Married Into Power, Crushed Under His Rules

Eloise Maguire is eight months pregnant when her husband, Zander Pierson, has her brought before the Pierson family elder, Chase Pierson, to answer for stealing 3,000 dollars. Zander will hear no excuses: Julia manages the household, and taking money without permission is theft. The family rule is that a thief's ten fingers are crushed in a clamp, and as his wife Eloise must set an example. Chase urges her to beg for mercy, but she says only that she accepts her punishment and places her fingers into the clamp herself.

As the pain blurs her thoughts, Eloise recalls the first time she stole money, five years ago, to help Zander in his troubles, and the day she overheard his widowed sister-in-law, Julia Sinclair, asking whether he still loved her. She also carries a secret: the tonic Julia sent her, which Zander made her drink, had already killed the child she carried, and the stolen money was meant for an abortion. When Zander speaks of giving her baby to Julia for company, Eloise tells him the baby was never meant to be born, and he orders her punished again.