Love Was My Cage, Not Salvation

Name: Love Was My Cage, Not Salvation
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Gavin

Short stories | Completed

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For five years, I was Grace Miller, the long-lost heiress to an agricultural empire, returned to my doting parents and a perfect husband, Caleb. They were my everything, the family I'd craved my whole life. But it was all a lie. A wrong turn led me to a secret farm where I found my husband playing with a little boy and Paige-the adopted daughter they told me had died in a car crash. My parents were in on it, funding their secret life and their "true" grandchild. They hadn't just hidden a secret family; they were plotting my disposal. A voice memo on Caleb's computer revealed their plan: to have me drugged with anxiety medication and declared mentally unstable if I caused trouble for the company. The love I thought was my salvation was actually my cage. The naive girl who believed in their affection died that day, replaced by a cold, calculated rage. At a family dinner a few nights later, my mother slid a glass of wine toward me. "You look so pale, dear," she said. "Drink this. It will help you relax." I knew it was the first step of their plan. The wine was drugged. I smiled, held their gazes, and drank the entire glass in one long swallow. The game was over. My game was just beginning.

Family Betrayal Revenge Scheming Drama

Chapter 10

Yesterday 20:35

Chapter 1

But it was all a lie. A wrong turn led me to a secret farm where I found my husband playing with a little boy and Paige-the adopted daughter they told me had died in a car crash.

My parents were in on it, funding their secret life and their "true" grandchild. They hadn't just hidden a secret family; they were plotting my disposal.

A voice memo on Caleb's computer revealed their plan: to have me drugged with anxiety medication and declared mentally unstable if I caused trouble for the company.

The love I thought was my salvation was actually my cage. The naive girl who believed in their affection died that day, replaced by a cold, calculated rage.

At a family dinner a few nights later, my mother slid a glass of wine toward me.

"You look so pale, dear," she said. "Drink this. It will help you relax."

I knew it was the first step of their plan. The wine was drugged. I smiled, held their gazes, and drank the entire glass in one long swallow. The game was over. My game was just beginning.

Chapter 1

Grace POV:

My world ended the moment I saw the family portrait that wasn't mine.

For five years, my life had been a carefully constructed paradise. I was Grace Miller, the long-lost daughter of the Miller agricultural empire, returned to the fold. I had doting parents and a perfect husband, Caleb, whose gentle smile was the sun my entire world revolved around.

He was my everything. My parents were my everything. They were the anchors that had finally secured my drifting life after years in the foster system. I gave them my trust, my talent, my whole heart.

Five years ago, they had told me Paige, the adopted daughter who had grown up in my place, had died in a tragic car accident. It was a somber, closed-casket affair. I had even grieved for the girl who had hated me, the girl who had maliciously sabotaged my first major project, nearly bankrupting the company my ancestors built.

Her "death" had felt like a dark chapter closing, allowing the light to finally pour in.

Now, I knew that light had been a lie.

It started with a wrong turn on my way back from a site visit. A private road I'd never seen before, marked with a small, discreet Miller Group logo. Curiosity, a stupid, fateful tug, made me follow it. It led to a sprawling, idyllic farm I never knew our company owned.

And there, playing on the sun-drenched lawn with a little boy, was a ghost.

Paige.

She was laughing, her hair shining in the sunlight, looking vibrant and very, very alive. And beside her, swinging the little boy into the air, was my husband. My Caleb.

The scene was so wholesome, so filled with joy, that for a second my brain refused to process it. It was like looking at a photograph from a stranger's life. But the man was undeniably Caleb, and the woman was Paige. The boy, with Caleb's dark curls and Paige's bright eyes, looked to be about four years old.

A cold, heavy dread settled in my stomach, a weight so immense I felt like I couldn't breathe.

I parked my car behind a thicket of trees, my hands shaking so badly I could barely turn off the engine. I crept closer, hiding behind an old stone wall, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

I could hear their voices now, carried on the gentle breeze.

"Higher, Daddy, higher!" the little boy shrieked with delight.

Daddy. The word sliced through me.

"Careful, Caleb," Paige said, her voice laced with a fondness that made my blood run cold. "Don't get him too riled up before his nap."

"He's fine, aren't you, Dylan?" Caleb pressed a kiss to the boy's forehead. "My little champion."

Then, Paige's words reached me, wrapping around my throat and squeezing. "Thank you for this, Caleb. For all of this. For keeping us safe."

"Always," he replied, his voice the same gentle, reassuring tone he used with me every single day. "I'll always protect my family."

My family.

The world tilted on its axis. The sun felt cold. The beautiful farmhouse, the green fields, the laughing child-it all morphed into a grotesque theater of deceit. My marriage, my family, my entire life for the past five years... it was a stage. A cover story. A lie designed to protect them.

I felt a wave of nausea so powerful I had to press my hand to my mouth. The love I had cherished, the family I had yearned for my whole life-it was all a tool to hide a commercial crime and a secret family.

I stumbled back to my car, my body moving on autopilot. As I fumbled for my keys, my phone buzzed. It was a text from my mother.

`Just checking in, sweetie. Everything okay?`

The casual affection was suddenly monstrous. I stared at the screen, my vision blurring. They were all in on it. My parents, who had cried with me over Paige's 'death'. They were part of this lie.

My fingers moved, cold and numb, typing a reply. It was a reckless, desperate test. A single match thrown into a gas-filled room.

`Everything's fine. Just saw something strange on the way home. For a second, I thought I saw Paige.`

I hit send.

The response was instantaneous. My phone didn't buzz. It rang. It was my father. I let it go to voicemail. A second later, Caleb's phone, which I could see on the picnic blanket from my hiding spot, lit up. He answered it, his back tensing.

My own phone rang again. This time, it was Caleb. The caller ID showed the smiling photo of us on our wedding day. A cruel joke.

I answered, my throat tight. "Hello?"

"Grace? Honey, are you okay?" His voice was thick with that perfect, practiced concern. "Your dad called me, said you sent a weird text. What's this about seeing Paige? You must be exhausted."

I leaned my head against the cool glass of the car window, my nails digging into the flesh of my palm. The pain was a small, sharp anchor in the swirling chaos of my mind. I had to be calm. I had to play my part.

"I... I know," I whispered, forcing a tremor into my voice. "You're right. I'm just tired. It was just someone who looked like her. It startled me, that's all."

There was a pause. I could hear the wind rustling the leaves, the distant sound of the little boy's laughter.

"Of course, that's all it was," he said, his voice softening with relief. He bought it. "Listen, I'm just finishing up here. I'll be home soon, and I'll make you dinner. We can just relax. Okay, honey?"

"Okay," I managed to say.

He returned to his other life, to his real family, probably feeling like he had just expertly dodged a bullet.

But as I hung up, a chilling clarity washed over me. The man I had married wasn't just a liar. He was a stranger. And the love I thought was my salvation was actually my cage.