THE NOVELLA EDITION
Justin Freeman has always been told to grab what he wants from life. This time, he has taken the advice literally.
Hidden inside the finished basement of his father's home is April-a frightened young woman held behind a locked door by a man who insists that kidnapping her is an act of love. Justin believes enough patience, tenderness, and carefully chosen decorations can transform captivity into romance. His father, Wayne, knows his son is dangerous. But confronting the truth would mean confronting his own failures, and Wayne has spent years finding gentler names for Justin's darkest behavior.
As obsession becomes possession and protection becomes complicity, April must fight not only the men controlling her world but the inner wounds that have taught her to mistrust her own value. Her survival depends upon recognizing what Justin refuses to understand: a cage does not become less of a cage because someone decorates it.
Darkly comic, disturbing, and emotionally charged, Decorating Her Cage explores toxic masculinity, enabling, and the dangerous lies people tell when they mistake control for love.