Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

The car didn't slow down for even a second. If Eli hadn't reacted in a split second and shoved Clara out of the way, they both would've been hit head-on.

The two cars smashed together with a sickening crash, smoke pouring out from under the hoods.

Eli was furious. He stormed toward the wreck, ready to pick a fight, but Clara grabbed his arm to stop him.

He shook her off, his voice sharp. "Since when did you get so chill?"

But Clara just pointed in Eden's direction.

Eden was still stuck in her car. She'd been speeding, and now the door was so mangled she couldn't even open it. Smoke started to fill the inside. All her earlier bravado disappeared her eyes went wide, rimmed red with panic. Blood was running down her forehead where she'd slammed into the windshield.

She pounded at the window, but she was too weak, and the glass didn't even budge.

Eli spat on the ground and let out a cold laugh. "Serves her right. Karma's a bitch. Let's get out of here she can burn for all I care. That car's gonna blow any second."

He looked at Clara, who was heading toward her own car, and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Don't tell me you're actually thinking about saving her?"

Clara just glanced at the wreck, her tone regretful. "I just hope insurance covers this. That car wasn't cheap."

Eli rolled his eyes and grabbed her wrist, pulling her toward the curb. "Come on. Just let the insurance deal with it."

Clara nodded, and once they got into a cab across the street, she called the insurance company.

Inside her car, Eden watched Clara disappear through the smoke. Suddenly, the smell of burning plastic filled the air-the car had caught fire. Eden screamed, terror overtaking her.

"Help! Please, somebody help me!"

Luckily, people on the street had seen the crash and rushed over. Both cars were a mess, twisted together. It took a group of strangers more than ten minutes to finally pull Eden out.

By then, her arms and legs were badly burned. The pain was so unbearable she passed out.

All she could think, even in the haze of agony, was how much she hated Clara.

She was going to make Clara pay, no matter what.

When Dylan got the call from the hospital, he thought he'd misheard-Eden, burned in a car accident?

He dropped his overseas meeting and had Aiden drive him straight to the hospital.

It took two hours before Eden woke up. The moment she saw Dylan at her

bedside, she broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

A doctor came in, pulling his mask down. "She's got severe burns on her hands and legs. She'll need skin grafts, but even with surgery, you should prepare yourselves-the scars won't ever fully go away."

Eden's eyes were wild and bloodshot. She was shaking all over.

"Dylan, did you hear what Clara did to me? She crashed into me, and then she just left me to die."

Dylan's face darkened. He turned to Aiden. "Find out what happened."

Aiden stepped out to make a call, and within minutes, the unbroken dashcam footage was delivered.

Eden had lied about some details, but Clara really had left her there.

Eden couldn't even lift her hand to wipe her tears. She just cried and cried, completely falling apart.

Not long after, the rest of the Ferguson family showed up. Walter himself came,

and the whole room immediately felt tense.

In front of her grandfather, Eden's tears got even more dramatic.noveldrama

"Grandpa, you have to make Clara pay. She ruined my face-she turned me into a monster. My legs, my hands... I'll never be able to show my facè again.”

Walter didn't sit, and his expression was impossible to read as he turned to Dylan.

"Dylan, what are you going to do?"

If Dylan protected Clara now, then maybe all those rumors were true-maybe he really did have feelings for her.

Dylan, sitting in his wheelchair, lowered his eyes. "Give me three days. I'll handle

it."

As soon as he said it, Eden lurched off the bed, IV still in her arm, and nearly collapsed onto the floor.

Desperate, she gripped the sheets and started banging her forehead on the tiles, leaving bloody streaks.

"Grandpa, Dylan will just side with

Clara. I don't want him to fight for me-I want you to! Dylan kept the flowers Clara gave him, put them in the nicest vase, everyone at Palm Bay told me. But the flowers gave him, he never even looked at! I've known him for years and never knew he liked camellias. He loves Clara!"

The room went dead silent.

Just then, Simon happened to walk past the door. He stopped in his tracks and let

out a quiet, icy laugh.