A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 484

"I believe so." Ian thought for a second and replied with certainty, "Yes, I even had someone pull the case files. It was officially ruled an accident."

Thinking of something, Rowan gave a solemn order. "Send someone to Cresthaven again. Dig into this thoroughly."

"Are you suspecting..." Ian caught on immediately. "Understood. I'll get someone on it right away."

"Oh, right," Ian nearly forgot another crucial matter. "Tonight, Matriarch Paige Murphy went to a villa in the western suburbs. She only took Butler Murphy. Didn't even bring a driver."

After keeping an eye on her for so long, this was the first time Paige Jensen had made a move since Orion Stone's release from prison.

Rowan scoffed. "She went to see Orion?"

"We're not sure yet." Ian explained, "Right after she left, a middle-aged man in his fifties walked out of the villa. But his anti-surveillance skills were top-notch. He drove a car with cloned plates and switched vehicles halfway through to shake us."

Rowan's expression darkened. "In his fifties?"

Orion Stone wasn't that young.

"Yeah," Ian was equally baffled. "And there's absolutely no record of this guy in Vistapeak City. Tonight was the first time he's ever appeared on the city's surveillance network. Considering how advanced our systems are..."

"You got played," Rowan stated bluntly, his eyes turning even colder. "That man was almost certainly Orion Stone."

Ian was shocked. "It was Orion?"

But the age and physical appearance didn't match at all.

Just as he asked, Ian realized it. "You mean... he was in disguise?"

Exactly.

A disguise!

Why hadn't he thought of that?

There were two highly renowned disguise masters in the country. One worked for the police, the other operated in the underground, charging exorbitant fees. Both could rapidly alter a person's appearance, effectively confusing their apparent age.

No wonder.

No wonder she had suddenly started avoiding him like the plague.

It turned out his dear grandmother had orchestrated a murder just for her first love.

Everything clicked into place.

The conversation had happened so abruptly that Elissa couldn't bring herself to ask any of the questions she had prepared.

She didn't know how to ask him, "So, Rowan, if I take revenge for my parents, will you hate me?"

Seeing that she was about to leave, Rowan grabbed her wrist. He licked his dry lips, searching for the right words.

With no movement in the hallway, the motion-sensor lights flicked off, leaving only the pale moonlight spilling through the window.

Elissa tilted her head up to look at him, offering a faint smile. "What's so hard to say? Are you going to tell me you're not actually a member of the Murphy family?"