The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Chapter 8

At the school gate, my own son repeatedly denied that I was his mother in front of so many parents. Zachary emphasized time and again that Jessica was his mother. Even though my heart was already shattered and bleeding, I still tried to convince myself that he was just a child and didn't understand the consequences of his words. "Zachary, I'll give you one more chance to choose! Take a good look at me, calm down, and think carefully. Who are you choosing between her and me?"

Everyone's eyes were on Zachary. He hid behind Jessica, pressing his forehead against her back. "I choose my mommy, of course!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jessica cast a strange glance at me, then tried to carry Zachary away. "What a lunatic!"

I certainly couldn't let her leave. I hurried after them to block their way. But someone stood in front of me.

I lost control. "I need to go after my son! You can't stop me!"

A flurry of voices chimed in, all expressing their disdain for me.

"Has the trick of human traffickers evolved to this point?"

"Yeah, look at how anxious she is. If we didn't know better, we'd think she was the kid's mother."

"Exactly!"

"We need to be more careful in the future!"

Their disdainful gazes fell upon me, but I didn't have the energy to respond. I desperately wanted to catch up with Zachary. But no matter how I ran, someone would always block my way. When the police arrived, Jessica had vanished without a trace. Only then did the crowd part in front of me.

Well-meaning bystanders rushed to the police. "Officer, you wouldn't believe how rampant human traffickers have become.

"She came to the kindergarten, trying to snatch the child from his mother. His mother ran away with the kid, and she still tried to go after them. If we hadn't stopped her, she might've really succeeded!" I never imagined that Zachary would actually leave with Jessica right in front of me, especially after I had come to the kindergarten to pick him up.

I stood frozen, dumbfounded.

as a human trafficker. Please come with us

catch up, I had no choice but to

...

the police station, the officers verified my identity and quickly found out that Steven was my husband and

anticipated this outcome and immediately apologized, "I'm

really your fault." As I talked, tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. "Even I didn't

raising, had just called another woman "Mommy" in front of me at the kindergarten

cry, one of the officers tried to comfort me. "Kids

to console me after that. They had seen many misbehaving kids, but one like Zachary, who wouldn't even

lost and

an officer stepped forward. "Do you need us

"It's fine. Thank you."

could only contact Steven to get Zachary back. Besides, I wanted to ask him why didn't the

address, then sat quietly in the back, gazing out the

thought that this ten-minute journey would be enough to help me calm down, but the more I thought, the worse

that I had fought so hard to stop began to

So much so that he

arrived at Steven's company, I didn't linger

to push the door open, I heard

having a good temper and loving you, she has

look at Jessica. She's the same age but dresses like a young

look at their personalities. Annalise stays home all day, only thinking about chores. She's so boring and dull. But Jessica is completely different. She's lively and full of energy! If I

I such a worthless person in the

Steven, asking, "What do you really think, dude?

filled with eager anticipation, making it clear that even if Jessica were