Page 67 of The Caged Girl

“Don’t touch me.” I brushed at my shoulder before standing.

Who was I becoming? What was I becoming?

I made my way into the private pool-view rooms above the kitchen, where the girls were still cooking in nothing but aprons and being filmed as part of the cinema selection for the Euphoria floor.

“Mrs. Ivory, you’ve done well for yourself in such a small amount of time, my friend.” Sage Rothschild stood by the window and smiled at me. She had sunglasses on, a scarf wrapped around her neck, and was sipping a glass of Ivory champagne.

“I suppose so, Sage.” The clear action of using her first name was an easy display of my shift in power.

“I ordered a custom product.” She slid her glasses off and looked out to the pool. “Declan and I thought we’d select something from the inventory, but they were all too…dated?” She waved her hands.

She was going to become the mother to my sister and Bradley’s child, and here she was, calling that child, my niece or nephew, a custom product. But more than her being the mother of that child, the fact that Declan, the disgusting vile man who nearly killed me, would be their father? The man who choked me and didn’t understand the word ‘no’ pleading from my mouth? The man Alister let live solely because he was concerned how it would look if a prominent, wealthy white man went missing at his resort?

I knew I didn’t have much say in any of this. I had too much to lose if I tried anything.

But suddenly, I thought about something that may be my own little project here.

“Sage…may I ask you a personal question?”

She looked at me with interest as I waved her over to a table. “Do you love your husband?” She paused. “Actually, let me ask you this… How did you meet?”

Her presence shifted almost immediately.

She grew closer to me and brushed her finger against my face. “Mrs. Ivory, you really don’t remember me, do you?”

“Sage…” I tried to back away, but she grabbed my wrist.

“Close your eyes and think, Demi,” she rasped. “You were just their little housekeeper. You came into Dr. Ivory’s office to clean and pulled the curtain back. I’m sure you thought you’d see trees or something pretty, didn’t you?”

Her voice grew deeper and raspier. “I was one of the caged girls you left behind to die—just like you did to your own flesh and blood. And look at the poor girl, she’s giving life while you steal it.”

My breathing grew rapid as I looked into her eyes. “You were there? You were her?” I choked out as I peeled her hands off me.

“Declan bought me out of the catalogue. I won.” She chuckled.

“Sage, I didn’t know… I… Wait.” Goosebumps scattered across my arms as I stood and pressed my hands against the glass window.

Suddenly, everyone outside, all the wives, stopped.

They looked at me through the window and smiled. Most wiggled their fingers in small waves, while some even blew me kisses.

Blonde hair, green eyes, perfectly pale skin, white dresses, and…submissive personalities. They stayed with the doves on the all-white floor. Their meals were all white.

Rice, yogurt, peeled radishes, vanilla cake, and milk…

I flung around, and Sage was standing there, grinning. “We’re all just precious little birds, finally set free.”

It felt like the entire world was closing in on me. I’d never escape this sick, all-white world. These women were so happy to be here because it was better than the cages they all came from. There wasn’t just one caged girl; there were hundreds, if not thousands walking this earth. These women were the custom-made brides from Ian Ivory.

“Sage, listen to me. I have an idea…” My voice trembled as I walked toward her. It was all interconnected. The Ivory family was everywhere. They made sure to have businesses that poured into one another. Wealthy men needed obedient and submissive wives, so they sought out Ian Ivory. Then, once they were married and bored, they needed an escape and their wives wanted children…

So, they came to La Gabbia. “Why do so many of you choose to take children from here?” I questioned.

Sage rubbed her hands against her abdomen. “When we get purchased by rich men, we are expected to be submissive and use our training from the white therapy. Some of us try to fight back when they…torture us. There is a one strike rule. They say we are being hysterical, so they force us to get hysterectomies.” She switched her entire personality. “But now, Declan and I need a legacy. We need children to fill our home. My children were stolen from me when I let sex and booze consume me. The Ivory family saved me.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed out in shock. “Sage, do you love your husband?”

Something changed in the way she looked at me. “Of course.” She anxiously looked to the corner of the room.

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