A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 207

At those words, Matriarch Paige Murphy fixed her with a long, steady gaze before speaking with her usual calm.

“Well then, I’m curious—how exactly do you plan to help me?”

“Elissa’s involved in that cancer drug research project at the Murphy Group, you’re aware of that, aren’t you?”

Seeing that Matriarch Paige Murphy’s expression didn’t change, Marcia continued, “Once that project succeeds, the Murphy family won’t be able to control her so easily.”

If Elissa became a lead researcher on a major national project, her influence would skyrocket—far beyond what it was now.

Even with all their power, the Murphy family would make waves if they tried to touch her then.

Matriarch Paige Murphy scoffed, “She doesn’t have the ability to pull that off.”

She’d watched Elissa grow up right under her nose.

The only thing remotely remarkable about her was her grades, but every year, thousands of students graduated from Vistapeak University—barely one in a thousand ever made a real name for themselves.

Elissa, of all people, certainly wasn’t going to be the exception. She’d made sure to keep her tightly under control from the very start, cutting off every opportunity.

She was never meant to shine.

The only reason she’d gotten into that project was probably Rowan’s lingering sentimentality—letting her pad her resume, not because anyone truly expected her to achieve anything.

Marcia knew the odds of Elissa making any real breakthrough were slim.

But she pressed on, “But what if she does? With me there, I can make sure she never finishes that research. And even if she does, it won’t be her name on the results.”

“Oh?”

Matriarch Paige Murphy didn’t seem surprised. She took an unhurried sip of tea. “And how do you plan to manage that?”

Marcia gave a small smile. “I’ll need a bit of help from you.”

Their conversation finished, Butler Murphy escorted Marcia out of the sitting room. When he returned, he hesitated before voicing his worry. “Ma’am, why not just finish this for good? Why agree to her plan at all?”

No one in the Murphy family, save for the Matriarch herself, knew the real reason Elissa had been adopted all those years ago.

Tanya was drying her hair when Elissa barged in, and she couldn’t help but laugh. “What could it be? We’re exes.”

“…What?”

Elissa froze, thunderstruck. “Exes? You two actually dated?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Tanya set the hairdryer aside, her face unreadable. “Back in college. We were together for three months.”

A brief three months—so short that most people wouldn’t have bothered to mention it.

But those three months had been enough for Tanya to learn, painfully, that there was a mountain dividing people from different worlds.

No matter how hard she tried, someone like Rex was always out of reach.

“No wonder I never picked up on it.”