Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run novel Chapter 858

Clara didn’t even glance at Michael; all she could see was Dylan.

“Dylan, let’s go home,” she said softly.

But he stayed where he was, unmoving. After a long, tense pause, he finally pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. “I have something important I need to take care of,” he murmured.

She pulled back just enough to look him in the eye. “What could possibly be more important than me? Didn’t I tell you to stop running yourself into the ground? Whatever your dad did, just leave it alone for now. Take a month off, please.”

He didn’t answer. He just pressed his face into her neck, his whole body radiating exhaustion and hurt.

She could feel how shaken he was.

“Dylan—”

“Clara, I’m not lying to you. You and he... you’re both important to me. I have to do this. I need to find my father.”

He let her go, taking a few steps away before turning back. “You want your memories back, right? Maybe if you visit your father’s old house again, something will come back to you. Clara, I’ll come back as soon as I find him.”

She didn’t argue. She could see how desperate he was, how hard he was trying to hold himself together.

He almost never got like this, and she wasn’t about to leave him alone in that headspace.

“Okay. I’ll wait for you. I’ll go check out that place in the meantime. You have things you need to do. Just promise me—text me every day so I know you’re okay, and I’ll do the same. Let’s not make each other wait in silence, deal?”

“Deal…”

He barely got the word out before he turned and left.

Clara looked over at the rest of the Ferguson family. After all these years of Dylan protecting them, not a single one had ever stood up for him. Ungrateful didn’t even begin to cover it.

She didn’t know exactly what the old man had done, but if it had pushed Dylan this far, the blame was obvious.

She headed out, got in her car, and drove straight toward Johnny’s old house.

The old doctor had passed away a while ago. Ryan had searched the place for clues not long ago, but came up empty. Still, if Dylan said there was something there, she believed him.

Hours later, Clara pulled up outside the cottage. The place was quiet, almost too quiet.

She walked around to the backyard. Ryan had mentioned the doctor was buried here, and sure enough, there was a small mound tucked away in the grass.

She knelt beside it, brushing aside the blades of green that had sprung up with the spring. The last time she’d been here, snow had blanketed everything.

Clara sat on the back steps, staring into space. Suddenly, she got why Dylan wanted her to come here.

The memories tied to this place were soft, peaceful, easy.

Whenever she’d visited, it was just picking herbs or chatting to the little grave. Nothing heavy, nothing painful.

So, after just a few hours here, those gentle memories started flooding in.

But how had Dylan known?

She stared down at a lone blade of grass by her feet.

People always said she and Dylan were never close, but he seemed to understand her better than anyone.

There was only one explanation—he’d been watching over her for a long, long time.

She took a shaky breath, her heart aching, the feeling bittersweet and impossible to ignore.