The Gilded Cage

Walking along the campus path, I would hear whispers around me.

"Look, that’s Elaine Warren! She’s incredible!"

But now, at thirty-five, how did I end up like this?

Scarlett lifted her head, her delicate, youthful face turning toward me.

Her voice was soft and gentle.

"Elaine, please don’t blame Mr. Sterling.

"It happened at the company’s annual gala. We both had too much to drink.

"I was going to terminate the pregnancy, but Madam Sterling found out and took me for a checkup. When she learned it was a boy, she insisted I keep it."

She rested a hand on her stomach, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"You know how much Madam Sterling has always wanted Daniel to have a son.

"You couldn’t give her one, so for years, he’s been the one taking the pressure for you."

A wave of sheer absurdity crashed over me, suffocating and overwhelming.

I clutched my throat, as if the saltwater from that night still filled my lungs.

The ridiculousness of it all made me laugh in fury.

"She knows exactly why I never had another child. I’ve said it before that Anna will be my only child. I will never have another."

"Suit yourself."

Daniel stood up.

At six foot two, he towered over me, his shadow swallowing me whole.

His expression was as heavy as the rainstorm outside.

"When you were twenty, your little tantrums were amusing.

"But at thirty? They’re not cute anymore.

"They’re pathetic."

He spoke each word slowly and deliberately.

"Elaine Warren, think this through."

…

After that, I applied to seven or eight more companies.

Without exception, every opportunity was sabotaged by Daniel.

My expertise was in the tech industry, and the Sterling family held immense influence in that field.

He even spread the word—any company that dared to hire me could forget about receiving an invitation to next year’s Tech Summit.

The moment that warning went out, companies avoided me like the plague.

The second HR heard the name “Elaine Warren,” they didn’t hesitate to hang up the phone.

Then, Daniel called.

His voice was slow, almost amused.

"Running out of money yet? Come back and apologize, and you’ll still be Mrs. Sterling."

I clenched my fists so tightly that crescent-shaped marks dug deep into my palms.

I gave him only three words.

"Not a chance."

After we married, Daniel handed me a limitless credit card.

From jewelry and designer bags to luxury goods, I could buy anything I wanted.

However, I couldn’t withdraw cash.

That marriage, that family, had been nothing more than a gilded cage.

Dazzling, unbreakable, and the envy of everyone, yet it suffocated me.

The next day, I stood in front of a cleaning company.

"$6 an hour, 10-hour shifts, daily pay. Work locations vary based on client assignments."

A middle-aged woman with permed curls placed a uniform in front of me, eyeing me from head to toe with skepticism.

"Can someone like you—so well-educated—handle physical labor?"

I took the uniform and smiled. "Don’t underestimate me. I’m good at this."

My parents passed away when I was thirteen.

To survive and afford my education, I had worked as a waitress at a small-town diner, washed cars at an auto shop, and sold clothes in a boutique.

After I got together with Daniel, people often told me, "Elaine, you and Daniel live in two different worlds."

I knew that.

He had been on hunting trips in South Safari and watched the aurora in the South Pole.

Wherever he traveled, places would shut their doors to the public just to welcome him.

Meanwhile, before I turned eighteen, I had never once stepped outside my small hometown.