The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Chloe made up her mind to dangle Steven and Jessica's blossoming relationship before Annalise just to rub salt in her wound. Perhaps then Annalise would give up on her intentions to reconcile with Steven.

Steven lowered his gaze. He had realized too late that Annalise was the only woman he ever loved, and it was impossible for him not to miss her. But to appease Chloe, he forced a bright smile and lied, "Don't worry, I've moved on." "I'm glad to hear that!" Chloe said.

It was 11:00 pm when Gary and Julia arrived at the airport. They called Casper and told him to meet them there.

Casper was surprised, but he did as he was told and headed to the airport. When he saw his parents emerging through the doors of the arrival hall, he frowned and asked, "Mom, Dad, why did you come all of a sudden?

"If you're here to convince me to go back with you, you're wasting your time. I'm done picking up after the company!"

Gary was wordless as he scowled at Casper. As things were, Julia knew it was up to her to break the ice. She said with a smile, "You don't have to worry about the company anymore. We've taken care of the crisis, and we came to tell you that you don't have to go back if you don't want to."

Casper blinked. When did his parents become so amenable?

Julia continued slowly, "And if you choose to stay here and patch things up with Jessica, we'll be fine with it as well."

"Why?" Casper was baffled.

"Because someone led us to believe Jessica's child wasn't yours," Gary finally explained. "We didn't know we'd been lied to."

Casper stared at his father evenly. "You realize that Jessica's only ever dated me before we got married, right? Why would she... What made you think she'd have another man's child?"

"Ruby also insisted that her child was yours," Julia added, wincing.

Casper knew this might happen, but he didn't think his parents would fall for such an obvious lie. "And you just took her word for it?"

Gary grew incensed at Casper's

incredulous expression, but he knew he and Julia were at fault. He

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argued, "Ruby and I knew each other for a while, and we didn't think she'd lie to us about something like this."

Taking a deep breath, Casper pointed out, "You could've come to me for an answer if you weren't sure."noveldrama

Gary shifted his weight from one foot to another, feeling awkward. "We thought you might lie to us, given how you were so in love with Jessica."

"The two of you are unbelievable," Casper said, leveling a dark look at his parents. They had refused to listen to him and made up plenty of excuses to defend Ruby. What more could he say at this point?

He asked, "How did you guys find out she was lying?"

Gary said nothing, and Julia knew he was at a loss. After a long pause, she said, "We had a DNA test done, of course. It was how we found out Ruby's kid wasn't yours after all."

"At least you've got enough brains for that," Casper drawled.

Upon hearing this, Gary further explained, "We knew we were wrong and that we'd mistreated Jessica. After proper consideration, we decided to come here and apologize to her in person. If she won't forgive us, we'll stay until she gives us another chance."

Casper was suddenly overcome with the urge to cry when he heard this. "So, you're willing to apologize now, but why didn't you think about doing it sooner?"

He thought about the times he had tried to ease the tension between Jessica and his parents.