The Unveiled Rose
Chapter 240

Zane calmly explained, "She's lying to you."

I blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Zane's tone grew more serious. "I've never had feelings for anyone, not a single woman."

I didn't understand why he was suddenly clarifying this, but I shrugged it off. "You're not getting any younger. It's normal to like someone."

With that, I turned to my computer and began working.

Zane said nothing more. He simply gazed at Annalise. He couldn't help but wonder when she would finally recognize his feelings for her and accept his love.

...

After Chloe left, Jessica rubbed her pregnant belly, still feeling upset. She was furious.

How dare Chloe come into her house and confront her like that?

Fuming, Jessica dialed Steven's number. "Hey, are you busy?"

Steven had been swamped with work and was forced to put in overtime to catch up on his backlog. However, when he saw Jessica calling, he stopped his work and answered patiently, "What's wrong?"

Jessica sniffled softly, "I don't know what I did wrong. Your mom just came over and yelled at me for no reason. I'm an adult, so it doesn't really matter to me. However, I'm carrying your child. What if something happens because of this?" Steven felt no sympathy at all when he heard her crying on the phone. Instead, he was filled with an indescribable annoyance. "I'll talk to my mom about this later," he replied.

Satisfied, Jessica responded with a soft, "Mm."

...

Steven didn't immediately contact Chloe. Instead, he lay back in his office, deeply reflecting on the recent events.

It felt like ever since he got together with Jessica, she constantly stirred up trouble every few days. He always had to carve out time to clean up after her.

However, things had been different when he was married to Annalise. During their six years of marriage, Annalise always handled things herself and rarely caused family conflicts, no matter what happened. Although Steven found all of Jessica's theatrics to be a hassle, he still decided to contact Chloe in an effort to appease her.

"Mom," he said.

Chloe had just left Jessica's place when she received Steven's call. Even a fool could guess that Jessica had called to complain about her to Steven.

Chloe's dislike for Jessica only grew. She feigned indifference and asked, "What's going on?"

Steven continued, "Jessica is pregnant. She needs to be well taken care of. You need to be careful how you handle things with her. If she gets upset, it could affect the baby's development."

Chloe replied sharply, "So, what you're saying is that just because she's pregnant, we should tolerate everything she does?"

"Yes," Steven replied.

Chloe couldn't believe it. "Even if she's mistreating Zach, I'm not allowed to stand up for him?"

Steven tried to explain, "She's been holding back lately."

Chloe raised her voice. "Holding back? It's because Zachary is staying with me that she hasn't been able to secretly mistreat him, but that doesn't mean she's changed!"

She added, "Steven, you'd better understand something. You don't even know if Jessica is having a boy or a girl, but Zachary is your real son! If you focus all your attention on Jessica and start neglecting Zachary..." Chloe paused, then continued angrily, "If Jessica has a daughter, you'll regret it!"

Steven was too worn out to deal with these issues. Every day, just trying to get along with Jessica drained all his patience. "What if it's a boy?" he asked wearily.

"Does that automatically make him better than Zachary?" Chloe retorted, not giving him an inch..