Caged Bird: The Monster Trilogy: The Monster Trilogy

By Marissa Farrar

She's his captive. His secret. His bird kept in a cage...

That's how he thinks of her as he keeps her in the basement, locked inside a massive ornate bird cage.

He feeds her trays of food through the bars and tries to offer her fresh clothing, but she throws them back at him.

That isn't what she wants. No kindness. Deep down, he knows what she needs - immersion into a world of pleasurable pain in order to escape her demons.

But he's unsure if he's the one who can offer her what she needs….

After all, she made him do this…

**Please note: Caged Bird is a novella. It is the story of what happens to Jess and Chapman after the end of the Monster Trilogy, but can be read as a complete standalone. Contains triggers - you have been warned!**

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warwick House Press
• Release date: Sep 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386075790

Book preview

Prologue

JESS SAT ON THE DUSTY ground, a man bleeding in her arms.

Behind her, the house that had been her prison went up in flames. Inside the massive property, the steady roar of the fire was broken up by the crack and pop and crash of the interior falling to pieces. The tang of smoke filled the air and rose from her skin and clothing.

The minutes and hours passed, and she lost track, unsure of how long she’d been there. She’d pressed hard on the man’s gunshot wound for so long, her fingers were numb, but she didn’t dare loosen her hold to wriggle them to try to get some blood back into them.

She stared down into the face of the man she cradled in her arms. He was dangerously pale, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow. But despite the danger he was in, she couldn’t miss the straightness of his nose, the square of his jaw highlighted by stubble, the way his bottom lip was a little fuller than the top.

A crazy thought filled her head—what if Rodriguez, the man who had owned her, wasn’t dead? What if he was about to come staggering out of the house, his skin scorched, his hair aflame, screaming at her to come back? That she was his property. That she had no right to leave him this way. That she was his.

She’d always been someone’s. Or at least it felt that way. Could she remember her life before she’d been taken? Before she’d been owned? She could, but it felt as though she was recalling someone else’s history. It no longer belonged to her.

The man gave a small moan, and her stomach lurched. What had they called him? Something beginning with C? She should have remembered. Others had said his name, but her mind had been so fraught, a whirlwind of disbelief and terror, that it had slipped from her thoughts as easily as sand through her fingers.

C ... C ... C ...?

Damn. What was he called?

Hey. She spoke softly. Can you tell me your name?

But, other than another soft groan, he gave no response.

The fingers of the hand plugging his wound tingled. Was she losing more feeling, or was some returning? She couldn’t be sure.

Had Monster and Lily made it to safety yet? Would they have notified the authorities? Would help be arriving soon?

Only the heat from the burning house kept them warm. The desert was cold at night, could even be freezing. Cold enough to kill.

But then the sweetest sound broke through the roar of flames and the crash of timber collapsing. In the distance came the wail of sirens approaching, and her heart tightened with hope.

They were coming! Someone would be here soon.

They were going to survive.

Chapter One

SHE’D THOUGHT THIS was going to be easier.

For once in her life, things were going well for Jess Rhinestone. She was free from the brutal trade that had stolen her and sold her body as though it were a piece of meat. She had a brave, strong, handsome man by her side, a man who seemed to worship her, though she didn’t believe she’d done anything to earn the adoration. But nothing was easy.

He deserved better.

Chapman.

She’d learned his full name now, though she still thought of him as ‘C.’

He’d almost died to save her, and yet now she gave him nothing in return.

The initial adrenaline of escaping the Mafia had seen her through her first few days of freedom. Though she’d dreamed of being free for a long time, she’d discovered freedom came with its own challenges. The nights sleeping in the hospital chair beside Chapman’s bed, terrified he was going to die. The multiple questions from the police. Her worry about the woman who’d been there for her during it all, Lily, and the man who’d come for Lily.

Monster.

She’d told the police exactly what she’d promised Lily and Monster. That she’d been abducted and sold, and then there had been an explosion and people had started shooting. She’d told them Chapman had followed her here from the port and the containers where she’d been held, and that he’d rescued her and was a hero. He wouldn’t be facing any kind of charges for his role in what had happened.

At the time, prosecution had been the least of her worries for him. She’d thought he would die from the gunshot wound he’d sustained, but against all odds, Chapman had recovered. She’d been there with him the whole time. She’d been the first face he’d seen upon waking, and she’d cried with relief, and they’d clung to one another, even though they’d virtually been strangers. And when the time had come for him to leave hospital, it only made sense for Jess to go with him, to continue to take care of him at home.

Her parents had wanted to take her home with them, but she couldn’t stand it. They fussed over her, treating her like a child, when what she’d gone through set her so far from childhood it wasn’t funny. She understood their hurt when she’d told them she didn’t want to go with them, but that she loved them. She needed more now. She needed to be with him.

What they’d been through had bound them, but Jess felt he had the raw end of the deal. Even as her love for him grew, so her anxiety and panic increased. Some believed love could cure all woes, but not for her.

The outside world was no longer safe. The touch of a man no longer brought her any pleasure.

Though now she was free, her world grew smaller every day and, as it did, so did she. Jess withdrew into herself, struggling with the slightest human contact, not wanting to go outside the four walls of Chapman’s house.

They lived together now, but she and Chapman had shared no more than a brief kiss, an embrace, a touching of hands, and even that was a struggle for her. Though she wanted to, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything more, and she hated seeing the rejection and hurt on his handsome face.

Over the next few months, he took her to see a doctor, a psychiatrist. That one didn’t help, and neither did the next one, nor the next. They prescribed drugs that made her nauseated and dizzy, and her anxiety only increased.

You should let me go, she told him, as they sat together on the couch one evening, her sitting at one end, her knees pulled up to her chin, her arms wrapped around her legs.

He looked at her with a frown. Let you go where?

She shrugged. It doesn’t matter. Just away from you.

Hurt flitted across his face. Is that what you want?

You deserve better than this. Than me. You should be living your life and instead you’re stuck with me.

I’m not stuck with you. I care about you. I won’t let you survive everything you did, only to throw your life away.

She studied his expression. Can’t you see I feel the exact same way about you?

Then that’s why you need to get better.