From Gilded Cage To Unchained Queen

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 heirloom necklace, only to gift it to her right in front of me.

Then he threw me out of the penthouse. My few cherished belongings-my books, a photo of my parents-were tossed out.

"Chaney doesn't like clutter," he told me, erasing my entire existence for her.

A text on his phone confirmed the brutal truth.

"Our little game is working perfectly," she'd written. "She's completely fooled."

Years later, after she betrayed him and his empire nearly crumbled, he came back begging. He thought he could buy my forgiveness. He was about to learn that my freedom had no price tag.