A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 645

She knew her grandson well. He might be rebellious and rough around the edges, but he always knew his limits and never crossed the line.

Unlike the wild heirs of other prominent families, Rex didn't touch alcohol, gambling, or women.

Let alone anything more scandalous.

Old Mr. Wilkinson suspected the kid might be exaggerating. He glanced at Laurel, and upon seeing her subtle nod, his expression instantly darkened. "Let's take this inside."

With that, he led the charge into the house.

Tristan suddenly felt a massive headache coming on. He shot a vicious glare at the instigator.

Rex looked utterly unbothered. "You should have known before you slapped me that my grandparents are still very much alive and well."

He paused briefly, turning to Old Mrs. Wilkinson and Suzanne. "I need to head to the hospital to finalize my resignation paperwork, so I won't be coming in."

Suzanne nodded solemnly. "Are you absolutely sure about this?"

"I'm sure."

Rex nodded firmly. Seeing that Old Mrs. Wilkinson still looked heartbroken, he leaned down and whispered something in her ear, causing the old woman to burst into laughter.

"Alright, alright, you little troublemaker. Get out of here!"

Only then did Rex turn and head back to his car.

Once his car had disappeared down the driveway, Old Mrs. Wilkinson turned to Suzanne. "He's still doing all this for that Foster girl, isn't he?"

"Yes."

Suzanne glanced at Laurel, a hint of worry in her eyes. "If he ends up regretting this later..."

"Mom,"

Laurel cut in calmly. "Whether he regrets it or not is entirely his own business, and it's a problem for the future. No one can predict what will happen. But the fact that he's making this decision right now proves that if he didn't, he would regret it immediately."

There was no absolute right or wrong in life.

No one had a crystal ball. All anyone could do was follow their heart in the present moment.

Suzanne sighed deeply. "I'm just afraid that if things go wrong, he'll turn around and blame the girl."

Being a doctor had been Rex's dream since he was a child. Now, just to get the family to accept his relationship with the girl, he was being forced to abandon it entirely.

When people were deeply in love, they were willing to sacrifice anything.

But what about the future?

Suzanne had lived through enough to know she had to think several steps ahead.

Laurel answered without missing a beat. "If he ever does that, I'll deal with him myself."

He had simply lost his mind in the heat of the moment.

Rex was his youngest son, the child Suzanne had risked her life to give birth to despite the severe complications.

Thinking about this, a wave of profound regret washed over him. "Mom, Dad, Suzanne. This was entirely my fault. I'll sit down and talk with Rex when I have the chance."

The Wilkinson family had never suffered from the toxic pride of elders refusing to apologize to the younger generation.

Everyone was human; everyone made mistakes. Even Old Mr. Wilkinson had issued a formal apology after setting Laurel up with a disastrous arranged marriage.

Seeing that Tristan was genuinely remorseful, Old Mr. Wilkinson didn't push further. "What's done is done. But you need to sit down and figure out if Maya is really worth alienating your own flesh and blood over. Going forward, stop letting your blind sentimentality ruin this family."

At the mention of Maya's name, Tristan seemed to space out for a second. Just as he was about to reply, Laurel's phone suddenly rang.

She glanced at the caller ID, her expression instantly hardening. She answered the call, and after listening to the person on the other end, her eyes turned dead and cold.

Jesse immediately asked, "What happened?"

"Maya is gone."

Laurel delivered the news while staring directly at Tristan. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"

That was the question.

But everyone in the room knew exactly what she was really asking: Did you orchestrate this?