The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

"You even told me to keep the recording under wraps, worried Annalise might pin the blame on me for ruining her marriage," Sage said, not agreeing with that back then.

She added, "I'm so glad I went with my gut. She's doing way better now. I heard she's back at work and also started her own business. She even asked me if I'd be interested in a job."

Melinda asked, "And you said yes?"

Sage nodded without hesitation. "Of course!"

Melinda shook her head. "Sweetheart, she might've just said that to be polite. You took her seriously?"

"I don't think she was just being polite. She went over all the perks with me! The internship alone pays ten thousand dollars a month, plus regular time off. And they even offer profit-sharing for those who do well."

Melinda raised her eyebrows. "That sounds pretty generous."

Sage nodded, understanding what Melinda was concerned about.

"At first, I figured she was just doing me a favor, but when I looked into it, I found out that's actually their standard policy. Her employees say they make even more once they go full-time," she said.noveldrama

Then, she gently took Melinda's hand and added, "If I can make decent money there, it'll be better for both of us."

"Good thing you pushed to help her out. Otherwise, you'd have never found such a great opportunity," Melinda said.

Sage blushed slightly. "I just knew she needed to hear the truth and wanted to make sure she got it."

Melinda gently stroked Sage's head. "I'm lucky to have a daughter like you."

After wrapping up her conversation with Douglas, Sasha stepped outside, feeling pretty good about everything. She got in the car and instinctively checked her phone, and her mood shifted instantly.

Shane slid into the seat beside her and noticed right away.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Without a word, Sasha handed him her phone.

Shane glanced at it, then buried his face in his hands, clearly frustrated. "Since

when are Jenny and Yvonne in cahoots?"

"Come on it's pretty obvious.t

though we helped Yvonne out

before, she's still holding a grudge

because you had feelings forher back in the day.

"She's pissed at me, too, blaming me for making you think she was into you. And now that people are trashing us, she's jumping on the bandwagon," Sasha said, he voice thick with disdain.

She leaned back, staring at the car's ceiling. "I knew we'd get some flak online eventually, but I didn't expect Yvonne would be the one to jump in."

"What do we do now?" Shane asked.

Sasha sat up, meeting his gaze. "What else can we do? We've got to set the record straight. We can't just let them keep running their mouths."

"You're right." Shane pulled out his phone, about to record a video to clear things up, saying he'd never been with Sasha and Jenny at the same time.

However, he saw a flood of messages in their group chat, where all his friends were asking what was going on. Exasperated, he typed out a reply.

"You guys literally saw Jenny dump me. Now she's saying I forced her to do it, and somehow you've all forgotten how it actually went down, huh?"