A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 65

Chapter 65

It wasn’t just Marcia who was stunned.

Elissa, too, was caught off guard.

She looked up, forcing herself to stay calm as she spoke. “You either explain things to them properly, or you go with Marcia to pick up the car.

But make a choice.”

She could accept his infidelity. She could even help clear things up for

them.

But being left in the dark–she wouldn’t accept that.

If he just walked away with her like this, everyone else would assume

Marcia was Mrs. Atwater.

And what would that make her? Clearly, the “other woman” who ruined someone else’s marriage.

Frank pressed his lips into a thin line. “Elissa, listen-”

“Mr. Atwater, I have things to take care of. I’ll be going now.”

Elissa could see his hesitation and made the decision for him.

Her voice was steady, not too loud nor too soft, just enough for everyone nearby to hear clearly.

By calling him “Mr. Atwater,” she drew a clear line between them.

The sales director, ever the smooth operator, smiled at Frank and said, “Oh, Mr. Atwater, so this lady’s a friend of yours! If you’d let me know, I’d have offered you a better deal.”

“…Right.”

The moment Frank replied, Elissa shut the car door and drove off without looking back.

Marcia slipped her arm through Frank’s and beamed. “For a second there,

I thought you’d forgotten we were supposed to take a stroll through,

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Chapter 65

Cresthaven after picking up the car.”

Only now did Frank tear his gaze away from the direction Elissa had disappeared.

“I didn’t forget.”

But his voice sounded much colder.

Marcia noticed and jostled his arm playfully. “That’s where we first met, you know. Why are you so distracted?”

At an intersection, Elissa eased her foot onto the brake as the light turned red. Just then, a WhatsApp message from Frank popped up.

She didn’t even bother opening it. Instead, she answered the incoming

call.

“Professor.”

Aaron’s deep, warm voice came through. “Elissa, I wanted to ask your opinion about something.”

She was puzzled. “Of course, go ahead.”

“Do you remember last time your brother… Rowan came by the house?”

Aaron spoke a bit too quickly and was nudged by Jacqueline beside him. He cleared his throat and continued, “He’s got a cancer drug research project in the works, and he needs a team with expertise in traditional medicine.”

“I was going to have Cliff and his team handle it and not trouble you, but Jacqueline thinks we should ask if you’re interested.”

The light turned green.

Elissa pressed gently on the gas and answered without hesitation, “Professor, I’d like to be involved.”

She’d chosen medicine to save lives, after all.

There were more patients than she could ever see in a clinic, no matter

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how many hours she worked.

And these were cancer patients…

Murphy Group owned the most advanced labs in the country, staffed with top minds in the field.

Working with them–for the sake of the cause–Elissa had no reason to hesitate.

On a personal level, she wasn’t about to let her private life interfere with something so important.

Aaron sounded surprised. “You don’t want to think it over? If you join the project, you’ll have to go to Murphy Group often, and that means you’ll probably run into Rowan…”

“I’ve thought it through, Professor.”

Elissa cut in with a smile, reassuring him instead. “You don’t have to worry. Murphy Group is huge. It’s not like I’ll run into Rowan every single time I’m there.”

Aaron chuckled. “That’s true. It’s a fantastic project, and if you’re sure, I’m glad.”

He couldn’t help but start planning ahead for her. “Once this drug is developed, your reputation will be impossible to hide. By then, even Matriarch Paige Murphy won’t be able to stand in your way.”

As a core member of the cancer drug development team, Elissa would have real influence.

After this, even Matriarch Paige Murphy would have to think twice before trying to make trouble for her.

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