A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 650

When Tanya finally left, Asher walked her downstairs.

Before he could even get a word out, Tanya pointed firmly at her car. "You should head back up."

"Hold on a second."

Asher called out, stopping her in her tracks. He took a slow step closer, carefully phrasing his next sentence. "About what my mom said earlier..."

"We are friends."

Tanya's lips curved into a completely unfazed, dismissive smile. "Look, sometimes the older generation just throws stuff out there as a joke. I'm not going to take it seriously, and I'm definitely not going to let it ruin the incredible friendship we've built over the years."

Her response was absolutely airtight.

And it completely shut down any possibility of Asher pushing the issue further.

The underlying message was brutally clear.

If an elder brought it up, she would brush it off as a harmless joke, and they could remain best friends. But if he tried to bring it up, their friendship was officially over.

Listening to her, Asher's lips slowly pressed into a hard line. After a moment, he spoke, his tone hovering between a tentative probe and a bitter joke. "Don't tell me the great Lawyer Foster is still hung up on that one guy?"

He didn't explicitly say who he was referring to.

But both he and Tanya knew exactly who it was.

Tanya didn't bother playing dumb. She let out a dry chuckle. "What guy? Rex? He and I are from completely different worlds."

As night fell, a bitter, biting wind swept through the courtyard.

Around the corner behind them, a feral cat that had clearly just lost a brutal fight tore off into the distance, hissing aggressively in defeat.

Tanya paused for a second before continuing, her voice incredibly calm. "For me to commit to a relationship, there has to be true love, and we have to be on exactly the same social footing. I won't settle for one without the other."

It was that simple. In one breath, she ruthlessly shut down any possibility with Rex, while simultaneously completely rejecting Asher.

With Rex, the social standing was impossible.

With Asher, there was absolutely zero romantic love—only the purest form of friendship.

Hearing this, Asher didn't look remotely disappointed. If anything, he let out a massive sigh of relief. "Got it."

As long as it wasn't because of Rex.

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