Page 59 of The Caged Girl

I could see the fear in her eyes and looked around. The men in the audience were smiling with delight. A few seats over from me, I saw one of the men rub his crotch.

“Please help her,” I said to Alister under my breath, and he squeezed my hand tightly. Layla tugged out a knife and the man held Jamie down. Layla began cutting into her flesh, but not with long gashes or sudden jabs. She placed intricate cuts on the girls’ flesh as she screamed and sobbed. The scene changed again.

I let go of Alister’s hand and covered my mouth. Everyone around me was completely unbothered.

The woman was naked and hung upside down from the cage, bleeding out alongside other women who were all wearing another girl’s face. The stitches were spaced out so the flesh curled and fell forward.

“Alister,” I gasped and looked at him.

“Let me…” His eyes shifted and he looked at me as if he would kill me in that moment. Pools of blood flooded the floor of the cage.

My head felt fuzzy as the film continued, cutting to new scenes.

It was an all-white morgue. But then it went black.

The Caged Girlwas written in bright red letters at the end.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO

“We area society of men who have been hand-selectedto keep the legacy of what real men should be like alive,” Alister boasted as he stood on stage with one hand snaked around my waist.

Each man in the audience had a glass of champagne.

“Declan Rothschild has always wanted to be a father. Understand, I don’t simply grant wishes, especially when it comes to a customizable child—I must be selective. Declan wanted to have a child born to a woman of strength. My precious little nightingales make for the perfect breeders; however, not all have the strength you just saw. Raven is special. She has immaculate genetic makeup, she is obedient, and she is beautiful. She gives and doesn’t take as a woman should. Jamie was a dove, who was naughty and disrespectful, so now we must cleanse her body and make her useful elsewhere. We took her face and put it on another woman who was obedient in hopes that Jamie’s soul could learn that skill. As you know, La Gabbia doesn’t believe in wastefulness. We reduce, we reuse, and we recycle.” A sinister grin grew on Alister’s face as he looked down at me.

“As you all know, I recently married my own beautiful bird. You see, when I met Demi, I didn’t know where to place her. She’s obedient like my precious doves, but she’s got a very dark side, like my nightingales.” He brushed his hand across his mouth.

“I just know she’ll do whatever it takes to continue this legacy. Many do not understand our kind—they say we are a dying breed of men. If you’ve been to the therapist here for your one-on-one session, you know we aren’t sick or tainted. We are masculine men who crave full control in all forms.”

I didn’t understand what Alister was talking about. Society? I licked my lips as the men lifted their glasses in the air.

“To never healing. The only healing that needs to be done is for those who are broken, and we, gentlemen, are not broken. We will create a legacy the same way my father did for my brother and me. We will release our inner rage and become better fathers and husbands. We will know that La Gabbia is our source of solitude, and our families can have the other version of us. We can mask who we are, knowing we have a place where we can be seen.”

“Cheers!” Alister lifted his glass and drank. Saving just a bit, he handed it over to me. “Drink it, my love. It’s infused with the peonies we grow on fertile soil. It’s time we prepare your womb for my seed.”

Stomach acid tickled my throat.

Drinking the remainder of the champagne, I looked at the crowd. These men were wealthy celebrities, bankers, doctors, singers, financiers. These men had trust funds and bank accounts larger than anyone could ever imagine.

But these men were all sick.

* * *

“I need to understand what this society is exactly?” I sat at my new, hand-carved vanity Alister had gifted me as Kandi and Taylor helped me get ready for bed. It was Alister’s rule that I always looked presentable and had them help me with every outfit change, including bedtime.

“Mrs. Ivory, we don’t know anything about your husband’s society. We are here to simply work and serve you both and the rest of our beloved guests.” Taylor cleared her throat and continued to brush my hair as Kandi removed my makeup and began doing my skincare.

“I’m sorry for how I spoke to you both earlier.” I looked at them through the mirror. Truthfully, they were the ones who’d worked here the longest.

“Nothing to apologize for, ma’am.” Kandi rubbed some fancy serum into my skin.

I had to tread lightly. “He was talking about some society, and that’s why La Gabbia was created.”

Kandi looked at Taylor before sighing. “Mrs. Ivory, La Gabbia was created as a piece of heaven in a world that is otherwise mostly hell.”

“Heaven? For whom, exactly?” Taylor coughed out.

I put my hand up and asked them to stop. “I know they are abusing women here. But where are these women coming from, and how come none of the wives are questioning anything? They are here just enjoying the amenities without a care?”

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