Chapter 3 A Beautiful Cage
Three long days.
I stopped crying because tears changed nothing.
Xavier leaves the house for work every morning and returns every night like the perfect normal husband. When we were in public space, he held my hands, smiled at me, and told me the most beautiful things ever to make people believe we’re perfect.
But anytime we got home, the smile vanished.
I was not allowed to go anywhere without a driver.
He changed my phone to a new one.
The old one, together with the videos, was gone.
Xavier said it was for my safety.
But I knew it was to watch me.
“You’ll tell me before leaving the house,” he said one morning while buttoning his shirt.
Am I your prisoner?”
“No.” His voice was calm. “You’re my wife.”
I met his eyes. “Feels the same to me.”
He held my gaze for a beat before walking away.
“That’s because you haven’t learned the difference yet.”
The mansion no longer felt like home.
Security guards stood at every gate.
Even the maids reported everything I did.
If I stayed in the garden too long, Xavier knew.
If I made a phone call, he knew.
If I skipped a meal, he knew.
It was like living under constant watch.
One afternoon, I decided to call my father.
I missed him.
I was dying to hear his voice more than anything in the world
The phone had only rang once by the time Xavier walked into the living room.
“Hang up.”
I frowned.
“I just want to hear my father’s voice, that’s all.
“You’ll see him at dinner tomorrow.””
“Do I also need your permission to call my own father”?
His eyes were sparking with this stern look.
“I…. said… hang up,”he said slowly.
Something in the way he said it made my heart jump.
I slowly ended the call.
Without a word, he closed the distance between us, took the phone from my hand, and placed it on the table.
“One day, you’ll understand.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Even if I do, I’ll never forgive you. Not you, and not your reasons.”
He said nothing. He didn’t even try to defend himself.
That night, my phone beeped.
Unknown Number.
My heart skipped a bit.
Another picture.
Xavier was holding this same woman in his arms.
They looked happy.
Comfortable.
Like they belonged together.
Another message followed.
He smiled like this with me long before he married you.
My eyes filled with tears.
I deleted the picture immediately.
Another one arrived.
Then another.
Then a short video.
Xavier was laughing.
I had never seen him laugh that freely with me.
My hands trembled.
Another message appeared.
**He’ll never love you.**
**You’re just wearing my place.**
I threw the phone with anger on the bed and covered my ears.
I didn’t care anymore
I didn’t want to know anymore.
But the messages kept buzzing in.
By the time Xavier came back that evening, I had already received twelve pictures and four videos.
He noticed my swollen eyes immediately.
“Oh….she sent them again.”
It wasn’t a question.
I looked at him.
“You know?”
His look changed.
“I’ll deal with it.”
“So you know who she is?”
For the first time, I saw something unusual in Xavier’s expression.
Frustration.
“No.”
“You don’t know?”
He remained silent.
That silence surprised me.
For the first time, Xavier has something bothering him.
She’s making Xavier frustrated.
She knew his secrets.
She could ruin whatever he was planning.
He picked up my phone and read all the messages.
His face darkened.
“She’s getting on my nerves”
“Who is she?”
“Well, that’s none of your business,is it”?
I could tell how angry he was from his voice that even I was shocked.
He called someone immediately.
“Double the security.”
A pause.
“I don’t care about the costs.”
Another pause.
“I want every camera checked.”
He ended the call and turned to me.
“From today, you won’t leave this house without me or my permission”
I laughed bitterly.
“You’ve already locked me in.”
“Does it look like I’m joking”?
“My life isn’t mine either.”
He ignored my words.
“The driver answers to me. The guards answer to me. If anyone contacts you, I want to know.”
“You don’t own me.”
He’s eyes met with mine
“You may not want to accept it, but I actually do.”
The word kept me out of bed as it continued echoing in my head.
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
Around midnight, Xavier’s study room light was still on.Curiosity pushed me out of bed.
The door wasn’t fully closed.
I stood quietly outside.
“I have been enabling her,so he doesn’t know boundaries” Xavier said into the phone.
“Warn her.”
Silence.
Then his voice became colder.
“If she ruins this marriage, my years of planning will be wasted.”
Years of planning?
My heart skipped.
What was he talking about?
I leaned closer.
“You think I marry Laurel for nothing,” he continued.
“I won’t let anyone destroy what I’ve built.”
My chest pounds loudly.
Just as he was about to say more, my phone buzzed loudly, cutting him off.
I quickly stepped back.
Xavier opened the study door immediately.
Our eyes met.
He knew I had heard something.
Without saying a word, he walked toward me and held out his hand.
“Your phone,” he said.
I held it tighter.
“No.”
His expression didn’t change.
“My patience is running out, Laurel”
Another message popped on my screen.
Xavier saw it before I could hide it.
He snatched the phone from my hand.
His face turned dark as he read the message.
Then, without warning, he handed the phone to me.
My fingers trembled as I looked at the screen.
It wasn’t a picture this time.
It was a document.
A scanned file.
At the top was my father’s name.
Below it…
His signature.
And beneath that…
A con
fession to a crime I knew my father had never committed.
I looked up at Xavier in horror.
He smiled.
“Now you understand why you can’t leave
me.”
