A Caged Songbird's Escape: Into the Arms of a Predator novel Chapter 516

Hearing this, Rowan calmly placed a piece of BBQ ribs on her plate.

"Everything you need is already here. Toiletries, clothes, all brand new. After dinner, you can go upstairs and see if you're missing anything. I'll have someone pick it up if you are."

"?"

Elissa froze. "You have everything here?"

There wasn't a single young woman living at Rivercross Residence.

Why would they have her daily necessities and clothes fully stocked?

"Yeah," Rowan replied smoothly. "Ever since you came back that one time, your daily necessities have been stocked here."

He didn't specify who had stocked them, or who gave the order.

But without his permission, no one would have dared.

It took Elissa a second to process the underlying meaning of his words.

He was saying that ever since the day she came to return his suit coat, he had been fully prepared for her to move back in at a moment's notice.

A wave of warmth flooded Elissa's chest. She didn't decline. "Okay, then."

She didn't say thank you.

She just wasn't used to saying thank you to him.

"..."

Watching Rowan execute this multi-layered masterclass in manipulation, Rex suddenly lost all his disgust and replaced it with sheer awe.

The man had laid out a trap within a trap.

And he had somehow managed to make Elissa feel genuinely touched by it.

He was a role model for them all.

After dinner, Rowan took Elissa upstairs to check if she was missing anything.

Elissa didn't make a fuss about it. Since she had promised Mrs. Garrett she would stay for a few days, it was best to figure out what she needed early on.

Rowan led her to a room on the right side of the second-floor landing.

She remembered clearly that Rowan's study was right next door.

It was a spacious suite, but the aesthetic was completely different from the rest of Rivercross Residence.

"Hehe."

Ian had been by his side for years; he knew exactly how to read his tone. He chuckled, "I'm just thrilled that Miss Elissa is back home!"

With that, he dashed off down the hall.

Thinking of Max, Elissa pushed aside Ian's revelations for a moment and looked up at Rowan. "By the way, where's Max? Why haven't I seen him?"

Hadn't he mentioned before that Max was brought to Rivercross to be taken care of?

Ian glanced at his watch. "Evan took him to get a bath. They should be back soon."

He nudged her forward. "Go on, see if you're missing anything."

"Oh, right."

As long as someone didn't push Elissa past her breaking point, she was usually incredibly soft and compliant, just as she was right now.

She realized that it wasn't just the items and the aesthetic that were the same.

Even the layout was identical to her old bedroom.

She felt as though she had stepped right back into the room she had lived in for nine years. She walked into the bathroom with practiced ease and found every type of toiletry fully stocked.