Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Dylan walked over and sat down on a stone bench about ten steps ahead. On the table in front of him were fresh fruit, pastries, and a laptop.

He'd actually taken the higher-ups' advice to heart: spend more time with people.

He opened his laptop and started working, making it pretty obvious he wasn't planning on going out today.

Clara waited there for ten minutes, but after a while, her annoyance just fizzled out. She finally just turned around and headed into the main hall.

For the next three days, Dylan didn't leave the house-not for work, not for anything.

Every morning, Clara would get up early and wait downstairs, but no matter where she looked, she'd always find him working somewhere new: sometimes at the coffee table, sometimes by the window. Never once did he go into his own study.

It started to get to her. She couldn't help but quietly pull Aiden aside.

"Aiden, it's the start of the year, right? Shouldn't this be the busiest time at the company? Why hasn't Mr. Dylan set foot in the office?"

Aiden glanced down at her hand on his arm and quickly pulled away. “Ma'am, if you have any questions, you should probably ask the boss yourself."

Clara stood there for a second, realizing that ever since she'd become "Mrs.,❞ Aiden's attitude had completely flipped. He used to let his dislike show every now and then, but now he was nothing but respectful-wouldn't even call her Ms. Clara anymore.

She hadn't been in contact with the outside world for over a week, totally unaware that someone had messed with her social media status. She still thought there must be tons of people looking for her.

Especially Z. With his personality, he was probably going crazy trying to track her down.noveldrama

What she didn't know was that, right then, Simon had shown up outside Palm Bay, calling her name over and over.

"Clara! Clara!"

Simon searched for three days straight, but couldn't find a trace of her. In the end, the only thing that made sense was that Dylan had locked her up.

In his eyes, nothing Dylan did was off the table. That whole calm-and-collected act? Total façade. Dylan never hesitated to be ruthless with his own family-why would he treat Clara any better? He'd do whatever it took to get what he wanted. Simon yelled himself hoarse for more than ten minutes, but the gates were way too far from the main house. Clara couldn't hear a thing.

The security guard passed the news along to Dylan. When Dylan got the call, his eyes flashed with something cold and unreadable.

*

At three in the morning, Michael

jerked awake, heart pounding, onty to realize he was tied up tight. He almost screamed-until he saw who was sitting across from him in a wheelchair.

"Dylan, what the hell are you doing?!"

Showing up at his place in the middle of the night, tying him up was Dylan trying to start a war?

Sure, he'd made things tough for Dylan before back at the old house, but when Dylan had publicly pinned the blame on him, hadn't he just sucked it up in the end?

Michael's face turned red with anger as he struggled against the ropes.

"Don't you think you're going a little too far? You dumped Yvette on me back then, then made me take the fall the other day. I only complained theo a little-now you show up at my house?"

Michael had always wished Dylan would hit a wall, but after watching him climb higher year after year, he just didn't have the fight left in him.

Now, sitting there in nothing but his boxers and a half-on pajama top, he realized

just how deeply he must have been asleep to let anyone tie him up like this.

Dylan twirled a knife between his fingers, casually letting the blade graze his thumb.

"Big brother, you've been slacking off. Looks like you haven't been keeping an eye on your son."

Simon was Michael's only son. If something happened to Simon, their whole family would be done for.

Michael might have been reckless, but growing up as a Ferguson, he immediately understood the threat in Dylan's words.

He scrambled to his feet, panic written all over his face.

"Simon's your nephew! If you touch him, Walter won't let it slide. Dylan, I know you don't care about the

Fergusons, but if the family real/net

goes down, how could you face Mom? She nearly gave her life for you back then!"