A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 668

Despite his words, Rex patiently waited outside the suite for a long time. Eventually, Jesse received a work call and had to rush back to the corporate headquarters, leaving Rex alone.

It was only after the swarm of visiting relatives and friends had finally dispersed that Rex casually strolled into the room.

Laurel was sitting by the bed, expertly peeling an apple. Old Mr. Wilkinson was lying against the pillows, his complexion looking far from healthy. Even seeing his favorite grandson walk in didn't bring a smile to his face.

Rex shot Laurel a questioning look, but she completely ignored him. Her focus was entirely on the fruit knife, steadily shaving a long, unbroken ribbon of apple peel that dropped directly into the trash can.

Clearly, she was in a foul mood too.

Rex sauntered over to the bed and flashed a wide grin. "What's going on here? Who had the nerve to piss you off?"

Old Mr. Wilkinson's expression was grim. "You really don't know who pissed me off?"

Honestly, Rex really hadn't known.

But the moment the old man asked the question, it all clicked into place.

The smile vanished from his face, replaced by a deliberately dense look. "Someone must have said something you didn't want to hear, huh? Who was it? Tell me, I'll go handle them right now."

"If your mother hadn't done what she did, would anyone have had the chance to run their mouths in the first place?"

Old Mr. Wilkinson's expression turned somber. His blazing dissatisfaction with Suzanne was completely out in the open.

Last night at Zephyr Manor, every single member of the household staff had been hired and managed by Laurel. Their loyalty to Suzanne far outweighed their loyalty to him. If it wasn't for that, there was absolutely no way he would have allowed himself to be paraded into the hospital with such dramatic fanfare.

Yes, he wanted to drag Tristan out back and beat him senseless for what he had done. But at the end of the day, dirty laundry shouldn't be aired in public. No matter how spectacularly Tristan had screwed up, the family's reputation had to be protected.

When he first stripped Tristan of his corporate positions, the official PR statement claimed that Tristan was a devoted husband who wanted to step back from the company to care for his wife during a critical phase of her physical therapy.

He never expected Suzanne's ruthless maneuvering to burn that perfect narrative to the ground.

From the moment the sun came up today, the Wilkinson family's phones hadn't stopped ringing.

Old Mr. Wilkinson was completely silenced by the brutal truth. He let out a heavy sigh and shot a desperate look at Laurel. "Are you just going to sit there and let him talk to me like this?!"

Hearing her name, Laurel finally looked up. She carefully sliced the peeled apple into neat, bite-sized cubes, pierced one with a small fork, and offered it to her grandfather. "The doctor said you need a light diet and fresh fruit."

She then took a wet wipe from the maid standing behind her, meticulously cleaned her hands, and calmly met the old man's furious glare.

"Rex didn't say anything wrong. How exactly am I supposed to discipline him?"

"Grandpa," Laurel said, her tone softening slightly. "My mom wanting to protect Vera, and you wanting to protect your son... fundamentally, it's the exact same thing. She didn't do anything wrong. You..."

She paused right before finishing her sentence.

Old Mr. Wilkinson stared at her. "Are you trying to say that I'm the one who's wrong?"

"You are the head of this family. I wouldn't dare," Laurel replied calmly, tossing the used wet wipe into the trash can. "But I do think you're being entirely unfair."