The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Steven suddenly realized that these so-called confrontations and

misunderstandings had become more frequent since Jessica entered his life.

More often than not, they started with her coming up to him and bemoaning her sorry encounters. After seeing how miserable she was, Steven couldn't help taking pity on her. She would then tell him quietly who had hurt her, and he would confront the person on her behalf.

Naturally, those he confronted never balked under pressure. They would always give him a harsh talking-to before presenting evidence to show that they had never spoken to her before. In other words, she had falsely accused them.

Steven chuffed at himself as he recalled the times Jessica accused Annalise of being jealous of her. He had sought out Annalise to demand an explanation, only for her to retort him easily. Even now, she had argued and won using cold, hard facts.

Upon combing through the past, Steven realized he had missed out on a lot of details about these past incidents.

When he refused to go through with Jessica's suggestion that he get a vasectomy, she turned to Chloe and forced her to emotionally blackmail him with suicide. He had no choice but to compromise and undergo the vasectomy.

However, Steven harbored resentment toward Jessica and Chloe since. Sensing this, Jessica had offered to get her tubes tied after he had already undergone a vasectomy and removed any chances of him knocking up another woman.

A mirthless chuckle escaped Steven as enlightenment dawned upon him. Zachary was right. He was an idiot for not thinking things through before rushing over to the hospital to stop Jessica from aborting the baby and getting her tubes tied.noveldrama

He had allowed Jessica the circumstances to pin the blame on Zachary. When Steven saw how much she appeared to care for Zachary and how he wouldn't have the chance to sire any more children, rage filled him.

It didn't take much to convince him to take Jessica's side after that.

Unfortunately, his rage clouded his judgment, and he hadn't even questioned the cracks in her story, such as why Zachary had behaved the way she said he did. After all,

Zachary had cut ties with Ste 8.5

what did he stand to gain

so

persuading Jessica to tie her tubes?

The answer was nothing.

Steven pressed a palm against his forehead. Not only would Zachary gain nothing, but their father-son relationship would be further strained.

Jessica, on the other hand, had plenty to gain. After cornering Steven into getting a vasectomy, she had cut off any chance of him siring other children. He would have no

choice but to leave his fortune to her

baby.

She had admittedly played a good game. If Zachary had been a helpless five-year-old who didn't know how to stand up for himself Jessica could have easily gotten rid of her baby's competition and successfully proven she had good reasons to resort to such methods.

After figuring out Jessica's master plan and ulterior motives, Steven wondered

why he hadn't seen through them sooner. They weren't that complicated, to begin with.

He would have to tread more carefully around Jessica from now on.

...

Jessica lay on the couch as she went through her texts, a scowl forming on her face. Had someone helped Zachary? How else could he have posted the evidence up on the Internet?