All Chapters of The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

93 Chapters

60: SHADOWS OF THE PAST

THREE YEARS AFTER THE FINAL BATTLE – SEOUL – 11:47 PMChaewon woke to the sound of screaming.Not Euna. Not this time. The screaming was coming from downstairs. From Min-ji's room.She grabbed her robe and ran, Jian close behind. They found Min-ji on the floor, tangled in sheets, thrashing against invisible enemies."No! Please, I won't—I can't—" Min-ji's voice was broken, desperate. "Don't make me kill her. Please!""Min-ji!" Chaewon knelt beside her, careful not to touch. Sudden contact during night terrors could trigger defensive reflexes. "You're safe. You're home. It's just a dream."Min-ji's eyes snapped open—wild, unfocused, terrified. For a moment, she didn't recognize Chaewon. Her hand went to the knife she kept under her pillow—"It's me," Chaewon said softly. "It's Chaewon. You're safe. You're in the beach house. No one's making you do anything."Recognition slowly returned. Min-ji lowered the knife with trembling hands. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought I was—I thought t

Last Updated : 2025-11-20

61: THE HUNT BEGINS

SIXTY HOURS REMAINING – BEACH HOUSE – 6:34 AMChaewon hadn't slept. None of them had. The living room looked like a war room—maps, surveillance photos, tactical plans covering every surface."We need to find her before the deadline," Han said, pulling up satellite imagery. "But Iris is smart. She's not using any of the old Circle locations. No digital footprint. No mistakes.""Everyone makes mistakes," Haeun said. "We just need to wait for hers.""We don't have time to wait." Jian paced like a caged animal. "Every hour my mother spends with that psychopath—""Is an hour she's still alive," Chaewon interrupted gently. "Iris won't kill her before the deadline. She's leverage. The moment Mrs. Lee dies, she loses her power over us.""You don't know that.""I do. Because Iris is me. Or thinks she is. And I would never waste leverage prematurely."Min-ji looked up from her laptop. "I've been going through Circle archives. Looking for anyone who might have worked on the Phoenix Project after

Last Updated : 2025-11-21

62: PHASE TWO

THIRTY-SIX HOURS REMAINING – BEACH HOUSE – 3:47 AMThe alarm screamed.Chaewon bolted upright, already reaching for the weapon on her nightstand. Beside her, Jian was doing the same."Perimeter breach," Han's voice crackled through the house speakers. "Multiple hostiles. North and east sides. They're coming fast.""Everyone up!" Chaewon shouted. "Defensive positions!"The family moved with practiced efficiency. Three years of peace hadn't made them soft—just careful. They'd drilled for this.Haeun took the upstairs window, rifle already shouldered. River moved to protect Euna's room. Min-ji and Ji-woo covered the ground floor exits. Seraphina, wheelchair and all, positioned herself at the central command station Han had built."Count?" Jian asked, checking his ammunition."Six signatures," Han reported. "Moving in a coordinated pattern. Professional.""The clones," Min-ji said grimly. "She sent them.""Not just them." Seojun's voice came through comms from his rooftop position. "I see

Last Updated : 2025-11-21

63: THE IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS REMAINING – TEMPORARY SAFE HOUSE – 9:17 AMThey'd abandoned the beach house. Too compromised. Too many memories now stained with blood. Han had secured an apartment in the city—anonymous, secured, off the grid.Jian sat on the couch, arm in a sling, face pale from blood loss and pain medication. Euna hadn't left his side since the attack."Does it hurt, Daddy?" she asked for the tenth time."A little. But I'm okay, princess.""You got shot protecting Mom.""I'd do it again. A thousand times."Chaewon stood at the window, watching the street below. Waiting for the next attack. The next move. The next impossible situation.Her phone buzzed.Everyone in the room tensed."It's her," Han confirmed, tracking the signal. "Same encrypted channel."Chaewon answered the speaker. "What now, Iris?""Good morning to you too, Mother." Iris's voice was cheerful. Mocking. "How's Jian? I heard he took a bullet. Very heroic. Very stupid.""Get to the point.""The point is simple: I'm

Last Updated : 2025-11-26

64: THE AFTERMATH

THREE DAYS LATER – TEMPORARY SAFE HOUSE – 2:47 AMChaewon hadn't slept in seventy-two hours. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Mrs. Lee's face. I heard Jian's voice breaking. Felt the weight of the choice crushing her chest.She sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, staring at nothing."You should rest," Seraphina said from her wheelchair. She'd become Chaewon's unlikely companion in the dark hours. Both wounded in different ways."Can't. Every time I try, I see her.""Mrs. Lee?""And Jian's face when he realized what I'd done. That I'd made the choice without him. Decided his mother's fate like I had the right.""You did have the right. You were making the moral choice.""Was I?" Chaewon's voice was hollow. "Or was I just choosing the option that let me feel righteous? The one that made me the hero in my own story?""You saved a child.""I killed a mother.""Iris killed her. You just refused to be complicit in killing someone else."Chaewon pulled the blanket tighter. "It doe

