Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run novel Chapter 863

Charles looked at Grayson and shook his head, exasperated. “You should just go home. Your family wants you to toughen up, not get yourself killed. I’m sure they’ve got people watching your back anyway. But if you go in there, you might not make it out alive.”

“Come on, man, you’ll protect me, right?” Grayson latched onto Charles’s arm, looking up at him like he was some kind of hero. “Please?”

Charles yanked his arm free without a second thought.

When Clara clung to him like that, he actually felt kind of proud. But Grayson? That just gave him the creeps.

Charles didn’t hesitate—he gave Grayson a swift kick right in the ass. “Get lost! If you get into trouble, don’t expect me to save you.”

Grayson rubbed his backside, looking absolutely stunned. “Why are you willing to take her, then?”

“She’s tougher than you.”

Grayson just stood there, still massaging his bruised pride, lost for words. He’d seen Clara back in the rainforest—she was wild, and he knew enough not to mess with her.

Clara and Charles made their way to the front of the group. The men in charge of picking test subjects lit up when they saw them and nodded in approval.

They climbed into a battered SUV nearby. Inside, the smell hit them like a wall. Four or five strangers were already crammed in, all from different countries, completely unfamiliar with each other.

Once all ten seats were filled, the engine rumbled to life.

Charles glanced at Clara, worried she might be bothered by the awful smell, but she just found herself a small corner, sat down quietly, and waited.

Three hours later, the car finally started winding up the mountain roads.

Security was no joke here. There was a checkpoint every hundred meters, and the guards were thorough. They barked orders in the local dialect—a weird blend of English and something else—making it nearly impossible to follow.

Clara got out with the others and stared at the massive factory looming ahead. It looked more like a fortress, with hundreds of armed guards patrolling the grounds.

The ten of them were herded through a strict security check, forced to empty their pockets and leave everything behind. Then, they were split up for medical exams.

The rooms for men and women were close together. A tiny girl, maybe ten or eleven years old, stuck to Clara like glue. She spoke perfect Chinese, and her eyes were wide with wonder. From the moment they stepped inside, she couldn’t stop marveling at how fancy everything was.

“The capital is a dump,” she whispered in awe. “But this place? It’s like something from TV.”

When it was time for Clara’s checkup, the little girl grabbed her arm. “Let me go first! Please, let me go first!”

Clara stepped aside. No point arguing with a kid.

They were the only women in the group. The eight men finished their exams quickly, but the little girl still hadn’t come out.

Clara was about to go check on her when the girl finally stumbled out. Her face was ghostly pale, all the excitement gone, replaced by pure fear.

Clara crouched down, about to ask what happened, but the girl flinched away.

The man staggered back, face white as a sheet.

“You—you dare fight back?! Fine! Guards! Someone get in here, this one’s causing trouble!”

A handful of armed guards stormed in, the man frantically pointing at Clara and yelling in his language.

They grabbed her and dragged her out.

Clara eyed their guns, already planning how to snatch one.

She pushed the bodies over the cliff and headed back. This disguise would make it way easier to move around.

The cliff was so deep, you couldn’t see the bottom. From the looks of it, this was where they dumped the bodies.

Who knew how many corpses had piled up down there over the years?