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CHAPTER 17

Penulis: GOLDEN TREE
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-05-19 23:39:37

SHIFTING ALLIANCES

The Black Scepter had fallen, its operatives scattered, the bloodline contracts severed, and its queen Mrs. Kim was now locked in a soundproof vault under Seoul's central intelligence blacksite. For most, it would’ve been a victory.

But for Chaewon, it was just the beginning of a storm she could now feel rising from her. Jian stood in the moonlit atrium of their mountain retreat, dressed in black, phone pressed to his ear.

Han’s voice cut through the static. “We decrypted the last files from the pendant's internal memory coordinates, ledger trails, and communications. But there's something else.”

“What?” Jian asked.

“It’s not over. Yujin wasn’t the top.”

Jian’s expression darkened. “Who, then?”

“There’s a name we kept missing… buried behind code, firewalls, decades of fake identities. Chaewon’s pendant held the original key.”

Jian’s fingers tightened on the phone. “Say the name.”

Han’s voice dropped. “Moon Hwan.”

Jian’s heart stilled, he whispered, “That man’s been
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  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 18

    A RACE AGAINST TIME The moment the clone died, Seoul trembled.Not literally—but in the invisible undercurrents of power, every syndicate, gang, government node, and legacy investor felt the tremor ripple through the system.Moon Hwan had lost a weapon, but not the war.In the war room beneath the Hwan Corp estate, screens blinked to life like angry eyes. Han's voice snapped through the speakers. “We’ve got movement—heavy movement.”Jian stood with his hands braced on the console. Chaewon was beside him, her expression carved in steel.“Where?” Jian demanded.Han didn’t hesitate. “Busan, Portside, Moon Hwan’s entire ghost fleet just surfaced. Cargo ships masked under humanitarian tags are now active. And intel shows they’re all converging on one destination.”He pulled up a 3D map. A small island off the southern coast.“Geojedo.”Chaewon stepped closer, squinting at the red pulse on the screen. “That’s government-protected land. Nothing’s supposed to be there.”Han gave her a look.

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 17

    SHIFTING ALLIANCES The Black Scepter had fallen, its operatives scattered, the bloodline contracts severed, and its queen Mrs. Kim was now locked in a soundproof vault under Seoul's central intelligence blacksite. For most, it would’ve been a victory.But for Chaewon, it was just the beginning of a storm she could now feel rising from her. Jian stood in the moonlit atrium of their mountain retreat, dressed in black, phone pressed to his ear.Han’s voice cut through the static. “We decrypted the last files from the pendant's internal memory coordinates, ledger trails, and communications. But there's something else.”“What?” Jian asked.“It’s not over. Yujin wasn’t the top.”Jian’s expression darkened. “Who, then?”“There’s a name we kept missing… buried behind code, firewalls, decades of fake identities. Chaewon’s pendant held the original key.”Jian’s fingers tightened on the phone. “Say the name.”Han’s voice dropped. “Moon Hwan.”Jian’s heart stilled, he whispered, “That man’s been

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 16

    DANGEROUS GAMESThe fire was still burning.Smoke spiraled into the sky above the Hwan Corp headquarters. Firefighters swarmed the scene, but the truth they would never find. Not in the ashes. Not in the wreckage.Because the real war wasn’t over, it had just shifted. Inside a fortified underground war room beneath Chaewon’s private estate.Jian slammed his hand onto the steel table. “Mrs. Kim faked her death.”Han nodded grimly. “Confirmed, the body recovered was a decoy. Burned beyond recognition, planted with forged dental records.”Chaewon didn’t blink. She stood before a digital map marked with blinking red targets, every known safehouse, syndicate and Gang compound, and financial link tied to the Black Scepter.“She knew we do come for her,” Chaewon murmured. “She let the building burn to cut loose ends.”“Except one,” Jian said, looking at her. “You.”Chaewon looked up, fire in her eyes. “She wants a final game. We give it to her.”Han handed Jian a tablet. “There’s more, we in

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 15

    A BETRAYAL REVEALED But the room was no longer quiet. A voice echoed from the hallway above the cold distinct.“I see my son still hasn’t learned to let dead things stay buried.” Mrs. Lee said.Jian turned sharply. “What are you doing here?”She stepped into the torchlight, flanked by two of her private guards, dressed in deep gray, immaculate and her heels clicked sharply against the stone floor, echoing with arrogance.“I warned you once,” she said. “Love is the greatest weakness in war. And here you are, bringing your ruin to my doorstep.”Chaewon stood upl. “Your doorstep? This place belonged to my mother.”Mrs. Lee’s eyes glinted. “Your mother was a dreamer and a fool. Her mistake was believing she could protect you from what you were always meant to become.”“And what is that?” Chaewon challenged.Mrs. Lee smiled like a blade. “A weapon. Just like me.”Jian’s yelled. “You were feeding Yujin intel.”“I wasn’t feeding her,” Mrs. Lee said smoothly. “I was controlling her.”Chaewon

