Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run novel Chapter 43

Ryan sat in the cozy Bradford family mansion, phone in hand, feeling a bit off. He thought Clara would be back soon, but three days had passed without a word from her. Normally, she’d be back in a couple of days, armed with his favorite gifts to smooth things over.

Ryan didn’t have the highest opinion of Clara—she seemed to know little beyond chasing after men—but he couldn’t deny she was a fantastic cook who always catered to his whims. After all these years, he developed a slither of affection by now.

Just after logging out of his game, he caught wind that Quinn was live streaming. Intrigued, he tuned in and found her in a face-off with Clara.

With a sigh of relief, Ryan assumed Clara was still upset about Quinn swiping Simon, but that didn’t mean she should take it out on him. She still hadn’t shown up to cook for him.

In a fit of mischief, he sent ten virtual gifts to Quinn and stayed glued to her stream, deliberately ignoring Clara's. He was certain Clara would recognize his gesture.

However, Clara maintained her composure, steadily answering questions from the viewers.

"I don’t know the person sending those gifts, and it’s got nothing to do with me. Let’s focus on my apples," she calmly stated.

Ryan was fuming at her indifference. In a huff, he sent dozens more gifts, nearly burning through a million dollars.

His antics drew a crowd to Quinn's stream. The platform highlighted big spenders like him, naturally drawing more eyes to Quinn’s channel.

[Quinn, don’t overdo it. Helping farmers is great, but we’re not exactly strapped for cash,] Ryan commented.

Quinn’s eyes sparkled with gratitude. "Thanks for looking out, Ryan. I’m not short on money, but helping others makes me happy."

Viewers saw their interaction and realized Quinn wasn’t putting on a show; she was genuinely a wealthy heiress.

But what was going on between her and that other streamer?

As Quinn and Ryan played up their sibling bond, Clara kept pushing her apple sales. Her cool demeanor irked Ryan. He wanted to check out Clara’s stream but felt it would look like admitting defeat.