Gilded Cages

“Please... spare my life,” she whispered, her voice trembling like the last leaf clinging to a winter branch. Blood trickled from her split lip as she pressed her forehead to the cold marble floor, her entire body shaking with terror. “I treasure what belongs to me,” he replied, his voice cold and deadly. His gloved hand gripped her chin, forcing her to meet his merciless gaze. “And as of tonight, little ghost... you belong to me.” Born from a one-night stand between a mafia lord and a maid, Liliana Orlov entered the world with her mother’s blood staining her face. Her father, Don Nickolas Orlov never let her forget who she was - a curse! While her half-sisters wear silks, she scrubs floors. While they dine in gold-lit halls, she eats their scraps. She was the family’s whipping girl, blamed for the empire’s weakness-no male heir, no future. Then, the unthinkable happens. To end a decade-long war, Nickolas sold Liliana to his greatest enemy Mikhail Volkov also known as “The Reaper” the heir to the most powerful and brutal mafia dynasty. Her fate was sealed. She entered into a forced marriage to secure peace. Thrown into a gilded cage, Liliana faces a man more merciless than her father. Is survival enough… or will she dare to want more? Or Will a man who rules through fear finally learn to kneel to love? Find out more in the story!

"In the gilded halls of wealth, bloodlines twist and fray, tangled by greed. It’s not legacy that binds them—it's the ruthless hunger to take what can never truly be theirs." Raelynn Winters is an orphan who grew up under the stress of Harlem; she is a girl who is content with what she has until she accidentally enters the world of the Montgomery family after saving a stranger. What begins as an innocent act of kindness becomes a game of power, betrayal, and manipulation. And just when her life can't get any harder, she is made heir to the Montgomery family empire and now she is the target of hungry and caged tigers.

Carmenta Bloom’s life is the epitome of gilded misery, and she is no stranger to controversy. With wealth and glory as her inheritance, she has everything but the freedom to live on her own terms. When a scandal threatens her family’s ironclad reputation, Carmenta is cast into a prison of her own making under the watchful eye of her bodyguard, Perion. Perion is her captor in every sense. He moves mountains and pounds them to ground again. He controls her, isolates her, and refuses to allow any escape—except one she never anticipated: his presence begins to consume her. Perion isn’t who he claims to be. He isn’t just a hired hand—he’s tied to a powerful mafia syndicate, his motives shrouded in secrecy. To him, Carmenta is a key piece in a high-stakes war his syndicate is waging. As Carmenta’s fiery spirit challenges Perion’s icy resolve, the line between duty and love begins to blur. Perion starts to see the woman behind the façade, and Carmenta, despite her mistrust, feels drawn to the man she thinks is her protector. He begins to question everything—his loyalty and the woman who has somehow gotten under his skin. Torn between duty and desire, Perion must face the consequences of his lies, while Carmenta must decide if she’s willing to risk everything—her heart, her life, and her very soul—for the man who was never meant to protect her. As war closes in and trust crumbles, they must confront what they’ve both been running from or be destroyed by it.

I looked up at him as he cages me between his thighs. His hands gripping my thighs and his breath in my neck.  "Good. Now that we've come to an agreement, spread your legs wide open for me Little mate." At Bloodmoon Academy, the truth is deadlier than the secrets. Teya Wellington has only one goal in this hellhole:  uncover the truth behind her twin sister’s tragic death at the prestigious—and dangerous—Bloodmoon Dominion Academy. Everyone, even their parents,  believes and says that Reya took her own life. Teya knows better though.  Disguised under a false identity, she enters a world ruled by power, magic, and monsters who wear human faces.  When she attracts the attention of the academy’s Alpha and a mysterious professor with secrets of his own, Teya finds herself caught in a storm of forbidden attraction, ruthless politics, and unraveling truths. But the deeper she digs, the more tangled the lies become. And the truth? It might destroy her.

