Gilded Cage: A Dark Romance Retelling of Rumpelstiltskin: A Twisted Tales Novel Page 2

  We had nothing to our name. The only reason why servitude families existed was that we got what we needed from our serving families.

  We asked for our essentials, and they provided them for us.

  Money was never given to us. The only reason I knew how money worked was because of pictures in my textbooks and basic math.

  "Mr. Stiltskin has graciously agreed to help you," my mom said, sounding proud of herself.

  My dad cast her a dirty look, and since being at each other’s throats wasn't new, I ignored them.

  "I...I need some air," I told them as I ran toward the gardens.

  Why was the sudden thought of freedom terrifying me? Wasn't this something I had always wished for but never dared say it aloud?

  My running came to a halt when I made it to the golden fountain. I leaned over it, breathing heavily as I clutched the golden rails and steadied myself so I wouldn’t fall over. The breeze from the water cascaded on my face as a telltale sign that I was not dreaming.

  "Thought you'd be happier to start school?"

  That voice. It wasn't how it had been a year ago. It didn't sound as high-pitched anymore, but neither deep enough to confuse it for a man's voice.

  I turned around and came face to face with jade eyes I hadn’t seen in a while—Mason.

  He had grown from the last time I saw him, but so had I. There were two inches of difference between us, but even though I was taller than him, there was no way I could ever look down at him. His face had more acne now than it had back then. No one would call him handsome, but there was something about him that called you to him.

  "You're back," I breathed.

  "I couldn’t stay away longer, duty calls,” he joked sarcastically.

  "Did you not want to come back?" I cocked my head.

  His green eyes were dull and sad, and I wondered what made him that way. He had it all; what was there to be sad about?

  I didn't know much, but I did know the role each Order member played.

  The Kings were at the top of the oil industry. The Astors in big pharma. The Waters family practically ruled the oceans. The Morgans had real estate worldwide, and the Archibalds had successful luxury hotel chains worldwide. As for the Stiltskins, they had old money from investing into their friend's endeavors like some of the other families, but their time to shine came in the 2000s when they became some of the new leaders in the cyber world.

  So I couldn't understand why Mason looked like he didn't want anything to do with his family's money.

  Instead of answering me, Mason asked me a question of his own. One that I had no business thinking about, not when my own parents refused to answer it.

  "Have you ever wondered about your grandparents?"

  "No," I lied.

  "You're not a very good liar," he mocked.

  "It's not forbidden for the lower class to have children. In fact, it's encouraged," he tacked on, and I felt sick. The way he spoke, I felt like cattle.

  "Free servants," I spat through gritted teeth.

  "Bingo," he said. "Then, once a pregnancy is announced, they send the grandparents elsewhere. Ensuring that no one else steps out of line or they get their loved ones killed."

  I was going to throw up.

  "Why are you telling me this!" I gasped.

  Mason took a step toward me, and even though he didn't tower over me, I still shrunk in his presence.

  He took a tendril of my hair and played with it.

  "Your hair looks like strands of fine gold," he remarked as if he hadn't dropped a bomb on me.

  Without thinking, I went to smack his hand away. I instantly realized my mistake. Mason didn't get mad at me; instead, he smiled.

  "You're just like them," he said. "Your parents didn't care about what happened to their parents. I believe their words were: Kill them all..."

  Unease spread through me. Bile rose up in my throat because what he said didn't surprise me.

  "Back in the day, they would simply be killed, but good help is hard to find nowadays,” he joked, knowing damn well that was not the case. “The only thing that would keep your parents in check is you, their darling daughter.”

  This confused me since my parents have never been affectionate toward me.

  “For years, your parents have begged for my family to send you to school."

  Something didn't add up, but I couldn't think on the why or how now.

  "See you around, Goldie.” Mason’s words lingered in the air as he left, heading back to the house.

  That was the moment that started my fucked-up friendship with Mason.

  Past

  High school was hell on earth.

  It was the first day back, and I would rather drink dirty sock water than be back here. What was the point of titles? They didn’t mean dick when you died. Grabbing my leather backpack, I flung it over my shoulder, ready to get going to school.

  Just as I went to grab my keys, my mother flung the door to my room open.

  “Aren’t you embarrassed, Hilda?” I said, looking at what she was wearing.

  You’d never catch her in anything other than a designer gown with half her tits spilling out.

  She glared at me.

  The years were passing extremely fast for her, and she didn’t like it. I was surprised she let the servant and her mother stay in our house when their beauty surpassed hers. Hilda Stiltskin didn’t want anyone who was a threat to her youth on her premises.

  “Your father said he’s been trying to contact you all weekend, but you haven’t answered any of his calls.” I gritted my teeth so I wouldn’t snap at her and give anything away.

  “Sorry, I’ve been busy catching up with my friends,” I lied to her.

  “Oh, yes.” She waved me off as she lay in my bed. “How are Liam and Jason?”

  I rolled my eyes. Figured she would remember those two phoneys. Number one and number two in the current Order standing.

  “Great,” I said. “I’ll bring them over sometime.”

  She hummed her approval. I wouldn’t bring them over, and she wouldn’t ask again. This was just her pretending to care.