Last Updated : 2025-11-26

65: THE SEPARATION

FIVE DAYS AFTER THE CHOICE – MOUNTAIN CABIN – 6:47 AMJian woke to the sound of Euna crying. Not loudly. Just soft, broken sobs from the next room.He got up, knocked gently. "Euna? Can I come in?""Okay."She sat on the bed, hugging her knees, face buried in them. The cabin was nice—isolated, secure, peaceful. Everything they'd needed to escape. But it didn't feel like home."Another nightmare?" Jian asked, sitting beside her."I dreamed about Mom. She was calling for me but I couldn't find her. And when I finally did, she was turning into shadow. Disappearing.""It was just a dream, princess.""Was it? Because it feels real. Like we're the ones disappearing. Like we left her behind to fade away."Jian pulled her close. "We didn't leave her. We just... needed space. Time.""It's been five days. How much time do you need?""I don't know. However long it takes to stop seeing Grandma's face every time I close my eyes.""But that's not Mom's fault. She didn't kill Grandma. Iris did.""I

Last Updated : 2025-11-26

66: THE RECKONING

ABANDONED OFFICE BUILDING – 12:13 AMIris knelt on the concrete floor, surrounded by the family she'd tried to destroy. Her perfect face was cracked—not physically, but spiritually. Defeat etched into every line."What now?" she asked quietly. "You kill me? Turn me in? Make me pay?"Chaewon stood over her, exhausted, bleeding, but standing. "I don't know. What do you think you deserve?""Death. Obviously. For everything I've done. Everything I took from you.""That's the easy answer." Chaewon crouched to meet her eyes. "But I'm not interested in easy anymore. Easy would have been choosing Mrs. Lee. Easy would have been letting you die in this building. Easy is always just another word for running away from hard questions.""So what's the hard question?""Can you be saved? Like Min-ji and Ji-woo and River were saved? Or are you too far gone? Too much monster, not enough human?"Iris laughed bitterly. "You're asking me? I don't know what I am anymore. I thought I was perfect. Turns out

Last Updated : 2025-12-04

67: NEW BEGINNINGS

TWO WEEKS LATER – NEW SAFE HOUSE – 6:34 AMThe house was different. Bigger. More windows. Less like a fortress and more like a home. Han had found it—a sprawling property on the outskirts of Seoul with enough room for everyone to have space but stay together.Chaewon stood in the kitchen, attempting to make breakfast for eight people. The eggs were slightly burnt. The toast was uneven. But it was hers. Made with her own hands. No staff. No pretense. Just family."You're getting better at this," Jian said, entering. His arm was out of the sling finally. The wound heals. Like everything else. Slowly."Better than terrible is still not good.""I didn't say good. I said better." He poured coffee. "Progress, not perfection. Isn't that what the therapist said?""When did you start listening to therapists?""When I realized I needed one." He sat at the counter. "The session yesterday was hard. I talked about my mother. About the choice. About my anger.""And?""And the therapist said somethi

Last Updated : 2025-12-04

68: GHOSTS OF THE CIRCLE

ONE MONTH LATER – LEE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS – 10:47 AMThe office was modest. Not the gleaming corporate tower Jian was used to, but a renovated community center in a neighborhood that needed hope more than luxury.Chaewon reviewed applications—twenty-three survivors requesting assistance. Housing. Therapy. Legal aid. Education. Each story is a testament to human resilience and the Circle's cruelty."This one," she said, passing a file to Luna. "Fifteen-year-old girl. Rescued from a trafficking ring three months ago. No family. Nowhere to go. We can help."Luna read the file, her enhanced memory processing every detail. "Her case matches a Circle operation in Incheon. One I knew about but did nothing to stop.""That wasn't you. That was Iris. The weapon.""The weapon wore on my face. I used my hands. I can't separate them that easily.""Then don't separate them. Acknowledge both. Use what Iris knew to help who Luna is becoming." Chaewon leaned forward. "Every person we help

Last Updated : 2025-12-04

69: THE ARCHITECT'S GAME

THREE DAYS LATER – SAFE HOUSE – 3:47 AMHan hadn't slept in forty-eight hours. His eyes burned, his back ached, but he'd found something. A pattern in the chaos."Wake up," he said, bursting into Chaewon and Jian's room. "Everyone. Now. I found him."Ten minutes later, the entire family stood in the war room, various states of awake, all focused."The Architect," Han said, pulling up files. "Real name: Dr. Marcus Chen. Geneticist. Worked with Dr. Sarah Chen—the woman who created Luna and the other combat clones. They're siblings.""So this is revenge?" Seojun asked."Partly. But it's more complicated." Han displayed research papers. "Marcus Chen was the original architect of the Phoenix Project. Not Chaewon's father. Chen designed the entire genetic framework. Your father just funded it."Chaewon felt the ground shift beneath her. "My father stole someone else's research?""Worse. He bought it. Legal but unethical. Paid Chen a fraction of what it was worth, then took all the credit. C

Last Updated : 2025-12-04

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