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.

before saying, "This isn't the time for

do next. Otherwise, all that money I put

bothered dealing with these idiots was

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

was all Otis needed to put two and two together. "Oh, right! How could I forget? Alright,

no patience for fools," Jessica warned. Otis shot

up, he let out a deep breath and asked, "Any chance you can get smarter in the next few

that supposed to mean? I'm smart

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

offend someone like her? What's the big

was when Otis realized Yelena had no clue how formidable Annalise had

saved up her bonuses, tutored people on the side,

unimpressed. "Starting a business? Please. Every trust-fund kid I know wants to, but their families do whatever it takes to stop them, afraid they'll waste

derisive sniff. "Annalise isn't anything like you or your spoiled friends. Every small company she's