Gilded Cage: The CEO's Unwilling Bride

. Her lungs burned with every shallow inhale, the recycled, perfume-choked air turning to glass shards in her chest. She

n

her was louder than a gunshot in the orches

ade to keep from collapsing. She turned her head, her neck

r from across the ballroom. A rival m

gh the crowd, felt more in the soles

fl

stion, overrode the years of training that demanded she stand and smile. Sh

rom the side. A hea

ng the skin of her forearm. She flailed, her hand closing around nothi

a thousand silent moments of

ssive. He simply opened the door beh

edge of the Sargent estate, but in its very heart

reduced to a sing

m. It was Adrien's private study, a place she was never allowed to

opter, but a man descending the spir

n Sar

o tailored to his frame like a second s

tunneled. The last thing she saw before the darkness took her completely was the gleam of his polished Oxford

ifferent here.

resistance. Leather straps bound her wrists to th

immediate, fl

ice said. Not a r

exactly like his photos, only more terrifying. He was wearing a charcoal suit that

ed up a clipboard from the end

devoid of humanity. "Any beneficiary deemed mentally or emotionally unstable forfeits

rasped. Her throat felt like sand

ere a startling shade of grey, like storm clouds. "Clarice

y," she said, pulling at the restraints

arice. Your public breakdow

afening in the quiet room. He walked over to her, his fingers

the real asset behind your foster father's last three acqu

nto his jacket, pulling out a folde

ad

ex. Messy. As she scanned the legal jargon, her breath

m. "This is impossible to fight

on the chair's arms, trapping her. "Sign over your

ret he was guarding. "You're leveraging my shar

l," he

ankrupt thousands

etter get u

. "I won't be

ife. It showed an old, kind-faced man in a nursing home. Alfred. The butler who had raised her. A hand

ed, thrashing ag

ached curiosity of a scientist observing a lab rat. "Sign the proxy, o