The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Steven shot up. "No way!"

"So much has happened these past few days." I held his gaze. "First, Zachary is adamant about being with Jessica."

Steven, usually so calm and composed, now spoke with a tremor of fear in his voice, "He's just being foolish, honey. I've never crossed any lines. You can hate Zachary, and you can blame me, but you can't leave me."

His voice became almost pleading at the end.

Yet he was still shifting the responsibility onto Zachary, completely oblivious to the fact that my pain stemmed from his complicity and indulgence. He couldn't tell that the love I had for him over the years vanished at that moment when I fell down the stairs.

I continued, "And then I realized that even after you promised me you wouldn't contact her anymore, you two were still in close contact."

Steven opened his mouth, then closed it again. He was clearly caught off guard by the fact that I already knew done in secret.

His fists were clenched, and his expression was filled with pain.

the things he

"At that point, I thought maybe I should just get a

Jessica, his stomach problems have worsened, and now, he's even learned to hurt himself. If I give in and let Jessica be his mother, his life will

and nodded eagerly. "Yeah, honey,

"And then I found out I was pregnant. To give this baby a complete home, I've been desperately convincing

spilled over when I mentioned

Steven suddenly fell silent.

did Zachary do? He knew there was oil on the

detail behind the scenes. And Zachary had known everything from the start

was the child I had

what about Steven? Was

one of the

all hope for Zachary. There's nothing left in this home that I want

From now on, I would simply be Annalise Jamison. I didn't need any more burdensome labels. But I wouldn't spare those who had hurt me. "What about me?"

say you liked Jessica? I'm stepping aside to make room for you two. You should be happy about

in the stairwell when Zachary told me Jessica wanted to harm me,