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?”

more than once. Now here he

tone softer this time. "Have you seen Clara? I haven't been able to reach her for a

a business trip herself and had been hoping for some quiet, only to get woken

just got back from out of town, but Clara's a grown

her phone and called Clara's number.

scrolled through social media, just in case, and sure enough, there was Clara's

posted that she's going off the grid for a while. Doesn't want to be disturbed. If

profile. There it was— the post saying she was

it for

few minutes, he

the tension in his voice. "Alright, little brother, you're

was already turning away, not bothering to

slowly shut the door. When she turned around, she saw Nicholas sprawled out on her couch

around,

headed straight for the

suit jacket, following her. "You were gone all week

even call me

acted like their last argument

didn't want to think about it

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

she'd left early that