Stained-A Cage Painted Red

I didn't walk into the cult. I ran.Away from the screaming, the hunger, the chaos of a life that was slowly killing me. The compound promised safety. Structure. Belonging. Father Michael called it salvation. I called it home.Until I saw what happened to the girls who were 'chosen' for private prayer. Until I realized the four-pointed compass around my neck wasn't a symbol of guidance; it was a brand. Until the man sent to hunt me down became the only person I could trust.Andre was one of them. An Enforcer. His job was to drag runaways back to the compound and make them remember their place. But somewhere between the chase and the capture, between the lies we were taught and the truth we couldn't ignore, everything changed.Now we're running. From Father Michael's wrath. From the compound that wants to reclaim what it thinks it owns. From the people who believe devotion means possession. But escape isn't freedom when the cage was built inside your mind. And the compound doesn't forgive betrayal. They built my cage with love and scripture. I painted it red on my way out.A dark romance about the cages we choose, the monsters we create, and the violence of becoming free. Welcome to the cage.