Gilded

Everyone said Kane adored me. That for me, he'd tame the wild rage of an Alpha, soften every growl, and sheath every claw. Ten years. Ten damn years of chasing, spoiling, protecting. I was convinced I’d be his Luna—his mate, his forever. But betrayal doesn’t come with a warning. It cuts sharp and deep. And it never just comes once. The first lie, I forgave. The second, I bled. The third? It broke something in me I’m not sure I’ll ever get back. And then came the words that snapped the last thread holding me together. "Julia, can't you just stop being so difficult? Stop acting like the world revolves around you." That was when I knew. The man who once walked through fire for me…Had turned into the very beast I needed saving from. The love I thought I had—it wasn’t love. It was a gilded cage, pretty from the outside, but still a prison. And if I was ever going to be free, I'd have to be the one to smash it open. Even if it meant setting the wolf on fire with it.

“You were never meant to love me, Elena,” Alexander said coldly. “This marriage was always about settling a score.” “And I was never meant to find out, was I?” she shot back, her voice shaking with anger and heartbreak. Elena Spears, a gifted artist with humble beginnings, never imagined her life would be upended by an arranged marriage to Alexander Wells, a powerful and enigmatic billionaire. To the outside world, their union is a perfect fairytale. But behind the gilded facade lies a devastating truth: Alexander’s love is a lie, and their marriage is the key to his meticulously planned revenge against her father—the man responsible for his family’s ruin. As Elena’s kindness and passion begin to unravel the cold walls Alexander has built around his heart, his plan starts to crumble. For the first time, he’s torn between the vengeance that has fueled him for years and the woman who’s shown him the possibility of redemption. But trust is fragile, and secrets are deadly. When the truth comes to light, will their love survive the ultimate betrayal, or will it destroy them both? In a world of power, deceit, and undeniable attraction, Alexander and Elena are caught in a battle for love—and the chance to rewrite their fates.

🔞 🔞🔞This book contains explicit sexual content and is intended for mature readers only. I traded my freedom for a last name. Now, I wear silence like perfume and lies like lipstick. To the world, I’m the elegant wife of Mattio — wealthy, powerful, untouchable. Behind closed doors, I’m his possession. A woman trapped in a gilded cage, drowning in a marriage built on control. Then came him. Maxwell. A stranger who touched me like I mattered — just once. A stolen night that made me feel alive again. But my brief escape shatters when I walk downstairs… and see him smiling in my living room. He’s not a stranger anymore. He’s Mattio’s long-lost stepbrother. Now I’m caught between the man who owns me… And the man who awakened everything I thought I’d lost. Secrets unravel. Desires ignite. And one wrong move could ruin us all. How do you forget the one man who made you feel human again—when he’s now part of your family?

Through tear-blurred vision, she saw a figure emerge—a man walking toward her, the fire parting in his wake. His eyes and claws gleamed gold in the firelight, and black and gilded scales covered his face and body, reminiscent of a serpent. But something more specific hovered at the tip of her tongue. His beastly form slowly faded, leaving a beautiful man with warm skin and firm flesh behind. “Help me,” she croaked. “I don't remember…” “Anything?” the stranger asked, his voice deep and ominous. “Only my name. Araheen,” she whispered, her lips trembling.“What happened to me? What is this place?” “You fell behind the Mad End's Wall.” A shadow of a smile crossed the stranger's lips, though it was far from reassuring. Before she could dwell on it, he slid his powerful arms beneath her, lifting her effortlessly as though she weighed nothing at all. “Who are you?” she asked, feeling small in his grasp. He studied her with an enigmatic gaze before replying, I'm Gildeon.” A pause.“Your husband.”

They say the devil wears a three-piece suit. Mine wore a ring stamped with a golden lion, the symbol of the Ricci mafia. It was on a night of fire and ashes that my life changed. My name was Alaya, and I was just a girl among many others, born in the alleys of a neighborhood where poverty poisons you from the cradle. My mother, sick, had only me... and the debts. That night, they came. They knocked on the door. Three men in black. Not a word, just an envelope, and a chilling phrase: — "Your daughter is still a virgin, isn't she? The boss pays dearly for that." I had no choice. His name was Santino Ricci. Cold. Magnetic. Dangerous. The head of one of the most powerful families in Italy. He looked at me like one looks at precious merchandise. Then he said: — "You will be my wife. No matter how you feel." And I signed my condemnation. This marriage was not a union... but a gilded cage. I learned to survive among snakes. I saw death. I saw blood. I heard the screams of girls who, like me, had been sold. But what they had not anticipated... was that the little broken virgin would eventually bite back.

