Can’t Win Me Back by Ginger Sue

Zoe calmed down and said to Betty, "I have an important call to take. Wait for me. I'll make the arrangements and call you back."
Then, she hung up on Betty and picked up Penelope's call with a sweet tone, "Hello, Mom."
Penelope sighed. She began hesitantly, "Zoe, come with me to visit Uncle Preston in the hospital. Your grandpa will be there as well."
"Is Uncle Preston... hospitalized?"
"Landon beat him up badly. He suffered from serious injuries he lost his arm, to
be exact, and he's forever crippled. He drifts in and out of sleep all day. I hesitated to tell you about it because I'm worried that his bad condition would give you a scare."
"What? Did Landon." Stunned, Zoe cared less about Preston's misfortune than her own fate. She feared for herself now that Landon had dealt with Preston.
Landon seemed to be getting serious. Based on Zoe's understanding of his character, she knew that this was just the start. He wouldn't go easy on Preston, and that was the price one had to pay for hurting Lauren.
"Zoe, your brother has changed. He's a ruthless man who turns against his family!" Worried for Zoe, Penelope advised her, "I know you've been through a lot. Landon is unfair to you. But nothing good comes from fighting against him now that he's in power in the Harper Group.
"Listen to me. Stop giving Lauren trouble. I'll emigrate to Yoarkley with you soon. Let's never return to Solana City anymore. Okay?"
Alyssa and Jasper uncorked an expensive red wine to celebrate the canceled engagement. Alyssa was dressed in Jasper's oversized white shirt. Sitting on the table of the wine cellar, she dangled her legs and clinked her glass with Jasper.
Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes carried a seductive look. "Mr. Beckett, we secured our first victory. We can finally enjoy a good night's sleep."
He trapped her underneath him by placing an arm on the table. His eyes were filled with desire. When he couldn't hold back anymore, he kissed her hard on the lips.
After some foreplay, Alyssa accidentally tilted her glass as Jasper held her by the waist. The red wine stained the shirt that she was wearing and trickled down her fair legs.
"Are you sure you can have a good sleep?" he said in a raspy voice while rubbing his fingers against her rosy lips.
"You are quite busy at work lately, aren't you? You're not that young either. Can you handle it?" Alyssa teased him with a blush on her cheeks.
"I think I'll perform better than my peers on average, even when I am 80 years old." Smiling, he ran his lips over her cheeks.
However, Alyssa put on a serious look instead of fooling around with him. "Let's talk about something serious. Mandy told Winston about Cyrus' crush on Lauren.
"Jonah called me today, telling me that Winston was too excited to sleep last night. Early this morning, he got Ben to prepare the gifts for Lauren. He even said he'd meet with your grandpa to discuss the marriage between Cyrus and Lauren."
Jasper's eyes wavered in shock, knowing that they had to go along with Cyrus and Lauren's "relationship" if Winston learned about it. He had once heard Alyssa describe Winston as a man who'd go to great lengths to make his sons' marriages happen.
That did not come as a surprise, as Winston had married four wives himself.
"Heh. I don't mind having Lauren as my sister-in-law. I just don't know how you feel about it," Alyssa taunted Jasper with a squint.
"I'm fine with anything as long as Lauren is happy. But..." His eyes clouded with gloom. "I still wish we could give Landon a second chance. He once dated Lauren and went through many ups and downs because of it."
"I know. That's why I told Jonah to stop Winston." Alyssa shared his sentiments. He beamed at her in satisfaction. They were about to share another kiss when they heard a knock on the door.
Sean said through the door, "Ms. Alyssa, is this a good time to talk to you and Mr. Beckett? I got news from Mosgravia."
Alyssa was dressed sexily since she did not expect Sean to come to her with updates at this hour. Jasper hurriedly draped a jacket over her before answering the door.
"Ms. Alyssa, Mr. Beckett, I hope I didn't interrupt anything." Sean started having fantasies when he saw their flushed faces.
"That's fine. Let's talk." Jasper went on one knee in front of Alyssa and slowly buttoned her shirt to avoid accidental exposure.
"Ms. Alyssa, just like you predicted, Betty went for a health checkup at the hospital. We got our hands on her blood sample and ran DNA tests on it twice- once in Mosgravia and once in Solana City just to be sure." Taking a deep breath, Sean handed them the report with a loaded look. "The DNA result shows that Betty Beckett is unrelated to Javier Beckett."