of her mind. She stealthily tugged at Evelina’s sleeve, then turned with a warm smile to Remington.

“Is this breakfast for Evelina, Mr. Dashiell? That’s so sweet of you! Evelina just had a bit of an upset stomach this morning, and we were just about to get something to eat.”

She reached out to take the insulated container from Remington’s hands.

The breakfast was actually something Remington had bought for Joseph, but he had just seen Lizetta also bringing breakfast for Joseph.

Seeing April’s misunderstanding, he didn’t bother to correct her and simply let go.

Evelina immediately sat up with joy, “Remi, what did you get? Can I have some too?”

But Remington cut her off, “I’ve got things to do. Keep it together, will you? Don’t just run around caus

trouble.”

With that, he was out the door in long strides.

As the hospital room door closed behind him, Evelina’s smile was still frozen on her face. April opened the food container, revealing a colorful, childlike array of sushi. Just then, the pain on her face flared up

again, making her so mad she slammed down the spoon she had just picked up and dialed her mother, Elara Hawthorne.

Elara arrived quickly and immediately noticed the swelling on her daughter’s face.

“Eve, who did this to you?!”

Evelina frantically covered her face, “Mom, it was just an accident.”

“Nonsense! That handprint is so obvious, it’s clear you got slapped!” Elara was fuming with anger, and April stepped in just in time.

“Evelina, there’s no point hiding it from your mom. You know how….”

Remington left the hospital/room and hurried to the elevator, but when it was too slow, he stepped into the stairwell and climbed five stories to the children’s ward.

When he pushed open the door, however, only Joseph was there eating, while a servant fussed with a vase.

“Where’s your sister–in–law?”

Liz said she had something to do and left after dropping things off,” Joseph blinked. “Bro, you didn’t smooth things over with Liz yet?”

Remington shot him a cold glance before turning and leaving.

Joseph made a face. What a sourpuss.

One womb, indeed, can only bring forth one little angel.

Remington left the hospital and called Lizetta twice, but she didn’t pick up.

Back at the Starlight Group, Cedric approached him.

“Mr. President, the people from the Temple Group have arrived, and the meeting is all set up.”

Remington nodded and strode toward the conference room. As he approached the entrance, he ran into Timothy Temple, who was just coming back from the restroom.

Timothy was an old friend of Remington’s, a playboy with a different style but equally superior in stature.

He scrutinized Remington for a moment, hands in pockets, and with a lift of his eyebrows, teased, “Tsk, Remi, you’ve got a dark cloud over your forehead, must be in a bad mood. I predict you had a tiff with little Lizetta, right?”

Remington didn’t even glance at him as he passed by, coolly retorting, “I predict you’ll suffer verbal retribution today, to the point of getting sores in your mouth.”

Alright, such a temper. They really did have a fight.

He followed Remington, not daring to tease further, and got straight to business.

“I sent you the revised proposal, you got it, right?”

The Temple Group and the Starlight Group had a collaboration in the works, and while the deal was all set, a new development had popped up that morning. Timothy had been working on the revised proposal since dawn and had just finished it on his way over.

For convenience’s sake, he had shot it straight over to Remington’s WhatsApp.

Remington nodded and took his seat at the head of the table, handing his phone to Cedric, who promptly projected the new proposal onto the big screen.

As the discussion heated up, the notification sound suddenly started chiming incessantly. [Reproductive Health Center requests to add you as a friend]

[Infertility Clinic requests to add you as a friend]

[Renowned Reproductive Specialist Dr. Wan requests to add you as a friend]

Ding, ding. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

The phone kept buzzing non–stop.

“Pfft, cough, cough, cough!”

After an awkward silence, Timothy was the first to burst out, spitting his coffee all over the table and coughing like there was no tomorrow.

All the attendees were dumbstruck, with a million WTFs racing through their minds.

Mr. Dashiell being infertile–upon knowing such a shocking secret, could they even make it out of this meeting room alive?