In the silent bedroom, the silk wedding dress clung to her like ice, every inch of friction a blade, tearing at her last vestiges of dignity. She hugged herself tightly, fingers digging into her arms, trying to use the pain to fend off the bone-deep chill seeping from the room, and the suffocating predation in the man's abyss-like eyes. **[A pathetic prey, systematically lured into a trap, with no escape.]** She hadn't come here willingly. Sarah, the duplicitous maid, had personally thrust her into this opulent cage. The bridal gown wasn't a garment of joy; it was a shroud for a sacrifice. “The second rule,” his voice, a low thrum, coiled around her throat like invisible chains, constricting her breath, “You are forbidden from touching me without my permission.” His ice-cold gaze declared his absolute dominion over her, and his utter contempt for any hint of defiance, as if her very breath were an affront. **[He savored this power, reveled in her struggle.]** Then came the even more brutal third rule, accompanied by a predatory, almost demonic smile that flickered across his lips—a smile so fathomless it struck terror into her very soul: “You cannot say no to me.” Her heart plummeted like a massive stone into an abyss, humiliation and terror growing wild in her chest, threatening to tear her apart. When he commanded, “Now… take off your clothes,” her voice was barely a whisper, a desperate plea, fragile as a dying butterfly: “But… we don’t even know each other.” **[Acquaintance? That was never what he wanted.]** **[In this devil's game, she was predestined to lose.]** His reply was a bloody, heavy hammer, instantly shattering every shard of her remaining hope. “Listen,” he said, his voice glacially cold, each word a precise stab at her most vulnerable point, tearing at her last thread of resilience and plunging her into agony. “We can still call the hospital and postpone your grandmother’s surgery, can’t we?” Her breath hitched, tears welled in her eyes, but immense fear choked them back, transforming into an ocean of despair. She was trapped—by an unforgiving reality, by the life of her loved one held as a ruthless bargaining chip in his hand, trapped in this gilded cage, more frigid than any hell. She knew, she had no choice. When Malissa's grandmother falls gravely ill, she's forced into a desperate deal with Hayden, the ruthless heir to the country's most powerful mafia. Hayden offers to cover the medical expenses, but in return, Malissa must marry him and bear his child, all while promising never to fall in love...