He promised to protect him from a killer. He never said he was one. When journalist Ian Parker witnesses a brutal murder, he should have been the killer's next victim. Instead, he wakes up in the hospital, saved by Zhedya Hunter…a brilliant forensic pathologist, a reclusive CEO, and a man with chilling grey eyes that feel hauntingly familiar. Charismatic and dangerously possessive, Zhedya offers Ian shelter in his opulent penthouse, a gilded cage where every comfort is a chain. As Zhedya's obsession deepens, Ian's career skyrockets, with damning evidence against the city's most wanted criminals mysteriously falling into his hands. But each exclusive story comes with a price: a fractured memory, a drugged haze, and a growing pile of bodies connected to anyone who threatens their twisted paradise. Now, Ian is trapped in a nightmare of luxury and lies, unraveling a truth more terrifying than any headline: his savior is a predator, his sanctuary is a crime scene, and the man who claims to love him is the most prolific murderer he will ever interview. Learning how to love a murderer is easy. Surviving him is the real story.

Chiara has never been wanted. Everyone thought of her as a burden and waste of space all her life. When an opportunity presented itself to prove her worth, she eagerly grabbed it. Little did she know that her choice would strip her freedom away and chain her to be the wife and property of Adrian, Alpha of the Galway Pack. A loveless marriage and a cruel husband she can't escape away from, finding her fated mate is now a distant fantasy for her. That was until another alpha bulldozed his way into her life and forced her to take the reigns of her fate once more. Lance is a rogue alpha on the run for over a decade. Blamed for the death of his former pack, he tried to start a new life away from the city and other wolves. However, he's eventually caught by the Galway Pack and offered a second chance as a personal bodyguard for the Alpha's wife. It is a sin for him to set his eyes on Chiara, much more to fall in love with the pack alpha's mate, but his wolf and heart have other things to say. An omega in a gilded cage and a rogue alpha chained by his past sins... can Chiara and Lance find the courage to carve their own paths, or will they simply be swept away by the raging river of fate?

Celestine “Celine” Navarro has it all—wealth, influence, and a last name tied to a billion-peso coffee empire. But as the heiress of Navarro Coffee, her life feels like a gilded cage of boardrooms, family expectations, and insincere suitors. Longing for freedom, she disguises herself as an ordinary barista in one of her own cafés, determined to live a life where no one knows her name. That’s when she meets Liam Reyes, a talented but debt-stricken architect whose quiet intensity hides a storm of guilt and desperation. To him, Celine is just the clumsy new barista who can barely tame an espresso machine—but her wit and warmth begin to chip away at his walls. For the first time, Celine feels truly seen, not as an heiress but as a woman. But Liam carries a dangerous secret. Crushed under debts and blackmailed by Navarro Coffee’s fiercest rivals, he is forced into sabotage—stealing files and betraying the very company Celine is destined to inherit. What starts as banter over coffee turns into a fragile romance built on lies, one that teeters on collapse the moment truths spill over. When betrayal is uncovered and loyalties tested, Celine and Liam must face an impossible choice: protect the empire and the people they love, or risk everything for a love that was never meant to survive. A story of hidden identities, sabotage, and a love as intoxicating—and as dangerous—as the richest brew.

Sofia lived a life defined by "shoulds" and "must-nots," bound by the strict doctrines of her religious family. Every choice, every breath, measured against expectations that left her soul aching for release she didn't dare name. Her world was a gilded cage, safe but stifling. Then she met him. Luca De Rossi. A name whispered on the streets, a man carved from danger, power, and forbidden allure. He belonged to a world her family preached against, a world of illicit deals, ruthless loyalty, and raw, unapologetic desire. She should have run. She wanted to run. But his eyes held a challenge, his proximity ignited a fire she never knew existed. Drawn into his orbit by an invisible, irresistible force, Sofia finds herself teetering on the edge of everything forbidden. The rules that once defined her crumble under the passion she never thought possible. Now, caught between sacred duty and carnal obsession, she must choose. Cling to the life that suffocates her or surrender to the darkness that promises both ruin and exquisite, dangerous ecstasy. One path leads to salvation she no longer believes in. The other, to a hell that feels like heaven. She's a good girl in a bad man's world. And once she's in, there's no turning back.

As Cain Knight's mate, I watched him lead Elias Sinclair, his childhood sweetheart, onto the stage at the Black Moon Pack's annual charity gala. "In recognition of Miss Sinclair's outstanding contributions to our community," Cain announced, his voice a glacial shard as his eyes found me, "I have decided to grant her the title of this year's 'Charity Ambassador.'" An honor that had, for years, been bestowed upon the Luna by her Alpha. He shattered tradition just to humiliate me. Under the pitying gazes of the entire pack, I did not cry. I did not question him. I simply straightened my spine, set down my champagne flute, and silently turned to leave. "Let her go," I heard Cain sneer behind me. "She won't last half the night. She'll come crawling back like a beaten dog, begging for my forgiveness." A wave of derisive laughter erupted behind me. "After all these years, Lupita still uses the same tired tricks to get Alpha Cain's attention!" "I bet she'll be on her knees, pleading for Alpha Cain's forgiveness before sunrise!" But they didn't know. The person waiting to spirit me away was already at the door. This time, I would vanish from this gilded cage forever.