Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Chapter 627

Her message disappeared into the void. With no reply, Clara couldn't wait any longer. She kept driving toward Z's cottage, her heart racing with worry.

The hours on the road dragged on, every minute weighed down by fear for him. By the time she neared the Capital, she was running on empty. She called Ryan, desperate for a familiar voice.

Ryan picked up, and from the sound of her, he figured she was already in the Capital. He threw on a clean shirt, ready to bolt out the door, but then remembered Simon was still at the villa. Annoyed, he lowered his voice and said, "I'll sneak away when I get a chance, Clara. You go ahead."

The world felt too quiet to Clara, every second stretching into forever. She just needed someone to talk to anything to keep her anxiety from spiraling out of control. If she lost her focus now, she could crash, and that would only make things worse.

Z's cottage finally came into view, a tiny glimmer of hope flickering inside her. She was barely two hundred meters away when something streaked across the sky. Before she could process what it was, the little house exploded. Flames shot up, painting the night with fire.

Clara slammed on the brakes, stunned. The world buzzed in her ears, everything muffled and unreal.

Her legs felt like jelly. She tried to step on the gas but couldn't. Instead, she stumbled out of the car and ran toward the fire.

Every few dozen meters, she tripped and fell, her clothes caked in mud. What should have been a short sprint turned into a half-hour crawl. By the time she reached the burning ruins, she was shaking so hard she could barely stand.

to scream for him, to hear

grew wilder, sirens wailing in the distance as emergency crews rushed from the Capital. Clara's head spun; everything was

to pass out, she heard Ryan's

dying down, and the sight of it nearly stopped his heart. He ran to

Clara could only whisper for him to take her to

to the hospital, but when she insisted, he had no

"Clara, what happened? That

an accident?" he asked, voice shaking. On his way over, he'd heard the

bomb-no accident. Some ver

to destroy

really

didn't dare say more. He hated that man in the shadows, but now, seeing Clara like this, all he wanted was for the guy to be alive. He couldn't stand

wheel in