The Alplas gilded cage

Modern

I went to the City Clerk's office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk's pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray's text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we're done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray's life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.

Werewolf

She was his enemy. Then she was his prisoner. Now, she is his soul-bound prey. Arielle Monet was raised to be a queen of the French Syndicate-loyal, lethal, and silent. When she is captured by the ruthless "Devil of Marseille," Girard Roux, she prepares to endure hell for her family. She waits for t

History

"You're just my tool. Know your place." It's her duty to follow her master's command. Even at the risk of injuring herself or losing her mind. It's his right to make use of her cold-heartedly. Even discarding her when she had become useless. She was a bird trapped inside a gilded cage, slowly

Modern

I was Anderson Mathews' sugar baby, his pretty little thing. But when I saw him kiss his sister-in-law, Hope-his one true love-I knew I had to escape. I planned my exit meticulously, aiming to disappear the second my contract ended. I would become a scientist, find a kind, ordinary man, and build

Billionaires

The blinding flashbulbs popped as Leo Sterling' s hand dug into my back. To the world, we were a power couple-the tech mogul and his beautiful, indispensable assistant. It was a lie everyone in Silicon Valley knew and repeated. "Smile, Ava," he murmured, his voice a low command meant only for me

Romance

It was our eighth wedding anniversary, and my husband, Mark Johnson, wasn't home. He was celebrating another woman's birthday, as usual. I sat in the silence of our gilded cage, the emotional wounds from years of neglect and indifference finally festering. He never hit me, not until tonight, but

Billionaires

The media called my wedding to Damian Blackwood a modern Cinderella story. They didn' t know it was a gilded cage, and I was the bird about to be locked inside. As I stood in my bridal suite, my sister Jessica walked in, her husband Leo trailing behind. Her eyes raked over my expensive dress, and

Romance

Running for my life from my family's suffocating control, I was cornered by my father's security team in an empty private airport terminal. Desperate, I crashed into a tall stranger to use him as a human shield, only to realize I had just assaulted Hoyt David. He was an untouchable Wall Street billi

Mafia

Becoming a bride to settle a debt was never part of my dreams. Yet, my stepbrother's betrayal and a trap party turned my life upside down, shattering my illusions of a joyful marriage. Now, I'm faced with the harsh reality of being married to a ruthless Mafia boss, Alessio Marino. Can I trust his

Modern

I was the wife of Callan Drake, the man who conquered death to save me. Our love was a modern myth, and for five years, I was his most prized possession, living in a gilded cage everyone envied. But on our fifth anniversary, I discovered his perfect devotion was a lie. He was cheating on me with hi

Billionaires

My world revolved around the resonant strings of my cello and the man I loved, Ethan. Even after the devastating miscarriage, I tried to find solace in music, in the quiet rhythm of our opulent New York life. But that life shattered on a single, horrific night. Ethan claimed he wanted to cheer me

Romance

I was the "diamond" of the Sargent Foundation, a perfect orphan polished for the cameras and high-society galas. But beneath the glittering chandeliers, I was suffocating. When the pressure finally broke me and I tried to flee the Sargent Gala, I wasn't met with comfort. I was hunted down by securit

Mafia

Everyone thought I was the pampered queen of Marcus D’Angelo, New York's most feared Don. But I was just a placeholder for the woman he couldn't have: his cousin, Izzy. The truth shattered everything at a family dinner. A waiter tripped, sending a tureen of scalding soup flying toward the table. W

Modern

It was our tenth wedding anniversary, but the party felt exactly like the nine humiliating ones before it. My wife, Vanessa Thorne, a dazzling socialite to the world, was my warden, and tonight, she paraded her newest "toy," a young model named Liam. "Show him the ropes," she purred, her eyes alig

Romance

Ava Hayes lived a life that glittered like ice, a promising figure skater poised for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, coached by an ambitious mother and partnered with the charming Ethan Vance. Then she woke up, not from a dream, but from a terrifying, crystal-clear memory of a future that had

Modern

To save my dying father, I made a deal with the billionaire Christopher Kirkland. I became his secret, a bird in a gilded cage he paraded around when it suited him. But I was just a pawn in his twisted game to win back his ex-girlfriend. He proved it when he publicly outbid me for my own mother's

Mafia

A Gilded Cage, A Dangerous Heart Elara Vance dreamed of a life defined by quiet victories and the comforting scent of old books. Escaping a childhood shadowed by abuse, she had painstakingly built a fragile sanctuary with her chosen family, Liam and Chloe. For two blissful years, the scars of her pa

Adventure

(Underground rewritten) After five years and seeing death's door for the first time, Riley is back, better and stronger than ever with Cameron by her side. They are back where everything started. Back where they first met. History is about to repeat itself.

Romance

Her world was art, colorful, chaotic, and crumbling. His was power, cold, calculated, and built on secrets. When a desperate act forces a contract marriage between a fragile artist and a ruthless CEO, their union becomes a high-stakes gamble. She needs a miracle to save her cherished art center; he

Literature

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not

Modern

My life felt like a flawless painting: a thriving art gallery in SoHo, a visa to expand to Paris, and a husband, Ethan, whose grand gestures-even donating a kidney-painted him as the epitome of devotion. But the hushed "whispers even in paradise" I overheard at the French consulate soon materialize