Chapter 4
Aria's POV
Late at night in the study, Adrian was in a remote meeting.
I lay on the bed in the guest room when the communicator suddenly vibrated wildly.
A highest-level alert came through. The safe house had been exposed, and unknown individuals were breaking down the door!
My heart stopped.
That was Wesley's hiding place!
Before I could respond, Rosalie's saccharine voice drifted through the slightly open door from outside.
"Mr. Hale, we found it. Those old fogies trying to bring you down have hidden core secrets in a villa in the Wesleytern suburbs. Oh, and apparently there's a child hidden inside too."
My entire body went cold.
That wasn't some core secret. That was my son!
"A child?"
Adrian's voice instantly turned ice-cold.
"I hate it most when people do things behind my back."
I suddenly remembered two years ago when he'd thrown a mistress who tried to use her illegitimate child to climb the ranks into the ocean, right in front of me.
Those were his exact drunken words.
"Aria, remember this. Anyone who dares to have a bastard behind my back, I'll strangle that spawn with my own hands."
Now, that spawn was Wesley.
"Blake."
Adrian gave the order over the phone.
"Take people there. Even if you have to burn the house down, clean it out. Adults, children-leave no one alive."
My hands started trembling violently.
He was going to kill his own son.
Once Blake broke in, Wesley would certainly die.
I couldn't plead for him.
Pleading would expose everything, and Wesley would die even more horribly.
I had to create an accident.
I rushed into the kitchen and filled a bowl with scalding soup.
No time to find a tray-I just grabbed the bowl and charged toward the study.
The moment I pushed the door open, I heard Adrian urging,
"Hurry up!"
I stumbled, and along with the bowl of boiling soup, I threw myself straight at Adrian.
"Ah!"
The scalding soup spilled all over his keyboard and right hand, splashing across my chest too.
The searing pain of the burn hit me, but I couldn't care about that.
"How can you be so careless?"
Adrian hissed in pain and shot to his feet.
"I'm sorry... I didn't hold it steady..."
I frantically lunged at the desk, pretending to grab tissues to wipe for him, but deliberately knocked over the water glass on the table.
Water instantly seeped into the keyboard.
The computer screen flickered several times, then went black.
"Get away! How can there be such a stupid woman!"
Adrian flew into a rage, grabbed my throat and flung me aside.
I crashed into the bookshelf, my back screaming in pain.
Taking advantage of the moment he turned to check his injuries, I locked my eyes on the backup tablet beside him.
Only these few seconds.
Ignoring the burning pain across my chest, my fingers flew across the tablet.
I unlocked and hacked into the security system, located the Wesleytern suburbs villa.
Then clicked the button triggering the district-wide fire alarm.
The entire process took less than three seconds.
The next second, piercing alarm sounds rang through the Wesleytern suburbs villa district's monitoring terminal.
Adrian turned back, just in time to see the red light flashing on the tablet.
"What's going on?"
He frowned and picked up the tablet.
"Why is the fire alarm going off now?"
Once the fire alarm sounded, fire trucks and police would immediately seal off the scene.
Blake and his crew, carrying weapons, definitely wouldn't dare make a move at that time.
"Damn it!"
Adrian slammed his fist on the desk and roared into his earpiece.
"Blake, pull back! There's a fire there. The police will arrive any minute!"
I collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily.
The skin on my chest burned painfully, but I wanted to laugh.
I'd won the gamble.
Adrian never suspected I'd tampered with anything.
In his eyes, how could I possibly know hacking techniques?
"What are you still doing on the floor? Get out!"
Adrian looked at me with disgust.
I lowered my head and retreated from the room in disarray.
Back in the bathroom, I immediately messaged the nanny: Take Wesley and evacuate during the chaos. Now!
Five minutes later, the nanny replied that they were in the car and had safely evacuated.
Looking at the screen, I slid down onto the cold tile floor.
Wesley was safe.
But this emergency transfer had exhausted all my hidden funds.
That was my life-saving money, scraped together penny by penny over the years.
I had no money now.
Not even enough for plane tickets to escape with Wesley.
Five more days.
I had to sell myself for a good price before Adrian could kill my son.