  “Goodbye, Hilda,” I said, trying to hide the urgent need to get away from my home.

  “Honey,” she said in a motherly voice that made me sick. “Don’t befriend that blonde bitch.”

  My response was to slam the door in her face. Hilda was part of our family now, but she wasn’t first in line to inherit her father’s business —she wasn’t my father's first choice either, but to her my father was a step up from marrying into a second branch. Being a Stiltskin made her part of the main core of Order Infinite members. She was in this relationship for power.

  I was doing fine, but she had to bring it up by mentioning my father. I didn’t realize what I was doing until I found myself in the bathroom. My breathing was jagged, and I felt like I was going to explode. I had so many emotions; I didn’t know how to contain them, but one thing always helped.

  It didn’t ease the asphyxiating feeling inside me, but it gave me some room to breathe. I looked at myself in the mirror afterward, marveling at how the crazy look in my eyes had left. I quickly rinsed my hands in cold water and walked out.

  My white Rubicon was waiting for me as I walked out the front door. The burning pain that I felt was the only thing that kept me grounded most days.

  I was halfway to the school when I noticed a lone figure walking down the isolated road. This town was built by the rich. The only thing those entrance gates contained was scandals because no one was stupid enough to try and steal from us.

  Without thinking, my jeep came to a stop.

  The blonde girl that lived in my house looked at me with wide whiskey eyes as if she couldn’t believe I was waiting on her. Well, that made two of us. The only reason I could think was that if I didn’t stop, some Order Infinite asshole would stop, only to rape and discard her all before the first period. Technically, this servant girl was my property.

  “M-m-mast
er Stiltskin,” she said as I rolled the passenger window down.

  “Get in the jeep, servant girl,” I told her as I moved my left hand from her view so she couldn’t see the blood that had stained my wrist.

  “I shouldn’t,” she said as she took another step.

  “If you want to get raped, then go ahead, but whatever deal your parents worked out won't be hanging over their heads—not only will you wish you were dead, you will be.”

  Was I harsh? Maybe so, but the world was a cruel place, and she was naïve. She was safe at my house, but here in the real world, she was a lamb ready to be slaughtered.

  She looked between the open road and me. I sighed, then unbuckled my belt, opened the door, and jumped out the Jeep. When I made it in front of her, she was looking at me with wide eyes. Without a word, I opened the door for her.

  “Hurry, and watch your step,” I instructed her impatiently. So far, no one had passed by, and I wanted her inside before anyone saw us.

  Once she had climbed in, I closed the door and went back to my seat. No words were exchanged as I drove to school; she watched with wide eyes as Royal Infinite Academy came into view.

  “Get out.” I broke the silence as I came to a stop near some trees far enough away that no one would catch a glimpse of us.

  Servant girl didn’t flinch; she just nodded, exited the car, and walked away. This time, I wasn’t trying to be a dick; I was doing her a favor.

  I might be part of the Order, but soon enough, this servant girl would see just how highly my parents thought of me.

  At the end of the day, it didn’t matter; our names already dictated our path in life.

  Once my car was parked, I stayed inside it until the first bell rang. I couldn’t help but wonder how her first day of school would go. Everyone here was out for blood.

  It had been a year since the last time I walked these halls, and a part of me had hoped I would change, come back a changed man, but that shit did not happen. I was the same short little fucker, but no one outside of the circle dared mock me.

  With those inside the Order, that was a different story. They had free range on me. Were they really that bored that they got off on bullying me?

  By lunchtime, everyone had heard about the new girl who had transferred into our school. It was expected, especially when you had the body of a model and the face of an angel. It wasn’t hard to notice her beauty; I wasn’t blind. But there was something else when you looked at her. Not loneliness but not anger either—either way, it fascinated me. Or I was just pathetic because she was someone I could have the upper hand with.

  “Hey, Imp!” someone shouted that lousy nickname I hated. People giggled, and I walked over to the table where the rest of the Order spawns sat.

  “What do you want?” I asked, sounding bored. At this point, correcting them wasn’t even necessary anymore. All of them could think of me however they wanted, but as soon as we set foot in the real world and I took the reins for my father’s company one by one, they would all kneel.

  Liam King was sitting there like the king he thought he was. All the girls flocked him. He had the looks and the money, while I only had the money.

  “Tell me, Imp, does servant girl suck good dick?”

  His question irritated me more than I thought it would. I had expected their reaction to her, and I thought it wouldn’t bother me, but I fisted my hands under the table. When my father told me she was coming to school—for a brief second, I got excited—thinking I finally had someone on my side. Stupid, right?

  Liam got up, and I practically heard the self-centered floozies sigh at the sight of him doing anything.

  He walked toward the center of the room and shouted for the whole cafeteria to hear.

  “Hey, new girl, come here.” He pointed a finger at the servant girl and motioned for her to come toward us.

  Everyone in the cafeteria stopped what they were doing to watch the exchange. This nobody, new girl had gotten the attention of King himself and was invited to eat with his disciples.

  They didn’t know we were just playing a game our ancestors left for us.

