A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 415

After he left, Elissa found she had no more words. She simply sat by the tombstone, quietly looking at her parents’ names. After a long time, she finally stood, her legs numb and tingling as if being swarmed by ants.

She walked slowly toward the entrance, reluctant to leave. On her way, she passed a group of people heading up the path.

“Elissa?” one of them called out, her eyes widening in recognition. She glanced in the direction Elissa had come from and then hurried to catch up. “You are Elissa, aren’t you?”

Elissa stopped and turned to face the woman, who seemed more like a stranger than family. Her aunt. After her parents had died, this was the only relative she had left, but her aunt had been unwilling to take her in. That was why she had ended up in an orphanage. Elissa understood, though. No one wanted to take on the burden of an outsider.

Mariana Drummond looked more closely at her face and became certain. “You’re here to see my brother and sister-in-law again?”

Elissa nodded and managed a quiet, “Aunt Mariana.” She had run into her a couple of times on previous visits.

Mariana noticed her swollen, red-rimmed eyes and sighed. “I saw on the news about the drug you developed. That’s very impressive.”

Elissa murmured a soft, “Thank you.” The unfamiliarity between them made conversation difficult.

“You’ve become so successful…” Mariana began, her words hesitant, her expression pained. “Actually…”

Elissa frowned. “What is it?”

As the story concluded, the sun beat down, but Elissa felt as if she had been plunged into an icy abyss. Mariana was long gone, but Elissa remained rooted to the spot, her aunt’s words ringing in her ears.

Her name, her identity, her parents—none of it was hers.

So who was she?

She had been rescued from traffickers. Her birth parents…

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