The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Plenty of beautiful women had tried to win him over before. Zane dropped those words and drove off, leaving Yelena behind. Anger boiled inside her as she watched the car disappear, and she stomped her foot hard.

Turning to Otis, she demanded, "Dad! What now? I did exactly what you told me, but Zane refused to help!"

Otis had a headache of his own. He hadn't expected there to be surveillance cameras inside, let alone that they'd recorded everything.

Shaking his head, he said, "I don't know either. We'll need to find someone to help us."

"Who?" Yelena asked.

"Jessica." Otis didn't bother explaining. He called Jessica right away and brought her up to speed.

Then, he said, "The plan was a bust. Zane saw right through it."

"Well, obviously. Did you really think he was dumb enough to fall for something that childish?" Jessica said, sounding incredulous.

for a while before saying, "This isn't the time for sarcasm.

do next. Otherwise, all that money I

only reason Jessica bothered dealing with these idiots was because of

a partnership with Huxham Corporation, don't you?" she asked, dropping

right! How could I forget? Alright, I'll bring Yelena along next time we make a deal with

patience for fools," Jessica

asked, "Any chance you can get smarter in the next

was confused. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm

handed you the perfect opportunity, you wouldn't know how to use it. Worse, you'd

offend someone like her? What's the big

Yelena had no clue how

she had nothing, she quietly saved up her bonuses, tutored people on the side, and used every cent she earned to start her own

Please. Every trust-fund kid I know wants to, but their families do whatever

"Annalise isn't anything like you or your spoiled friends. Every small company she's started is still