  Servant girl came up to us, walking timidly. She smiled shyly at me when her eyes found mine, but I gave her no reaction. Would she break under pressure?

  “Hi.” She beamed up at Liam. I didn’t know if it was because she was an idiot and genuinely thought he wanted to be her friend or she wanted to fuck him.

  “You’re hot,” he complimented her in a tone no different than the one he used on all the other girls.

  I could see the rest of the girls at our table glaring at servant girl for taking the attention of prince charming. They didn’t know that, unlike them, she was fucking doomed. She might know of our world, but she was the scum beneath our shoes.

  Servant girl blushed, and I rolled my eyes. I didn’t know why part of me thought she would be different. All women liked to use their beauty as power.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, looking up at him through hooded eyes.

  “She’s my property,” I found myself interrupting their cozy exchange, and every single head at the table turned toward me. Fuck, why did I say that shit? “She belongs to my family,” I added.

  Liam and his friends threw their heads back and laughed.

  “Did leaving make you forget your place, Imp?”

  “If your dick is small, just say that, Liam.” I got brave and talked back to him. I could have brushed him off, but I wanted to make him angry.

  “Bathroom. Now.” He glared at me and pointed to Jason so he could drag me along.

  I knew what that meant, and I felt numb to it. By now, the whole lunchroom had gone quiet.

  “Lead the way,” I said as I got up. I didn’t fear pain; I welcomed it, and at this point, Liam was doing me a favor.

  Liam King smiled at me and dragged servant girl with him. Jason, Connor, and Erin all followed. I could only assume Erin was who Liam was currently fucking, and she felt like it gave her a right to be here.

  We all headed toward the boys' bathroom by the locker rooms since it tended to be empty during classes. As soon as I walked in, Liam pushed servant girl to the corner and came for me. With his hands at the collar of my shirt, he pushed me against the wall.

  “You want to say that again, Imp?”

  “No one made you king, Liam,” I spat.

  His fist connected with my mouth. Pain radiated from my jaw, spreading to my cheeks.

  Fuck, that shit hurt.

  Servant girl screamed my name, and everyone laughed. I didn’t dare turn to her, but I did look at her in my periphery. She was being held back, and she seemed genuinely concerned for me. Her brows were scrunched, her face a reflection of pain.

  My attention returned to Liam, ignoring the feeling I got from knowing that she cared if I was hurt.

  “Is that all you got, asshole?” I said, sounding braver than I felt.

  The laugh Liam gave me was almost maniacal.

  He ignored me for a second and looked at the servant girl.

  “Come here, hot girl,” he demanded as he motioned for his friends to bring her over. When she was within reach, he touched her face. I wanted to snap his fingers and hear the bones break as I did so.

  That feeling was coming back. The one I couldn’t ignore that made me feel too much at once. Like my skin was crawling, and I was about to explode.

  My breathing was jagged, and I focused on Liam and what he said to servant girl since I needed him to help me numb the pain.

  “I know who you are,” he told her. “Here, you are at my disposal.”

  Servant girl seemed to hang on to his every word to see if he could shed some light on this mess.

  “If you want to succeed, you need to know that there’s a hierarchy in this place, and Imp is at the bottom.”

  “She’s my pet, Liam, not yours.” The words came out before I could filter them.

  Liam’s head turned my way slowly, and I braced myself.

  “Funny
you should say that, Imp, because you’re my pet.”

  That was the last thing I remembered before I blacked out. When I came to, everything hurt. Fire burned in my lungs, but for some reason, the floor wasn’t cold.

  “Oh God, you’re awake.” The voice was docile, concerned, but full of sweetness.

  Gold—this girl was pure gold in a world full of fake diamonds. Her eyes were the kind that you could get lost in for days, and you wouldn’t care. My head was on her lap, and I stared up at her trying to comprehend all the different emotions she was making me feel.

  “You’re…an…idiot,” I hissed.

  She smiled at me, and damn if it didn’t blind me and make me feel warm inside.

  “That’s not the thanks I was expecting.” She scrunched her nose, and somehow, I smiled.

  “You should do what Liam wants if you want to survive this place.”

  A look I couldn’t decipher crossed her face, but quickly disappeared.

  “I might not have many privileges, but I can choose my friends.”

  My laugh quickly turned into a wheeze, but, man, how fucked up was this. Servant girl was going to be my first friend.

  I didn’t question it; and perhaps I should have, but I was blinded by beauty like all men.

  Going to school was nothing like I had imagined it would be. People were vicious—worse than animals. You gave them some power, and they trampled all over you to make themselves feel better.

  My parents were over the moon due to the fact that I was getting an education, so now, it seemed like their previous fighting took a back seat. School was great, but I couldn’t help getting the feeling it was just the beginning of my problems.

  There had to be more kids my age that were in the same situation as me, right? Why weren’t they in school with me? Or perhaps they were younger? There was so much I didn’t know about the world I lived in, and it scared me. My world was so small, a tiny little cage, and anything that rattled it shook me to my core.

  My father walked into our room. His hair was messy. There was red all over the collar of his shirt. I looked at him, and he looked down at me.

  “Go help your mother with the laundry,” he demanded.