The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Upon hearing this, I turned and gaped at Zachary in shock. He glowered at

Steven in disgust and spat, "Are you going to pin the blame on me even though the evidence has been laid out before you? I'm not an idiot, Steven, or a mute, either! I can explain myself!"noveldrama

Zane raised a hand to stop Steven from interjecting and motioned for Zachary to continue. "Go on."

"Jessica was terrified that she'd angered Steven after she forced him to get a vasectomy, so she threatened to abort her baby..." Zachary didn't need to be a genius to figure out Jessica's game plan. He elaborated, "And Steven showed up at the hospital just before she got her abortion.

"She started weeping before him and told him she wouldn't have decided to get an abortion if I hadn't fed her with lies and provoked her."

There was no hiding the contempt on his little face as he added, "Anyone with half a brain would have known she was lying, but Steven was too stupid to realize it!"

Steven inhaled sharply.

However, Zachary couldn't care less about Steven's ire. "He showed up at my place and beat me up! I posted the footage on the internet to prove my innocence, and now, he's blaming me for standing up for myself!"

Zane asked Steven, "Is he telling the truth?"

Zachary was inclined to believe Steven would lie, so he warned the latter, "My words are backed by evidence."

"Yes," Steven admitted begrudgingly. A second later, he argued, "Even if Jessica wronged you—"

"What do you mean 'even if' she wronged me? You're making it sound as if she was blameless and that I was the one who picked on her first!" Zachary cut him off sardonically.

Steven was furious that Zachary had called his bluff. He rose to teach the child another lesson, but Zane sensed his rage and quickly stepped forward to block him. "Use your words, Steven. I won't let you get away with using violence in my home."

Only then did Steven resume his seat and counter angrily, "Jessica was wrong to have blamed you, but that doesn't give you the right to put that footage up on the Internet evidence or not! Don't you know you could ruin the entire Pelham family With that footage?"

Zachary's indifference was a stark contrast to Steven's outrage. "How else would I prove my innocence?"

"You could have shown me the evidence," Steven pointed out.

Zachary grimaced. "If you were a man who believed in evidence, you wouldn't

have stormed over to my place and beaten me up after hearing what Jessica told you... You would have weighed her words against the facts before making a judgment.

"You might have even gathered evidence to prove she was telling the truth before coming over to straighten me out. But the truth is that Jessica could rile you up only a few sentences and

with

ove

manipulate you into blaming

everyone else but her.

"You came to my place and beat me up! How was I supposed to hand over the

evidence to you under those circumstances?"

He quirked his lips and delivered his

point, "You might not even look at the evidence, and I'd be forced to

watch as you delete it. After that et

you'd continue beating me up. I'm just a kid, Steven, and I'm not expected to be careful with my actions.

"I was desperate to prove my innocence after I got the evidence, and the only way

I could do that was by putting it up on the internet. I want everyone to know I'm

not some scheming brat you and Jessica made me out to be!"

Zachary might be young, but he had recently picked up on plenty of things and learned to think for himself. "That was my best option."

Steven knew he had been short-sighted in dealing with the matter, but his pride got the better of him. He growled, "I am your father, Zachary!"

"Not anymore," Zachary drawled.

Steven was so stumped that he turned to Zane for help. "Do you think he handled this the right way?"