Gilded Cage A Russian Mafia Romance Nicole Fox Copyright © 2021 by Nicole Fox All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Created with Vellum Contents Mailing List Also by Nicole Fox Gilded Cage 1. Esme 2. Esme 3. Artem 4. Esme 5. Esme 6. Esme 7. Esme 8. Artem 9. Artem 10. Esme 11. Esme 12. Artem 13. Artem 14. Esme 15. Artem 16. Esme 17. Esme 18. Artem 19. Esme 20. Esme 21. Artem 22. Artem 23. Artem 24. Esme 25. Esme 26. Esme 27. Artem 28. Artem 29. Artem 30. Esme 31. Artem 32. Artem 33. Esme 34. Artem 35. Esme 36. Esme 37. Artem 38. Artem 39. Esme 40. Artem 41. Esme 42. Esme 43. Artem 44. Artem 45. Artem 46. Esme 47. Esme 48. Esme 49. Artem 50. Artem 51. Esme 52. Esme 53. Artem 54. Artem 55. Esme 56. Esme 57. Artem 58. Esme 59. Esme 60. Artem 61. Artem 62. Artem 63. Esme 64. Esme 65. Artem 66. Artem 67. Artem 68. Esme 69. Artem 70. Esme 71. Artem Mailing List Also by Nicole Fox Mailing List Sign up to my mailing list! New subscribers receive a FREE steamy bad boy romance novel. Click the link below to join. https://sendfox.com/nicolefox Also by Nicole Fox Kovalyov Bratva Duet Gilded Cage (Book 1) Gilded Tears (Book 2) Princes of Ravenlake Academy (Bully Romance) *Can be read as standalones! Cruel Prep Cruel Academy Cruel Elite Bratva Crime Syndicate *Can be read in any order! Lies He Told Me Scars He Gave Me Sins He Taught Me Belluci Mafia Trilogy Corrupted Angel (Book 1) Corrupted Queen (Book 2) Corrupted Empire (Book 3) De Maggio Mafia Duet Devil in a Suit (Book 1) Devil at the Altar (Book 2) Kornilov Bratva Duet Married to the Don (Book 1) Til Death Do Us Part (Book 2) Heirs to the Bratva Empire *Can be read in any order! Kostya Maksim Andrei Tsezar Bratva Nightfall (Book 1) Daybreak (Book 2) Russian Crime Brotherhood *Can be read in any order! Owned by the Mob Boss Unprotected with the Mob Boss Knocked Up by the Mob Boss Sold to the Mob Boss Stolen by the Mob Boss Trapped with the Mob Boss Volkov Bratva Broken Vows (Book 1) Broken Hope (Book 2) Broken Sins (standalone) Other Standalones Vin: A Mafia Romance Box Sets Bratva Mob Bosses (Russian Crime Brotherhood Books 1-6) Tsezar Bratva (Tsezar Bratva Duet Books 1-2) Heirs to the Bratva Empire The Mafia Dons Collection The Don’s Corruption Gilded Cage Book One of the Kovalyov Bratva Duet I’LL LOCK HER IN A GILDED CAGE AND THROW AWAY THE KEY. The night we met, she thought she was tasting freedom. I devoured her once and left before I even knew her name. Four months later, Bratva business leads me to the house of my enemy with one objective: Burn it down and kill everyone inside. That’s exactly what I plan to do… Until I find her cowering before me. The innocent girl from the club. My beautiful caged bird. I’m not here to save her—I’m here to ruin her. But something stops me in my tracks. Something I never expected. Did she say that’s my baby in her womb? 1 Esme A SECRET LOCATION ON THE PACIFIC COAST OF MEXICO I look around at my bedroom and fight the urge to scream. It’s beautiful by any measure. The finest furniture. The most expensive art. But I see it for what it really is: a gilded fucking cage. My eyes settle on the picture board I set up when I was fifteen years old. I still remember the first thing I stuck up there—a glossy postcard of Florence, Italy. Seven years have passed since I first pinned it up. The postcard is no longer glossy. It stares back at me, old and faded, a constant reminder of the invisible steel bars that surround my life. The board shows all the places I’ve always wanted to go. The Coliseum in Rome. The Great Wall of China. The pyramids in Egypt. But they’re all just fantasies. I’ve only left my father’s home once. The picture of that lone trip is up there, too. I reach up and take it down. In the photograph, my older brother, Cesar, stands beside me, his arm wrapped protectively around my shoulders. The Eiffel Tower pierces the low clouds behind us. We’re both smiling. Oblivious to the future. Oblivious to how little time he and I had left together. It’s been years since Cesar’s death and yet it still hurts to think about him. You should be here with me, I think. Maybe then things would be different. My fingers caress Cesar’s face for a moment. But when tears start to prick at the corners of my eyes, I pin the picture back up on the bulletin board—facedown, so I don’t have to look at it and remember everything I’ve lost. A knock on my door interrupts my thoughts. I turn to face the door. “Yes?” “Señorita Esme, your father requests your presence downstairs in the formal sitting room.” The muffled voice belongs to Sofia, one of the maids who works here at my father’s compound. I close my eyes for a moment and breathe deeply. The only reason Papa would “request” my presence in the formal sitting room is so I can be his show pony. My father likes to flaunt his possessions. And unfortunately for me, I’m his crown jewel. I open the door and come face to face with the woman. She’s small, Mexican, shy, beautiful. “I guess I shouldn’t ‘request’ that he go fuck himself, should I?” I drawl. Sofia flinches like I slapped her. It’s just a joke, of course. But she’s seen what my father is capable of. We both know that saying that to his face would earn me a month in the cellar. I sigh. “Never mind. Gracias, Sofia. Tell Papa I’ll be down soon.” I expect her to nod in her usual respectful manner and walk away, but she continues to stand there in her black and white maid’s uniform, wringing her hands together nervously. Not a good sign. “Is there something else, Sofia?” “Señorita…” Her tone is apologetic already. I frown. “What else does he want?” Sofia raises her brown eyes up to meet mine. She is a little paler than usual, which is pretty standard when my father is in the house. We all walk on eggshells whenever he is around. “He also said would like you to wear a dress,” she finishes, lowering her eyes again. “‘Something a man would like,’ he said.” So he wants to impress some unspecified male guest or guests. That’s not a good sign at all. I offer Sofia a forced smile. “As Papa wishes, he shall