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 14

    THE HIDDEN LEGACY The storm hadn't stopped for days. It pounded against the windows of the estate as though a warning, its rumble sounding far away in the distance. But Chaewon didn’t hear the world outside. Instead, she was immersed in a dead woman's notebook, her mother's writing in urgent scripts, filled with time and tears.Jian slipped inside wordlessly, observing her from the doorway. She hadn’t slept, hadn’t changed. There was a wild, red-rimmed to her eyes, but for the first time, she was romantically touched by Jian."Still reading?" he inquired softly, with curiosity.She didn’t glance up. “She knew that Yujin would find her. She knew one of them was destined to survive. She didn’t know which of the two sisters was to turn into a monster.”Jian approached. "What are you searching for?"Chaewon touched a tattered map stored in between pages."Answers, and that… this changes everything."He looked over her shoulder. The map depicted a rough drawing of a private compound in Ga

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 13

    SHADOWS OF DECEPTION The moment the encrypted message came to Chaewon’s phone, her heart dropped into her stomach.Sender: Unknown.Subject: I’m alive. I have proof, but you won’t like what I found.Attachment: Voice recording. Location Coordinates: 36.2957° N, 127.6836° E. S.J.Chaewon’s fingers trembled over the screen.She stood up from the table spread across the safehouse library, bloodless and wide-eyed. Jian coming out from the latest security feed logs.“What is it?” he asked, mind already rising.She looked into his eyes.“Seojun’s alive.”The words struck like thunder.Thirty minutes later, Jian’s private plane sliced through black clouds over central Korea. The coordinates Seojun sent pointed toward a forgotten village on the fringe of Daejeon—an abandoned factory town long eaten by rot and silence.Chaewon sat beside Jian in the cabin, arms crossed tightly, heart rattling like it wanted to leap out of her chest. Her thoughts raced;‘If Seojun survived Kang… what had he se

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 12

    UNLOVING ALLIANCE “She’s not your wife, Jian. She’s your sister.”Chaewon’s grip tightened around the flash drive, her face lacked color. Her eyes, usually cute, were now hollow and frozen.“No,” Jian whispered. “That can’t be right.”Chaewon backed away from him slowly, as if he was transforming into something monstrous. Her voice cracked, quiet as a razor’s edge. “What did you do?”“Nothing—I didn’t know,” he snapped, stricken. “I swear to God, I didn’t”“You kissed me,” she said.“And I do… do it again,” he moved, stepping toward her. “I don’t care what the screen says. You’re not my sister, Chaewon. I would’ve known.”“Are you sure about that?” She held up the photo. Her mother was smiling beside President Kang.Jian took the drive from her fingers, scanning the meta data. “It’s fabricated, this timestamp… it was altered. Look here,” he showed the screen to her “the shadows don’t match the angle. This is a real fake.”Chaewon stared at him, pulse slamming against her throat. “You

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 11

    A CALCULATED RISKJian stood alone in his office, a fortress of glass and process that reflected his thoughtful silence. The city’s lights shine at him from a distance.He stared at the security footage looping silently on his tablet. Chaewon’s expression as she uncovered the hidden surveillance room was burned into his mind—confusion, betrayal, then cold determination.He didn’t move when the door clicked open.“Sir,” Han said, stepping in with a thick manila envelope. His eyes turned toward Jian’s tense jaw. “A package arrived. No sender. Security checked—no explosives.”Jian took it wordlessly and tore it open.Photographs spilled onto his desk—black and white, grainy. President Kang in a dark alley. Chaewon’s father beside him. And between them, an old man Jian recognized instantly.Chairman Baek. Dead for twenty years. Founder of the Black Scepter Gang.A note fluttered to the floor. Jian picked it up.“The empire you built bleeds from its roots. She’s not just a pawn. She’s the

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 10

    THE VOW BENEATH THE RAINRain battered the windshield in slashing order as Jian's black sports car speed along Seoul's high-end district, city lights breaking through the rain-soaked glass. His hands clamped harder on the wheel, his body going pale. Each honk of a horn was muffled in comparison to the turmoil in his chest.Jian only thought of going home so he could freshen up, have some dry gin drinks to warm up after the heavy rain and cold weather.He couldn’t shake the image and thoughts of Chaewon on the stairs, dress soaked, lips trembling, eyes brimming with something between betrayal and heartbreak. And then that call. That damn call that made everything worse.Phone rang and Jian picked up.“You need to come… Now, It’s about Chaewon.”Jian turned the car and moved straight to the direction given to him by the call

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