A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 453

This wasn't the first time she had brought it up, nor was it the first time it made Rowan's mind go blank.

He had planned, so many times, to tell her exactly why he'd left. But now, with her asking so clearly, looking at him with those glistening, watery eyes, he found himself at a loss for words.

It would sound too arrogant, too self-important.

Elissa stared at him, her long fingers slowly rising, moving toward the spot on his chest where she knew he'd been shot. Her throat felt tight.

The thought had flashed through her mind the first time she learned of his injury, but Rowan's attitude had made her afraid to believe it. It felt like wishful thinking, something delusional.

Besides, if that were the reason, why hadn't he told her? Why not sooner? He could have told her at any time. She wouldn't have been afraid. As long as she was with him, as long as he didn't abandon her, she could have faced anything.

As the words formed on her lips, her confidence wavered. But then she remembered what Suzanne Jensen had told her, and the impulse became too strong to resist.

That was right. The worst-case scenario was what she was already living. The most he could do was laugh at her for flattering herself.

The car sped on, shadows from the trees dappling his sharp features. Elissa’s fingertips rested over his old wound. Her eyes met his as she finally voiced the question that had been buried in her heart for years.

"Was it to protect me? All those years ago?"

Her voice was a whisper, so light that the uncertainty in it was unmistakable.

"Rowan, was it really to protect me?"

He couldn't tell what she was uncertain about. Did she find the reason absurdly laughable, or was it something else?

For a rare moment, the man was flustered. His Adam's apple bobbed, his voice raspy. "Who told you?"

He hadn't answered directly, but Elissa had her answer.

Rowan had smirked. "You chose it? You like Frank?"

That smirk had pierced right through her defensive heart.

Without thinking, she'd blurted out, "Of course I like him! I'm crazy about him!"

Rowan's face had turned cold, and he'd refused to accept it. She remembered his last words to her.

"Little Nine, if you just want to get married, your brother can…"

She had assumed he was going to offer to arrange a marriage for her with someone else. Before he could finish, she'd forced the door open and jumped out of the moving car.

She refused to let a man who hadn't cared about her for five years control her marriage. Marrying Frank was her way of proving she still had some freedom left.