Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Rumors swirled for weeks that the mall was haunted.

Henry, always the schemer, saw trouble coming a mile away. Before anyone could stop him, he swept all his money overseas and started living it up abroad, not a care in the world.

That winter was the coldest anyone could remember.

Because of Henry's shady real estate deals, a lot of construction workers went unpaid for years. Some of them, desperate and unable to feed their families, ended it all by jumping off the department store's roof with their loved ones. The city never forgot.

And as if that wasn't enough, Henry kept flaunting his life online from overseas. Even at sixty, he was still posting all sorts of outrageous things, so his name stayed infamous-everyone on the internet knew exactly who he was.

Eden was the unlucky orphan left behind. Her mother, naive and young, died in a fire not long after Eden was born. Her father-heartless Henry-ran off without a backward glance.

No one really understood why Dylan brought Eden home, but one thing was clear: her life changed for the better after that.

with Eden's past tied to the corrupt official who destroyed so many lives twenty years ago, her reputation was suddenly

group chat

talks about Henry," someone messaged. "That winter, they said you could see people lined up outside the old mall, all

said. "People bought homes from him and never got them. They were stuck with loans

name should go down in history as a disgrace-no

found true love, and ended up burned alive. Even her baby was

"Eden's so lucky, huh?"

know who leaked this story? Her life will probably turn out even worse than her

was talking about it. Henry's name shot up the trending

outrage grew louder. Everyone demanded that Eden-the last

her aren't welcome in Country Z,"