Library
Search
Home / Romance / The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage / CHAPTER 21

Share

CHAPTER 21

Author: GOLDEN TREE
last update Last Updated: 2025-05-23 23:32:07

THE FAMILY REUNION

Chaewon adjusted the pearl-drop earring in the mirror for the third time, her fingers twitching with the same anxiety she’d mastered hiding in public. The reflection staring back wore elegance like armor—a midnight-blue hanbok embroidered with golden cranes, flawless makeup, poise perfected. But under it all was a storm.

Tonight wasn’t just another dinner.

It was a reunion of the Lee dynasty—Jian’s family, who had stayed abroad since the wedding, now descending on Seoul for Mr. Lee’s milestone birthday celebration.

And Chaewon? She was to play the dutiful wife. Despite the clone. Despite the blood feud. Despite the fact that every room in Jian’s house now carried the ghosts of betrayal.

“You don’t have to be perfect,” Jian said from behind her, his voice low.

Chaewon turned, startled. He stood in the doorway, already dressed in his tailored black suit, dark tie crisp, cufflinks gleaming. But his eyes—Tired and watchful.

“You mean in front of the people who think I’
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter
Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Latest chapter

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 28

    CHAPTER 27: BLOOD IS NOT ENOUGHThe truth echoed through her bones like a strike of lightning.“You were born of my vengeance.”Chaewon stood frozen in the ruined warehouse, the smoke still curling from a shattered bullet casing near her heel. The rest of the world faded into silence. Even the rain outside the port seemed to still, as if giving space for the weight of revelation to take root.Mrs. Lee—the woman Chaewon did think of only as her cold mother-in-law, Jian’s manipulative architect—had just revealed she was something far more complicated. Her real mother.“You’re lying,” Chaewon whispered, her voice waver.Mrs. Lee smiled, tired, cruel, triumphant. “You always had her eyes. But you had my fire.”Jian stood at her side, eyes narrowed, gun still trained on Ezra, who’d slipped into the shadows during the chaos. But all his focus was on Chaewon now.“Don’t listen to her,” Jian said quietly. “She’s trying to fracture you. Break your foundation.”“She doesn’t need to,” Chaewon sa

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 27

    FIRE IN THE BLOOD The moment Haon said the words—“I’m the one who ends it”—the wind shifted. The air around Chaewon felt heavier, tighter, like fate had just exhaled a warning.She didn’t respond immediately. Not because she doubted him. But because deep down, she believed it too, and that terrified her more than anything.Jian stood behind them in the garden, watching mother and son beneath the cherry blossom tree. His hands were in his pockets, but his stance was taut—ready for war. Always.“Han just confirmed the names,” he said. “After decrypting the last wave of Ezra’s files.”Chaewon rose, brushing Haon’s hair with a soft touch. “Which names?”“The heirs of the twelve surviving blood families. All bound by the first oath.” Jian stepped forward. “They’ve been called. Summoned to Tokyo. Someone’s activating the emergency council.”Her eyes narrowed. “Without Kang, they shouldn’t be able to convene.”“They can’t,” Han said, stepping out from the side entrance, tablet in hand. “But

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 26

    THE WILL OF YOO MINThe envelope lay undisturbed on the mahogany desktop in Jian's study, deceptively innocent-looking but quivering with tension like a loaded gun.Her fingers lay still on it for hours before finally stirring. Rain tapped against the glass at her back—gentle today, nearly cleansing. Haon slept upstairs in a bed that she never expected he’d rest in. Jian moved behind her in tense quiet, the storm in him held back by a whisper.“Are you sure you want to open it?”"I don't know anything anymore," Chaewon replied, curling her fingers around the wax seal. "But if my mother left me this, it wasn’t to keep me safe from it—if anything, to prepare me for the next."She broke the seal. Inside were three sheets of faded paper, handwritten in her mother’s elegant script. One sentence stood out instantly, scrawled in red:“Your blood is not your only inheritance.”Chaewon’s breath hitched.Jian stepped closer. “What does that mean?”She read the next line aloud: “There is another

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 25

    FATHER OF SHADOWS The rain returned like a curse—slicking down the marble terraces of the Lee estate, whispering against the glass windows like fingers tracing old ghosts.Inside, Jian stared at the security footage frame by frame. The black car. The silhouette. Then the flash of unmistakable eyes—cold, calculating, President Kang was alive and watching them from the dark.“Impossible,” Han muttered, slamming the pause button. “We saw his compound destroyed. The fire... no one walked away from that.”“He didn’t walk away,” Chaewon said, stepping into the room. Her voice was steady, but the fury was barely contained. “He planned to vanish. Kang’s always had a shadow escape built into his strategies. That fire was a smokescreen.”Jian turned to her. “He’s coming for the boy.”“Haon,” she corrected softly. “Not the project. Not the weapon. My son.”Jian’s gaze didn’t flinch. “Then we protect him.”Han looked between them. “He left us a message.”“What?” Chaewon asked.Han pressed play:

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 24

    PROJECT HEIR The storm had ended, but the silence that followed was louder than any war.Chaewon stared at the sonogram, her fingers trembling as they traced the faint outline of a child—small, curled, barely real… but undeniably alive.“Project Heir,” she read the inscription again, her voice barely a whisper.Jian stood beside her, his face unreadable. “This was Kang’s last card.”“No,” Han said grimly, pacing in the corner. “This was his first card. Everything else was misdirection.”The room inside the Lee estate had been cleared for the evidence review—dossiers, photos, maps. But none of them mattered now. All eyes were on the single sheet of paper that changed everything.A child born from a clone. Carrying Chaewon’s DNA and potentially the most dangerous bloodline in existence.“Where is it?” Chaewon finally asked, lifting her eyes to meet Han’s.“We don’t know. The clone never delivered the child inside the facility. She disappeared for three months before she reconnected wit

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 23

    THE MIRROR MUST BREAK The wind howled as the chopper dipped low over Daegu, slicing through black clouds like a blade. Rain lashed the windows. Inside, Chaewon stared at the blueprint in her lap—a ghostly outline of the underground facility where her clone was being activated, where President Kang planned to ignite a legacy that would enslave generations.Jian sat beside her, silent, jaw clenched, dressed head to toe in tactical black. Han sat across from them, loading a compact rifle.“This place wasn’t built for visitors,” Han said over the roar of the blades. “No back door. No power grid access. Not even a coded server link. They wanted her to disappear.”Chaewon’s fingers tightened around the edge of the file. “They didn’t expect her to fight back.”“You mean you,” Jian murmured.“No,” she said, meeting his gaze. “Not anymore. I’m not her. And she’s not me.”He reached for her hand, squeezing it. “You’re more.”She didn’t smile. She couldn’t, not when the person wearing her face

More Chapters

You may also like

Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status