Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

However, just as Lizetta began to move, Remington suddenly quickened his pace. The man took the stairs two at a time, quickly disappearing from sight. Downstairs, Sophia and two clerks were chatting by the stairwell, waiting. When they saw Remington coming down, Sophia immediately approached him.

"Did everything meet your expectations, Mr. Dashiell? Would you like Mrs. Dashiell to try on a couple more dresses?"

Remington, on his phone, responded with a deep voice, "I'll be right out; take him to the hospital. I'll ask in person."

He seemed to brush past Sophia without hearing her, striding briskly out of the bridal shop.

A Maybach was parked outside, Ray got out to open the rear door for Remington, who bent down to get into the car, and Ray walked around to the other side and got in.

Remington immediately asked in a stern voice, "Is the news reliable? Have you checked its authenticity?"

A message had just come from the border. A villager claimed that sixteen years ago, he had seen a girl with a severed finger, burning with fever, abandoned in the mountains near their village. Based on the timing and location, it all matched up with when Stella had disappeared. It was very likely that the girl was Stella.

That villager had been brought back to Zion City by their men, and naturally, Remington intended to question him personally.

"The guy was beating around the bush, insisting on seeing you before spilling the beans. But it doesn't sound like he's making it up," Ray replied.

Remington immediately clenched his fists. Over the years, there had been too many false leads in the search for Stella. But he prayed this time it was true, to bring Stella back as soon as possible. Sixteen years had passed; failing to bring her back intact, seeing her parents in such agony, he felt overwhelmingly guilty, unworthy of happiness, let alone the right to pursue it.

Thinking of Stella possibly enduring inhumane torture somewhere, he found it hard to rest, unable to face the West family.

Remington turned his gaze towards the window, his eyes piercing through the void towards the bridal shop's second floor.

He thought, "Just wait for me a little longer, Liz. Once I find Stella, I'll tell everyone at our wedding that I love you."

"Why are you standing here, Mrs. Dashiell? You look stunning, but perhaps you'd like to try a different style? What do you think?" Sophia said with a smile as she came upstairs and saw Lizetta standing by the stairwell.

Lizetta snapped back to reality and smiled at her, "All the dresses here are beautiful."

She glanced downstairs again. Knowing what she was looking for, Sophia quickly said, "Looking for Mr. Dashiell? He just got a call about some emergency and had to leave."

Lizetta didn't expect Remington to leave early, leaving her behind like this. Her smile slowly faded as she nodded at Sophia.

"Let's go with this one. Could you help me take my measurements, Sophia? Once I set a date, it'll help to estimate the size." This content is © NôvelDrama.Org.

She had lost the interest to try on more dresses.

As Sophia instructed a clerk to take Lizetta's measurements, Lizetta's phone rang. It was a video call from Yolanda.

Lizetta answered, and Yolanda's wide-eyed face appeared on the screen, "Holy smokes! Lizetta, you're really something, planning a wedding and not telling me! I saw your wedding photo with Badass Remington and thought it was Photoshopped!"

Lizetta was surprised, "What wedding photo of mine?"

"Are you not at Cassius' cousin's bridal shop? She took it, sent it to Cassius to nudge him about marriage, and I saw it."

Lizetta didn't expect this; facing Yolanda's reproachful gaze, she hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean to hide it from you; just hadn't gotten around to telling you yet. A lot has happened recently."

"I'm leaving the set now to pick you up, and you're going to explain everything to me later, or I won't let you off the hook!" Yolanda feigned anger, and Lizetta quickly nodded.

After hanging up with Lizetta, Yolanda quickly changed out of her costume, not even bothering to remove her makeup, grabbed her bag, and rushed out of the dressing room. But as soon as she stepped out, she bumped into Cassius, who had just finished a scene and frowned upon seeing her ready to leave.