The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

At that moment, Zane stood up for me. In his usual cool demeanor, he said, "A man should marry a woman out of love and the intention to build a life together. It should not be because she was gentle and understanding and did not cause you any problems.

"I hope you understand that by now."

The more Steven listened to what Zane said, the more frustrated he became. It was because he knew that the better Zane treated Annalise, the lower the chances were for him to reconcile with Annalise. Steven sneered and said, "You have all the big words. Can you really promise that you never dated Annalise because of her good temper?"

However, Zane knew what he wanted. He smiled and said, "I don't deny the fact that she has a nice personality. But above all, I hope that she's comfortable when she's with me. I don't want the people in my life to bully her, making her unhappy all the time."

Zane continued, "Ever since you got divorced, she was no longer related to you. But even so, people around you continued to disturb her.

"Imagine how things were for her before the divorce! Would things have been worse than they are now? "Steven Pelham, none of your actions show any signs of love that you may have for Annalise. Even though you claim to love her, I don't think you ever truly did. All you think of is how nobody would criticize you when she was with you, and you enjoyed a life like that.

"After all, Annalise took it upon herself to handle all the criticism. Yet, you never acknowledged her sacrifice. I feel sorry for her."

As Zane said that, he reached out for my hand. I paused for a moment before putting my hand in his. Chloe couldn't understand why Steven suddenly changed the subject. She lightly tugged on his sleeve and asked, "Do you not want Annalise to pay you back? Or do you not want Žane to know that aside from the living expenses, you had also spent a lot of money on Annalise every month?

Steven hadn't expected Chloe to sabotage him. He snapped, "Mom! Must you really look at the records? Fine."

Steven pulled out his phone and pulled up his transaction records with Annalise. He showed it to Chloe and said, "Here!"

Chloe's eyes lit up. She asked, "Doesn't it say here that you bought her a set of jewelry that costs a few hundred thousand dollars?"

Feeling frustrated, Steven said, "That was for Jessica."

"And here, there's a set of clothing worth over 10,000 dollars!" Chloe exclaimed.

Chloe believed that Steven wasn't a stingy man. But upon hearing that, Steven's face fell. He said, "That was also for Jessica."noveldrama

At that moment, Chloe didn't know what to say. As she scrolled down, everything that cost more than 500 dollars was for Jessica.

As she scrolled further, Chloe stopped asking for details. She showed the record to Steven and asked, "Is this for Jessica, too?"

Steven nodded. After reviewing the

records across all platforms, excluding living expenses, Steven had only ever spent 10,000 dollars on Annalise.

Chloe fell silent. As she stared at Steven, she felt a deep

frustration-she couldn't speak

she couldn't swallow everything either!

When they were done with the calculations, said, "Deduct

whatever amount Steven spent on me from the amount that I spent on him. You don't have to pay me back; just donate it to charity on my behalf."