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A Cage With No Walls

last update publish date: 2026-01-11 11:25:16

Gwen

The first thing I noticed, once I allowed myself to notice at all, was how little privacy truly existed.Not the obvious kind, there were no locked doors, no barred windows, no shouted commands.

Camilla did not need those. She preferred subtler architectures. Courtesy. Concern. Family obligation dressed as care. But once I stopped telling myself I was safe, the pattern sharpened.

My phone was always charged, yet the signal dropped in specific wings of the villa. Certain calls connected i
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  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    Even Broken Light Fights Darkness

    GwenMy mother dropped the papers. Not dramatically, just that her fingers simply stopped holding them. The pages slipped softly onto the sitting room carpet while silence swallowed the entire space whole. Nobody moved immediately. Not Sebastian. Not me. Even the rain outside seemed quieter somehow.My mother stared at the scattered documents like they were written in another language entirely. “She wouldn’t…” Her voice failed halfway through the sentence. “Camilla wouldn’t…” But she could not finish it anymore. Because the evidence existed physically now. Numbers. Transfers. Dates. Reality.Sebastian crouched slowly to gather the papers again, his expression gentler than I had seen in weeks. “Mom.” She backed away from him instinctively. Fear flashed through her face again. Not fear of Sebastian. Fear of what accepting this would do to her. “I defended her,” she whispered.The words tore through me unexpectedly. Not because they were new. Because this time she sounded horrified by it

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    Splinters

    GwenI should have known peace wouldn’t last longer than a few hours. The morning with my mother had felt fragile but real. Not healing exactly, but movement. Like watching ice crack slowly enough to hear water beneath it. By evening, everything fractured again.I found her in the east sitting room just after sunset. She was standing beside the fireplace gripping her phone so tightly her knuckles had gone pale. The curtains were open behind her, rain-dark skies swallowing the last traces of daylight outside. And she looked terrified. Actually terrified.“Mom?” She turned too quickly and guilt flashed across her face before disappearing. “What happened?” “Nothing.” Of course, I knew that was a lie but I did not point it out. Instead, I moved closer carefully. Her breathing was uneven again. Not grief this time but fear. “Did Camilla call?” Silence.That was answer enough. Something cold moved through me immediately. “What did she say?” My mother looked away. “She’s worried about me.” I

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    Countermove

    Author's POV The porcelain cup shattered against the wall. Tea spluttered across white marble and cream silk curtains in a violent spray. Nobody in the room moved. Not Dr. Weston. Not the two operatives standing near the doorway. Not the house staff quietly lowering their eyes. Camilla stood motionless at the center of the sitting room, chest rising once, twice then relaxing completely. “Repeat what Sebastian said.” The operative swallowed. “He told Elena that emotional dependency created under manipulation can feel like grief attachment.” Camilla’s expression did not change. Which made her infinitely more frightening. “And Elena?” The man hesitated. “She listened.” Silence. Terrible silence. Camilla walked slowly toward the ruined teacup fragments scattered across the marble floor. Six years....Six careful years threading herself into the emotional fabric of the Cruize family. And now Gwen Cruize was pulling at the seams harder than expected. Not because Gwen was smarter. Not be

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    The Woman In the Mirror

    GwenThe next morning, my mother wouldn’t come downstairs. Mrs. Alvarez eventually brought breakfast trays up to her room after several failed attempts from my father to coax her out. Nobody said the word breakdown. But it lingered over the house anyway.I sat at the dining table untouched coffee cooling between my hands while Sebastian worked silently from his tablet across from me. Matteo paced constantly. Like movement might stop him from thinking too hard. “She answered Camilla’s calls,” he muttered suddenly. Sebastian didn’t look up. “How many?” “Three times already.” My stomach tightened. Of course she did.Emotional dependency always intensified during instability. Last night’s confrontation would have driven my mother directly toward the person she associated with safety. Camilla knew that. Which meant she was probably reinforcing the attachment right now.The thought made nausea rise sharply inside me. Sebastian finally looked up from the tablet. “She’s isolating her emotiona

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    The Call at 2:13 A.M.

    GwenI couldn’t breathe properly after that. The foyer conversation ended eventually, but not really. Nothing resolved. Nothing settled.My mother locked herself inside her bedroom before anyone could stop her. My father remained downstairs staring into untouched whiskey for nearly an hour afterward while Sebastian quietly made calls from the study.Matteo hovered. That was the only word for it. Hovering like he wanted to protect something fragile but didn’t yet know how. And me? I went numb. Not emotionally empty but worse because I felt overfull.I stood beneath scorching water for almost forty minutes after midnight trying to wash off the feeling of hearing my own mother ask: What happens to me if Camilla goes? As if losing her frightened her more than losing me once already had. The thought hollowed something deep inside my chest.By the time I changed into sleep clothes, the storm outside had worsened. Rain battered violently against the windows while distant thunder rolled acros

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    The Thing About Panic

    GwenCamilla left ten minutes later. She kissed my mother’s cheek softly near the doorway, spoke in gentle reassuring tones, then glided back toward her waiting car with the same composed elegance she wore everywhere.Irregardless, I had seen the panic she so dearly, tried to conceal. Not because she feared exposure immediately. It was because she was losing emotional certainty. And people like Camilla depended on certainty the way normal people depended on oxygen.The front doors closed behind her and a heavy silence flooded the foyer instantly. My mother stood motionless near the staircase, arms folded tightly around herself as though holding something inside from spilling apart. “Mom,” I said carefully. “I’m tired.” The words came too quickly. Prepared and defensive. My chest tightened. “You were crying.” “No.” The denial arrived automatically.I stared at her quietly. She used to hate dishonesty. When we were children, she once made Sebastian apologize to me for lying about breaki

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    Becoming A Performer

    Gwen News of my “improvement” spread quickly.Julian, my older brother, became less anxious in his hovering. Camilla regained her sugary smile. Even Father Cruise, stern and unreadable, allowed himself a nod of approval.“She’s stabilizing,” I heard him murmur to Julian. “Perhaps with time, she’ll

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    Portraying Adrian As A Predator

    Gwen’s POVThe next session with Dr. Weston began the same way the first one had....quietly, sweetly and deceptively. She had a soft smile, soft voice, soft eyes. Everything about her was muted, like the sound of rain against thick curtains. Safe, if you were not paying attention. Dangerous, if you

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    Quiet Obedience

    Gwen’s POVAfter that session, they loosened the leash. Not enough to call it freedom, but enough to reward compliance.The lock on my door remained, but the guards outside the west wing stopped hovering so closely. Meals were no longer brought strictly at fixed hours.

  • A Kiss For Every Bruise    Shadows Of Doubt

    Gwen’s POVDr. Weston arrived precisely at ten. The door opened with a faint click, and she glided in as if she owned not just the room but the thoughts it contained. Her smile was gentle, professional, and just slightly too polished. The kind of smile that could soothe or slice, dependi

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