Novels by Shollybright

The note trembled between Bianca’s fingers long after dawn stained the sky pale gold.He isn’t the only one watching.She turned the words over and over in her mind, the edges of the paper crumpling as if her grip could strangle meaning out of it. Who had written it? A friend? A trap? Another jailer hidden behind masks and shadows?By the time noon passed, Bianca could no longer breathe inside the velvet prison of the Romano estate. The walls pressed too close, the windows gleamed like false promises, and the cameras always blinked their unblinking red eyes.So when the maid slipped out after bringing lunch, Bianca acted. She stole down a side corridor she’d memorized during her forced tour of the villa, slid through a heavy door, and found herself outside.The air was cool, sharp, and tasted of freedom.The garden welcomed her with dew-damp hedges and winding stone paths. It was a labyrinth, each turn offering both sanctuary and threat. She trailed her hand along the greenery, lettin

“Try it on. He’ll want you perfectly.”The words dripped from Lucia Barone’s lips like venom wrapped in silk. She stood in Bianca’s doorway with a garment bag draped over one arm, her perfectly lacquered nails tapping the fabric as if daring Bianca to refuse.Bianca’s eyes flicked to the bag. A faint shimmer of silver spilled through the zipper. She didn’t move. “Another costume?” she asked, her voice laced with exhaustion.Lucia’s painted smile widened. “Not a costume. A crown in silk. You’ll wear it tonight. There’s a ball, a masquerade. Matteo insists you be seen.”Bianca let out a humorless laugh. “Paraded, you mean.”Lucia’s eyes glinted, dark amusement dancing there. “Paraded, Displayed, Chosen. Use whichever word you like. But make no mistake, you’re his. Tonight, the world sees it too.”She dropped the bag onto the bed with a careless toss. Bianca unzipped it and drew out the gown a waterfall of midnight satin, cut low, the bodice jeweled with black stones that shimmered like

Bianca’s pulse hammered in her ears. She wanted to scream that she knew nothing, that her father had kept his secrets locked tighter than his safes. But another part of her, the part that had survived betrayal, auction, and gilded prison, whispered something different.If he needs answers, then he needs you alive.The fire in her veins roared higher. She straightened, her voice trembling but defiant.“What deal?” she asked, forcing each word past the knot in her throat.For the first time since she’d been dragged into his world, Matteo smiled. It wasn’t kind. It wasn’t cruel. It was the smile of a man who had just confirmed that the game had only begun.Without another word, he turned and left, the door closing softly behind him.Bianca sank to the edge of her bed, her fingers curling into the mattress where the shard lay hidden.The cage around her had barbed wires now, but so did she.And for the first time since this nightmare began, she felt something other than despair.She felt

The car rolled through towering gates of wrought iron, their black sheen catching the faintest shimmer of moonlight. Bianca pressed her palm to the tinted window, her breath fogging the glass as she strained for glimpses of the world beyond. A world she had been torn from in one violent instant.The Romano estate loomed like a fortress dressed in gold. Ancient stone walls rose high, ivy crawling across them like veins, their sprawling length disappearing into shadows. The mansion itself was blinding in grandeur columns carved with angels, windows glinting like watchful eyes, and chandeliers visible even from the outside, burning defiantly against the night.To the world, it was beautiful. To Bianca, it was a cage.After some hours, Bianca woke in silk. The sheets were cool, soft as whispers, but the air around her felt like a noose. The room was a palace vaulted ceilings, ivory walls, velvet curtains dyed in shades of blood and ash. Everything gleamed perfection, yet none of it felt h

“Stand still, Bianca. You move as though you want me to see you as a servant and not as the daughter of this house.”Valentina Greco’s voice was velvet stretched over steel, the kind of voice that commanded obedience without needing to raise in volume. She hovered behind Bianca, one jeweled hand pressing the girl’s shoulder back as a maid tightened the corset.Bianca caught her reflection in the gilt mirror. Her breath hitched as the silk gown clung to her figure pearl-white, embroidered with gold threads that glimmered in the candlelight. She looked regal, older than her twenty-one years, her dark hair twisted into an elaborate knot that exposed the line of her neck. Yet, there was a hollowness in her own eyes she could not ignore.“This is too much,” Bianca whispered, fingers brushing the jeweled bodice as if it belonged to someone else. “Why would we dress this way for a simple gala?”Valentina’s painted lips curved into a smile too sharp to be tender. Her beauty was the kind that