Caged No More (The Cage #3)

Kade

To my niggas who fuck her, feed her, spoil her and still sleep better with one hand around her throat and the other on a loaded Glock.

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A Word from Mr. & Mrs. Myles

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Now before we get into all the chaos, confusion, emotional damage, and the absolute bullshit currently taking place inside the Myles household, let’s clear something up right now. My husband is still insane. Yes, I said my HUSBAND! Go Argue with Jas’A.

“I mean, we do that enough already.”

“Yeah Kade, because you think you run every damn thing. You better be lucky she didn’t kill your crazy ass off somewhere in Volume Two.”

“Kill me off? You mean so I can come back hack her computer, delete every manuscript and cover she got archived, then shut this whole operation down? Yeah, aight. She can play pussy and get fucked if she want to.” My mouth fell open.

“Kade...you cannot threaten the author.”

“The fuck I can’t.”

“You are literally fictional.”

“And still the most valuable nigga in this series.”

Y’all see what I deal with? And this is EVERYDAY!

“But let’s be honest, she knew better anyway. Killing me off would’ve had half these readers outside her house throwing bricks through windows and crying in oversized hoodies.”

“You are SO dramatic.”

“And handsome. Don’t forget handsome.”

Anywayyss. As y’all can CLEARLY see, marriage did not heal him. Fatherhood ain’t soften him yet either. If anything, being married and knowing I’m carrying his twins only made this man worse.

“No it didn’t.”

“Yes the hell it did. Now can you stop interrupting me so I can get through this.” I shot back, turning to glare at him while he stood there looking unnecessarily handsome for absolutely no reason. “Can y’all believe my baby did the unthinkable and—”

“Damn, let them read it.”

“No, because the people deserve context.”

Do y’all understand how long I been trying to get this man to let the barber touch his head without acting like somebody threatening his constitutional rights?

“It wasn’t that serious.”

“You almost fought the barber, Kade.”

“He pushed my lineup back too far.”

Insane. But baby when I tell y’all that man walked back in this house looking like somebody rich stepdaddy fresh out a crime documentary interview.

Whew. Fresh haircut sharp enough to cut taxes, beard lined to perfection, tattoos peeking from under his black tee like temptation itself.

This man looks like expensive stress and excellent dick all wrapped in one emotionally unavailable package.

He knew it too. I could tell by the way he kept walking past mirrors and fixing his watch like he wasn’t waiting for me to fold. Arrogant-ass nigga.

His eyes dragged over me, softening in that way they only do for me now.

Me. His wife. Still sounds crazy to say out loud honestly.

Mrs. Myles. Damn. Life comes at you fast. One minute I’m trying to survive ramen noodles, foster care trauma, and emotionally unavailable men in books...

then boom. I’m barefoot in a mansion arguing with a billionaire while pregnant with twins who already act just like they daddy.

“Our twins. And stop telling these people I’m emotionally unavailable. You been emotionally all over me for months.”

“Babe, please. You tracked my location before we even started dating.”

“And I’d do it again.”

See? This what I’m talking about. Somewhere along the way, our lives stopped making sense and started making history instead.

Now here we are. Married. Toxic. In love.

Trauma bonded in designer clothes with a smart house, too many secrets, and enough family drama to keep every therapist in Memphis employed for the next decade.

And before y’all start getting comfortable thinking marriage magically fixed everything, let me be the first to tell you it absolutely did not.

We still argue. He still growls at people for looking at me too long.

I still threaten to smother him with a pillow when he gets on my nerves.

And pregnancy only added a whole new layer of hell.

“Tell them how you cried because the restaurant forgot your extra pickles.”

“I was grieving.”

“You threw ranch at me.”

“You survived.”

Kade is over here shaking his head, but I see that smile trying to break through.

The one he gives me when he forgets he’s supposed to be intimidating twenty-four hours a day.

Truthfully, we’ve been through enough together to break most people.

Some days it feels like we survived a war just to come home and start another one in matching robes.

But somehow...through all the lies, blood, treachery, obsession, and cages we built around ourselves and each other, we stayed.

That’s the part nobody tells you about love like ours.

It isn’t soft all the time. It isn’t pretty either.

Sometimes it’s ugly crying in penthouses.

Sometimes it’s screaming matches in million-dollar kitchens.

