Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Rumors swirled for weeks that the mall was haunted.

Henry, always the schemer, saw trouble coming a mile away. Before anyone could stop him, he swept all his money overseas and started living it up abroad, not a care in the world.

That winter was the coldest anyone could remember.

Because of Henry's shady real estate deals, a lot of construction workers went unpaid for years. Some of them, desperate and unable to feed their families, ended it all by jumping off the department store's roof with their loved ones. The city never forgot.

And as if that wasn't enough, Henry kept flaunting his life online from overseas. Even at sixty, he was still posting all sorts of outrageous things, so his name stayed infamous-everyone on the internet knew exactly who he was.

Eden was the unlucky orphan left behind. Her mother, naive and young, died in a fire not long after Eden was born. Her father-heartless Henry-ran off without a backward glance.

No one really understood why Dylan brought Eden home, but one thing was clear: her life changed for the better after that.

But now, with Eden's past tied to the corrupt official who destroyed so many lives twenty years ago, her reputation was suddenly in ruins.

The Capital's group chat went wild.

"My family still talks about Henry," someone messaged. "That winter, they said you could see people lined up outside the old mall, all of them desperate enough to jump."

"He didn't just stiff his workers," another said. "People bought homes from him and never got them. They were stuck with loans for houses that didn't exist. Some even starved."

"Henry's name should go down in history as a disgrace-no matter how many years pass."

"But Eden's mom was a victim, too. She was top of her class, thought she'd found true love, and ended up burned alive. Even her baby was tossed out like garbage."

"Eden's so lucky, huh?"noveldrama

"Lucky? Seriously? You know who leaked this story? Her life will probably turn out even worse than her mom's."

The gossip didn't stay private for long. Soon, everyone online was talking about it. Henry's name shot up the trending searches, and people started retelling the horror of that bleak winter twenty years ago.

The online outrage grew louder. Everyone demanded that Eden-the last of Henry's bloodline-leave the country.

"People like her aren't welcome in Country Z," they said.

Even the Ferguson family was dragged into the mess. People questioned why they'd take Eden in and give her such a privileged life. No matter how tragic her mother's story was, they insisted, Eden's blood was tainted from the start.

"She should just get out of Country Z!"

Meanwhile, Eden lay in her hospital bed, hands and legs bandaged and useless. She couldn't even hold her phone, so she had no idea what was happening online. But she could feel it-every day, the nurses and doctors who changed her dressings treated her with more and more disdain.

Today, two nurses came in. One of them pressed down-hard-on her wound, making her wince in pain.

Eden was furious. She straightened up and channeled every bit of her "rich girl" attitude.

"Did you just do that on purpose? Do you know who I am? If I tell Dylan about this, you and your whole family will regret it!"