Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Lately, Ryan had been holding things down at the company surprisingly well. Sure, some of his moves were a bit green, but he was headed in the right direction, which honestly made Cole breathe a little easier.

"I keep thinking about Clara," Cole said, frowning. "Where could she have gone? Why hasn't she reached out to you for a whole week? Doesn't she care about the Bradford family anymore?"

Even if Clara wasn't a Bradford by blood, she wasn't the type to just drop everything and walk away from the company she'd worked so hard for.

Was it possible that what he'd done had really hurt her that much? Had she just left, quietly, for good?

Ryan's brows pulled together, worry settling in his chest.

"Cole, do you think Clara's really just gone? That she's never coming back?"

"It's possible," Cole said quietly. "To Ms. Bradford, if she disappeared, she'd know I'd take care of things and come find you. She probably isn't worried about the company at all."

Ryan shot to his feet, his eyes rimmed red. "So you're saying she doesn't care about us at all? That if she wants to leave, she'll just go, just like that?"

Cole didn't answer. For Clara, the Bradford family might really be that easy to walk away from.

Ryan marched out, not looking back. He hadn't had a real night's sleep in a week —just work, work, and more work. Keeping busy was the only way to keep his mind off everything that happened.

He went to Clara's apartment first, ringing the bell over and over. When there was no answer, he tried Scarlette's place next.

When Scarlette opened the door, she looked surprised to see him. "You again?”

Last week, he'd waited outside Clara's door more than once. Now here he was, back again.

Ryan dropped his gaze, his tone softer this time. "Have you seen Clara? I haven't been able to reach her for a week."

Scarlette's brows drew together. Clara missing for a week? She'd just gotten back from a business trip herself and had been hoping for some quiet, only to get woken up by him.

"I just got back from out of town, but Clara's a grown woman. She knows what she's doing."

Still, she pulled out her phone and called Clara's number. No answer.

Scarlette scrolled through social media, just in case, and sure enough, there was Clara's latest status update.

"You really haven't checked her socials? She posted that she's going off the grid for a while. Doesn't want to be disturbed. If something serious had happened, she wouldn't be updating her status, would she?"

Ryan instantly pulled out his phone, searching for Clara's profile. There it was— the post saying she was taking a break and didn't want to be bothered.

He stared at it for a long time, silent.

After a few minutes, he finally said, "Thanks."

Scarlette yawned, missing the tension in his voice. "Alright, little brother, you're kind of obsessed with her, you know that?"

Ryan was already turning away, not bothering to reply.

Scarlette, suddenly uncomfortable with the Tittle brother" label, slowly shut the door. When she turned around, she saw Nicholas sprawled out on her couch like he owned the place.

around,

She frowned and headed straight for the bedroom.

Nicholas shrugged off his suit jacket, following her. "You were gone all week and

didn't even call me once? Cold."

He acted like their last argument had never happened.

Scarlette didn't want to think about it either.

Ever since Rose's birthday, she'd been trapped at the Greenard mansion for days -confined to that same bedroom.

Nicholas had told Mr. and Mrs. Greenard that she'd left early that morning. Of course, they hadn't suspected a thing.

In reality, Scarlette had been locked in that room, only allowed out to use the bathroom. Nicholas brought all her meals himself.

The shame of what happened under her foster parents' roof, right under their noses, was almost unbearable.

But Nicholas was the Greenard family's notorious troublemaker. If he said no one could come into his room, no one dared to cross him.

No one knew Scarlette was locked in there.

It was like Nicholas wanted her to feel every ounce of humiliation, breaking her pride piece by piece.

He'd even gone as far as recording videos.

The only reason Scarlette was finally let out t was because she'd gone along with his videos-even

I.ne

said the

hines he forced on her.

If those videos ever made it to her foster parents, they'd think she was the one who seduced Nicholas that she'd repaid all their kindness by

Sagging their only son into ruin.noveldrama

That threat alone was enough to keep her from ever mentioning leaving again.