The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

On the other side of town, Richard stormed into the bakery with his entourage and bought away every last cake on the shelves. Then, after snatching up a dozen blowguns, he charged towards the nursing home with fury in his eyes.

At that very moment, Baron Brooks was lounging comfortably in a deckchair, soaking up the sun and listening to an opera recording. Life without that pesky Richard was bliss!

Just as he reached for the glass of water on the side table, the door to his room burst open with a violent kick. Startled, he spilled water all over himself and was instantly enraged.

Whirling around, he saw Richard leading a posse with an air of vengeance, each one armed with cakes of all things.

Baron’ brow furrowed in anger, “What’s gotten into you, you old jerk? Why busting into my place with all those cakes?

Did Richard finally find his conscience and decide to throw him a birthday bash? He thought.

But that couldn’t be right; his birthday was months away, deep in December.

Baron braced himself as suspicious picked his nerves. What kind of nasty trick was Richard planning this time?

Richard merely glanced at him dismissively. Without bothering with a single word, he turned to his bodyguards with an order, “Let ’em have it!”

Before Baron could even grasp what was happening, the guns were loaded with cakes and, with a loud “BANG!”, and the pastries smashed precisely onto his bed.

Baron was furious as he bellowed, “Richard! Do you want to get yourself killed?!”

Ignoring his outburst, Richard stood in the center of the room, leaning on his cane with an air of unshakable calm.

The bodyguards fired the cakes one after another, and in moments, the walls, the ceiling, and the furniture in the room were all plastered with creamy shrapnel.

apoplectic, so much so that

cannons were fired after

on seeing the disastrous room,

toyed with the idea of blowing up the nursing home, but despite his rashness, he couldn’t muster the nerve. Ignoring the fact that he couldn’t get his hands on a

himself just to teach Baron a lesson. It simply

alternative, and the result

covered in cake splatter; his clothes were

this!” he shouted and lunged forward, but his foot slipped on a piece of cake, sending him

him, his regular workouts saved him

you dare to mess with my granddaughter-in-law again, not

it and see if I dare to blow your place into the

and anger, retorted immediately, “Nonsense! Nobody bullied your baby granddaughter-in-law. You’re just stirring up trouble

annul the wedding and you are still feigning innocence here. Do you need me to help recount how your father bonded with my old

taken aback, “Annulling the

And they were claiming some nonsense about your father and mine arranging a marriage between the best of the Brooks and the Ellington heir. Are you daydreaming?” Richard’s gaze was icy, “Back in the day, your dad saw my dad as an easy mark.

memories

and fortune of the Ellingtons so he was aiming to align the Brooks’ with

he had no say in the Brooks family, which was built all by his

Richard paid them a visit just to tell them he

simmered down

was clueless as to why it was being dredged

back then; I drafted a dissolution agreement, which you signed personally. Have you forgotten everything before sending yourself

signing that when I was drunk!

that wretch, had lured him out for drinks, got