Echoes of Love in Ruins

For five years, Aria played the perfect wife for Adrian Hale's business empire. When she asks for a divorce, he locks her in the basement, insisting Rosalie Sterling is only a Commerce Association representative he must court for the South District land. Yet Aria has seen him at Rosalie's prenatal appointment, and at the family banquet Rosalie collapses and blames her, so Adrian has her thrown into the dungeon to sober up.

There Aria uses a hidden transmitter to erase all records of her son Wesley and begin an evacuation. Adrian then tells her Rosalie will bear the Hale family's child, keeping the child and discarding the mother, while Aria remains Mrs. Hale. He showers her with gifts and a property transfer, certain she has been tamed. With seven days until her exit channel opens, Aria smiles and waits.