The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

More importantly, how did Zachary cause Jessica so much trouble? Steven would think differently of her now that he knew Zachary had never contacted her.

After some thought, she decided to call Steven. It didn't take him long to pick up the phone. "What other lies are you prepared to tell me?"

"Steven..." Jessica was at a loss for words. A long silence later, she asked, "So, this is it? You don't trust me anymore?"

Steven grew frustrated. "I'm assuming you called me because you saw the news trending online. The evidence has been laid bare before you. Give me one good reason why I should trust you."

Jessica was rendered speechless. She took a while to compose her thoughts before she said, "I might have remembered things wrongly... You know how the pregnancy has been messing with my memory."

A humorless chuckle escaped Steven as he drawled, "Go on."

"Oh, I remember now!" She suddenly thought of a brilliant excuse. "I believe Zachary brought this up when I picked him up from school one day. It was a while ago."

It was a poor excuse and an even poorer alibi.

And yet, Steven did not call her out on it, instead asking, "Cody and Zachary don't go to the same school anymore, and you know Zachary moved out a long time ago. Why would you pick Zachary up from school when you could have gone and picked up Cody instead?"

Jessica feigned innocence as she explained, "I was trying to patch things up between you and Zachary, that's all. I figured that I should apologize first. I am his mother, after all—"

"If you truly cared about Zachary, then the four of us would still be living under the same roof as a happy family," Steven cut her off brusquely. "It's precisely because you kept picking on Zachary while you were living with us that he chose to move out and live with his grandmother, right?

"So don't pretend you love him and care about his well-being. It makes me sick."

She never expected Steven to be so blunt and harsh with her. She grimaced at his words.

Steven continued, "I will never believe anything you say ever again."

"Is that so?" Jessica's gaze fell on her baby bump as she gently patted it.

It was only expected that Steven would get so worked up over the truth since he had just learned about it. She figured it was best to give him space to cool off before calling him again. If not, she wouldn't know how to placate him.

With that in mind, she said miserably, "If you hate me that much, I'll leave you alone from now on."

She hung up after that and stared at the ceiling.

She should have told Steven not to confront Zachary when she pinned the blame on the kid. She should have told Steven that Zachary was just a kid and didn't know any better, then begged Steven to forgive the brat for her sake.

That way, even if Steven blamed Zachary, he wouldn't have confronted the kid outright, and Jessica's true colors also wouldn't have been exposed.

Her head throbbed. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner? She drew a deep breath and waited until she had calmed down before grabbing her phone. She then pulled up her conversation with Casper.

Now that she and Steven had fallen

out, there was no harm in talking to Casper. If she invested more time and energy in patching things up with him, they might have a breakthrough in their relationship.

The thought cheered her up, especially when she considered the new project Casper was handling courtesy of Zane.noveldrama

Even if Zane had only agreed to help Casper because of the latter's connections, there was a chance Casper could turn things around for himself and regain his former wealth.