A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 480

She looked incredibly sincere.

Unfortunately, even if Marcia truly had turned over a new leaf, Elissa wouldn't believe a single word that came out of her mouth.

Elissa glanced down at the bowl, making no move to take it. Out of respect for Suzanne, she kept her words civil. "I'm in a hurry, so I'll pass."

She then turned to Suzanne. "Suzanne, I'll be going now. You don't need to see me out."

With that, she turned and strode briskly toward the door.

Marcia narrowed her eyes, masking her seething fury, and turned to Suzanne with a meek expression. "Mom, I'll walk Elissa out for you. It'll give me a chance to properly apologize to her again."

"Go ahead."

Suzanne didn't want to push her too hard, either.

Besides, there was only a floor-to-ceiling glass window separating the living room from the yard. Marcia wouldn't dare try anything right under her nose.

Just as Elissa was about to step out of the yard, Marcia caught up and called out to her.

Elissa had planned to ignore her, but then Marcia asked, "Whose child is in your belly?"

Hearing this, Elissa didn't panic in the slightest. Instead, she laughed.

She turned around, completely ignoring the question, and smiled. "You don't even know who the father of the child in your own belly is, yet you have the free time to worry about mine?"

"The baby I'm carrying is Frank's!"

Marcia snapped defensively, then shot a warning glare at Elissa's stomach. "I don't care whose bastard you're carrying, but don't even think you can use it to marry back into the Atwater family."

In those few short minutes, Marcia had reasoned it out.

The bastard Elissa was carrying likely had nothing to do with Rowan. Or, perhaps, Rowan outright refused to acknowledge her or the child.

Otherwise, he would have married her and announced it to the world by now.

He wouldn't have let her get this far along in her pregnancy while the baby remained fatherless.

Realizing this, Marcia felt a wave of relief. To think she had actually been worried Elissa could use the baby to elevate her status.

Now that she thought about it, Rowan was clearly just playing with her!

He had no intention of marrying her!

Elissa almost laughed out loud. "Are you done?"

Her utterly dismissive attitude caught Marcia off guard. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Elissa, I am the fifth lady of the Wilkinson family now. If you push me too far, it won't end well for you."

Marcia lowered her voice into a vicious threat. "And it won't end well for those mentors of yours who care so much about you, either!"

Elissa had been entirely unfazed by everything else.

But at that last sentence, her eyes turned to ice. "You were the one who leaked my mentors' address?"

Logically, ordinary internet trolls wouldn't have been able to dig up her mentors' private address so easily.

Yet, somehow, it had been exposed the very same day.

"Otherwise, it might severely impact your precious status in the family."

With that, Elissa adjusted her bag and walked out of the yard without looking back.

Marcia was left standing there alone, practically stomping her feet in rage, yet completely unable to show any of her fury while under Suzanne's watchful gaze.

She was so angry she thought she might literally explode.

What Elissa hadn't expected was that immediately after shaking off Marcia and stepping out of the gates, she would find her car boxed in by two luxury vehicles.

Sensing something was wrong, she approached cautiously. A man in a black bodyguard suit stepped out of one of the cars and walked up to her. "Dr. Drummond, Mr. Cross would like to see you."

Elissa frowned slightly. "See me?"

Before she could say anything else, the window of the backseat rolled down. Sean Cross gave her a brief nod. "Dr. Drummond, I apologize. This is incredibly abrupt of me, and I hope you won't take offense."

Assuming he was here for a consultation, Elissa replied, "It's fine, but outside of my hours at the clinic, I really don't have the time to—"

"You misunderstand. That is not why I am here."

Sean offered a polite smile. His weathered eyes locked onto hers, studying her intently for a long moment before he spoke.

"I came to ask you about your background."

Elissa slowly took a half-step back, her guard instantly up. "What do you mean?"

"You aren't the biological daughter of the parents who raised you, are you?"