Sometimes it’s holding each other through panic attacks, grief, nightmares, and ghosts that refuse to stay buried.

But it’s real. And after everything life has thrown at us, real means more than perfect ever could.

“You forgot the part where you worship me.”

“Oh my God.”

“Put it in there.”

“You’re literally the reason stress headaches exist.”

“And still your favorite person.”

I stared at him for a second. “Unfortunately...he’s right.”

“Damn right.”

Anyway, before we get into this story, just understand one thing. The last time y’all saw us, the cage was cracking. This time, everything inside it has finally come undone. And trust me when we say this...the Myles family has been going THROUGH it.

“You forgot to mention your attitude got worse.”

“And you forgot to mention you still need therapy.”

“For what, I got you.”

“That is not how mental health works.”

You see him shrugging, that’s because he truly don’t give a damn. Chile, I’m tired. Not tired of him though. Never him. (Side eye)

Just tired in the way people get after surviving too much life, too fast. The kind of tired that settles in your bones after years of fighting to be loved correctly.

Yet somehow, through all of it, we made it here.

No we not perfect, normal or peaceful half the damn time either.

But we got is raw, complicated, obsessive, unhinged and FOREVER.

So, before y’all turn this page and step back into our world one last time, there’s only one thing left to say.

“Brace yourselves.”

“Uh-uh Kade. That’s your dramatic sendoff?”

“What, it’s accurate.”

“Just tacky. Move, let me do it.”

He rolled his eyes but waved his hand dramatically for me to continue. I smile before looking back at y’all.

Welcome back to the cage, babies—only this time, ain’t nobody leaving unchanged.

??

Kade

The skyline of Memphis stretched behind us in sharp silver lines through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my executive conference suite, the city buzzing beneath our feet while Forbes conducted one of the most invasive interviews of my career.

Normally, I hated shit like this. Cameras.

Reporters. People asking too many damn questions with fake smiles and rehearsed curiosity.

Most days I tolerated it because public image mattered when your company practically kept half the digital world breathing.

But today I was in an unusually good mood.

Probably because my wife sat beside me looking like the physical manifestation of every prayer I never thought God would answer for a nigga like me. The interviewer smiled across from us, adjusting her stack of cue cards.

“First of all, congratulations are most certainly in order. Not only are you currently ranked among Forbes Top 100 most influential tech innovators, but congratulations to both you and your beautiful wife on the recent marriage and the twins.”

Ysis smiled beside me, rubbing her stomach as the diamonds on her wedding ring nearly blinded everybody in the damn room. She was mine, every piece of her.

“Appreciate it,” I responded smoothly, keeping one hand resting possessively on her thigh underneath the table. “It’s definitely been...an adjustment.”

“An adjustment?” Ysis repeated, turning toward me with disbelief all over her pretty face. “This man bought security clearance for my doctor’s office because another father said I looked beautiful in the waiting room.”

“He looked too long.” The interviewer blinked rapidly as the production team tried not to laugh. Ysis sighed dramatically toward them.

“See what I deal with?”

“I married you to deal with you legally.” I corrected. My wife rolled her eyes fighting a smile, the entire room softening around us. The interviewer laughed before redirecting back to the conversation.

“Speaking of adjustments, the entire business world has been buzzing over rumors that you may be stepping back from day-to-day operations at Myles Tech. Is there any truth to that?”

“There is.” I leaned back comfortably in my chair, adjusting the cuffs of my black Tom Ford suit as cameras zoomed in tighter.

“Myles Tech isn’t going anywhere. The company is stronger than ever actually.

But priorities shift.” My eyes slid toward Ysis and softened.

Damn. This woman had completely rewired me.

“I spent most of my life building empires because I thought power was the closest thing to peace I’d ever get.

Turns out peace looked a lot more like going home to my wife every night instead.

” I admitted honestly. Ysis glanced over at me, her expression melting in that way it always did whenever I accidentally let too much truth slip out in public.

“So what does that mean for the future of the company?”

“It means I trust the people around me enough to let them lead. Cazmir Valecrest will be stepping into a larger executive role as CFO handling operations and corporate oversight. Marcus Reddick will continue heading security and serve as COO where needed during transition periods. Both of them are solid men and more than capable.”

“And you?”