Trapped in a gilded cage, a defiant artist becomes entangled with a ruthless mafia Don. Valentina, a talented artist and stripper struggling to survive in the city's underbelly, witnesses a brutal act that plunges her into a world of danger. Captured by Dante Russo, the enigmatic head of the Russo famiglia, she finds herself a prisoner in his opulent mansion. Haunted by a violent past, Dante is a man shrouded in secrets, ruling with an iron fist and a hidden vulnerability. As tensions rise between rival factions vying for control of the city, an unlikely bond sparks between Valentina and Dante. She uses her art to capture the brutality and fleeting moments of tenderness within his world. But their connection is a dangerous dance. Can they navigate a web of deceit and betrayal, or will the city's dark secrets consume them both?

Delphine isn’t sure how she ended up in this position- a song bird with clipped wings and a gilded cage. Where did everything go wrong? The answer is the man who commands her to sing.

"If I touched you, you’d never go back to him." Arden's words rang in my head. My breath caught. Now that I was out of the palace, nothing stood between us. No gilded cages. No cameras in every corner. No Ivana breathing down my neck. Nothing to stop him from making good on those words. And the worst part? A traitorous part of me was curious. What if he was right? Arden was Richard’s brother. The wrong man. The forbidden man. And yet my body betrayed me. My heart beat harder just thinking about him. My lips tingled at the memory of his voice, his smirk, the way his eyes had lingered on me like he saw everything I tried to hide.

Amelia seems to have it all - beauty, wealth, and a handsome boyfriend from an influential family. But her gilded life shatters when she learns her boyfriend Alexander has been cheating with her own stepsister. Devastated, things go from bad to worse when Amelia's parents announce they are marrying her off to Harrison, the son of a disgraced billionaire family, while giving control of the family company to her backstabbing stepsister. Amelia is distraught, feeling utterly betrayed by those closest to her. The only person she has left is Martha, the kind maid who is more of a mother to Amelia than her own ever was. But Martha falls gravely ill, leaving Amelia desperate to get the funds for her medical treatment. Forced to go through with the engagement for Martha's sake, Amelia steels herself to marry Harrison. Yet upon meeting Harrison, Amelia is surprised to find herself intrigued by this handsome, down-to-earth stranger. As they continue to connect, she realizes there may be more to him than just his family name and reputation. But Amelia remains wary, focused on securing her independence and caring for Martha. As the wedding looms closer, a whirlwind of shocking revelations and twists will turn Amelia's world upside down once more. Will she find an unexpected saving grace in her marriage to Harrison? Or will sinister secrets beneath the surface threaten to destroy her world yet again? Little did she know, she was going to get married to the conqueror, the one who had conquered everything.

Love is good and all. But what happens when the title of Mrs is nothing other than a gilded cage with a dark secret to hide?. Will all hell break loose or will Selene choose to ignore the warning signs.

Ember Vale, a runaway living under a stolen identity, crashes a mafia auction in search of answers about her missing father. But the moment she’s recognized by Lucien Vairo, heir to the deadly Vairo Syndicate, everything spirals. Instead of killing her, Lucien cages her suspecting she’s linked to the murder of his older brother, Rafael. Trapped in a world of enemies dressed as family, Ember navigates layers of deception, discovering that Rafael might have faked his death and that both her father and Lucien's powerful family are tied to it. But it’s Lucien she fears most. He’s cold, calculating, and yet... dangerously magnetic. As Lucien and Ember are dragged into a deeper conspiracy, their relationship evolves from hatred to obsession to a raw, passionate connection that neither of them trusts. Allies fall. Families betray. And old ghosts return with blood in their teeth. War breaks out between syndicates. Ember’s past comes to light. Rafael returns with his own deadly plans and Lucien’s father, long thought dead, emerges to reclaim his empire. In a final storm of betrayal, the couple must decide whether to fight for each other or let the past consume them both. In the end, love won’t be enough. Only survival. And someone always has to pull the trigger.