Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Chapter 52

Life's challenges had toughened the folks in North Ashford. Even when the world seemed to forget them, they'd hitch their trailers and haul their goods off to nearby towns to sell. It wasn't enough to make them wealthy, but it was enough to scrape by, though it took a lot of effort.

This year, however, unexpected heavy rains had everyone caught off guard; no one was ready for it. Clara approached with a humble demeanor despite her injuries. This caused the orchard workers around her to exchange uncertain looks until a few of the younger ones spoke up.

"It's just three days anyway. She knows about this. Maybe she really can help." The others still looked a bit skeptical, but they nodded in agreement.

Addison quickly moved behind Clara to check her injuries, but Clara shook her head. "I'm fine."

It was hard to believe she was fine; her back was likely bruised all over. But Clara was already stepping into the young workers' tent, giving Addison instructions as she went.

"Send a message to every customer who placed an order with us. Tell them that I did a personal check and found that North Ashford apples are sweeter. We'll ship those instead. If they're okay with it, we'll send them out. If not, they can get a refund."

Addison looked confused. "What's the reason for that message? We've got over twenty thousand orders. If we just ship them, no one would know the difference between South Ashford and North Ashford apples. We could sell them all in a flash; they wouldn't taste the difference anyway. Plus, North Ashford apples are delicious."

in the face. Years ago, South Ashford pushed them out of prosperity. If they let their apples ride on South Ashford's reputation now, it'll be like

and prefer to stick to their principles, like the folks from North

older generation never bowed their heads, so naturally, neither would the

such a bad thing. At least these folks wouldn't

the

we shouldn't latch onto South Ashford's fame. You don't know how awful they were

young man's voice caught

better lives. Planting apples was his idea. Back then, there was no South or North Ashford, but later, South Ashford's leaders took all the credit for the apple farms and climbed the ranks. Everyone was upset and wanted to confront them, but our chief said it was fine as long as folks could have better lives. But soon after, South Ashford kicked our apples out. Our chief went

dollars for the life of a

their ground for so long. For those who lived through such events, letting go of that kind of bitterness wasn't

a life of privilege. When his fiancée heard of his death, she drove to South Ashford to bring him