The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Astrid chuckled dryly.

Mature enough?

If leaked, the research material in the lab would send shock waves around the globe.

Yet, in Vivienne’s words, it was merely mature enough?

Astrid glanced at her and asked, “So, you agree to stay in the lab?”

Vivienne nodded. “Yeah.”

Astrid breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “Thanks, Vivienne. I really appreciate you agreeing to be part of this experiment. Our progress will surely skyrocket now.”

Vivienne did not respond. Instead, she turned her gaze to the car window, watching the streetlights fall, and a slow smile spread across her lips.

After dropping Vivienne off at home, Astrid did not go upstairs. Instead, she turned the car around and drove away.

In the back seat lay the experimental data Vivienne had revised that day.

…

Returning home, Dorian and Cordelia were already asleep, and even though the light was on in Thaddeus’ room, he was sound asleep, too.

Vivienne switched off Thaddeus’ light and entered her own room.

The moment she opened the door, her steps faltered, her eyes sharpening instantly.

A chill ran through her as she looked towards the window – a piece of paper was wedged in the crack.

This was the twenty-third floor; unless it was an inside job, this kind of infiltration was extraordinary!

She was sure that apart from Dorian’s family, no one else was here.

Obviously, she was dealing with a pro!

She walked over and pulled out the paper.

The message was a mishmash of newspaper cutouts, and crooked letters forming a single line.

[The TCL Lab.]

gaze dropped; she clenched the paper tightly in her

knew the person who sent this was

who could it

Suddenly, she smirked.

his fill of the outside world, that

Did he want to see if she had lost her

she pulled out her phone and opened Twitter, posting one

Twitter, but Matthew had insisted it was the rage and would not stop nagging until

not used it since signing up, just

returning to the Hawthorn family, she had gradually become a public figure, and her Twitter followers had grown.

‘brothers’ from the same master were

one person in the world who could owe Vivienne money:

thousand bucks,

since he had faked his death, leaving

with Vivienne’s public call for payment, it was clear

how could they miss out on helping Vivienne collect

all nine tweeted, echoing Vivienne’s message,

well as those of the nine, were

fans asked who owed her, only Leopold replied

account for Finnian and tagged him in a post, [Master,

sent their

What was going on?

master dodging a

nowadays would cover

retweet and tag Finnian, urging him

the

the first to message the group, [Holy smokes! Leopold, you’ve got guts! Aren’t you afraid the master will come

Leopold! I support you.

mourn for you

A man’s

it back? If I were you, I’d be tweeting right now, hounding the old man to pay! Isn’t Vivienne’s happiness worth more than your little troubles? Besides, who knows where that old guy is enjoying his life?

Jerry: [Makes sense!]

but he’s spot-on this time. We

I’ve

disciples also

friends and even the pop star Stephen joined in the retweeting frenzy,