MY NEW CAGE

CHAPTER 4

Kade's face darkened. He stalked toward the bed, tossing the certificate onto the mattress between us. “You tried? I was drunk, and you let me fuck you while pretending to be someone else?” His voice rose, raw with fury. “This was a business arrangement. A clean merger with the Hale family. Bella Hale was the agreed name. And now I wake up married to… whoever the hell you are?”

Shame burned through me, hot and suffocating. I could still feel the ghost of his hands on my body, the way he had groaned another woman’s name while inside me. “They didn’t give me a choice,” I said, forcing the words out. “The company was collapsing. They said Bella was too young, too delicate. They made me—”

“Bullshit.” He laughed, but there was no humor in it—only cold rage. “You expect me to believe you were forced? You stood there in that dress, signed the papers, spread your legs for me, and now you’re claiming victim? This was a calculated switch. A gold-digging move to trap me into marriage.”

"No!" I cried, humiliation burning my throat. "This is a misunderstanding_"

"Your family played me” Kade snapped. .

Kade turned back to me, running a hand through his hair. “My mother is going to lose her mind. The board will see this as weakness. And you…” His eyes raked over me with disgust now. “You’re nothing but a liar who stole a marriage that wasn’t yours.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall in front of him. “I never wanted this. I tried to run last night. My father caught me.” My defense sounded stupid even in my ears.

Before he could respond, the bedroom door opened without a knock. Victoria Lannister swept in, elegant and terrifying in a tailored cream suit. Her eyes flicked from her son to me, narrowing sharply.

“What is going on?” she demanded. "I heard you shouting."

Kade thrust the certificate at her. “The bride is the wrong sister. They sent Aurora instead of Bella. And she didn’t think to mention it until after the wedding night.”

Victoria took the paper. For a fraction of a second, her face remained perfectly unbothered—the same cold, calculated composure she had worn at the courthouse when she watched me sign Aurora. 

But then, like a switch flipping, her expression dramatically morphed into horror.

"You! You slut!" she gasped, her tone laced with a sudden, overly sharp anger that felt entirely staged. She threw a hand to her chest, looking at me as if I were something filthy on her expensive rug. "How dare you deceive us? The Hale family will pay for this embarrassment!"

She’s acting, the realization hit me with a jolt through my panic. Victoria wasn't surprised at all. She was putting on a performance for Kade, playing the outraged matriarch to protect herself and ensure no one questioned why she hadn't caught the switch yesterday.

Why though? What was she trying to achieve?

I tried again, my voice shaking. “Please, it wasn’t my decision. Yesterday! You saw—”

“Shut up,” Victoria cut me off, her voice smooth and hard, though her eyes held a chilling satisfaction behind the mask. “We don’t tolerate manipulators in this family. Your family will regret crossing us.”

I felt like I walked into something deeper than I had any idea about.

The next hours blurred into humiliation. Lawyers were summoned. Calls were made. 

My parents arrived virtually on speakerphone, their voices dripping with false concern. 

Father claimed I had always been “difficult” and had “insisted” on taking Bella’s place for the family’s sake. Bella herself called, sobbing beautifully on the line about how I had “tricked everyone” and locked her in her room to steal her future. There was even mention of surveillance footage—edited, I was sure—showing Bella looking distressed.

I was in so much shock at how my family had turned against me overnight.

No one believed me. Not a single person. I begged Father to please say the truth. To please save me, but he didn't even respond on the phone. It was like they'd moved on to their back up plan to sell me out to save themselves.

By afternoon, Kade had made his decision. He paced the study like a caged lion while I sat on the edge of a chair, still wearing the remnants of last night’s makeup and a borrowed robe. My mascara had trailed down my face in comical stripes. It would've been funny if I wasn't in my current situation.

“We can’t annul it immediately,” he said coldly. “The press would have a field day. The merger is already in motion. So here’s what’s going to happen: We stay married for six months. Public appearances when necessary. Then a quiet divorce with a settlement that keeps your greedy little hands satisfied.”

I swallowed hard. “And after that?”

“You disappear from our lives.” His eyes were hard. “But while you’re here, you will be invisible. You eat in your room. You speak only when spoken to. You are a ghost in this house. Understand?”

The words carved into me deeper than any physical wound. Six months of nothing. Of being less than a servant.

I nodded slowly, the fight draining out of me. “I understand.”

Victoria smiled thinly. “Good. We’ll have your things moved to the east wing guest room. The small one.”

As they led me away, I caught one last glance of Kade. For the briefest second, something almost like regret flickered across his face when he saw the tears I could no longer hold back. But it was gone in an instant, replaced by that same cold mask.

The guest room was modest compared to the rest of the mansion—plain bed, small window, no luxuries. The door closed behind me with a soft click. Not locked, but the message was clear.

I was trapped.

And for the first time since this nightmare began, I let myself wonder if I would ever truly escape.