The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Vivienne locked eyes with Astrid.

There was no denying it, Astrid was stunning. She really had inherited all of Cordelia’s best features.

Vivienne chuckled softly, “No need to be so formal with me, we’re family.”

She had uttered those words many times before, but this time, it came from the heart.

This Astrid was the one she should truly call Sister.

Astrid felt a rush of emotion. She had, in fact, used her clearance to dig into Vivienne’s past. After all, showing up after years away and causing such a stir in the Brooks family raised suspicions.

Yet, she found nothing.

Vivienne was an enigma, the more Astrid delved, the deeper she sank.

So, when they first met, Astrid had her guard up.

Later, after Vivienne’s visit to Rivenwood, the Brooks family invited them for a family reunion. It was then Astrid received a classified tip.

Alfred was a spy from a rival organization! Just when she was about to arrest Alfred, Mr. B appeared.

Collaborating with Alfred, Mr. B kidnapped her, and she had been in captivity ever since.

Each day, they injected her with a sedative that kept her unconscious for long periods, obscuring any knowledge of the outside world.

On the rare occasions she was lucid, she found herself tossed in the trunk of a car, unable to discern much else.

Vivienne passed a peeled apple to Astrid, “While you were missing, Mr. B impersonated you around us. But don’t worry, he didn’t get anywhere near the core of your work, and Alfred didn’t manage to steal any intel.”

Indeed, Astrid was an agent working on classified national projects, which meant she couldn’t spend much time with Cordelia. Every leave request meant paperwork, waiting for notifications, and getting signatures from top to bottom.

However, those details were classified, so Cordelia remained unaware of the specific nature of Astrid’s work. She only knew that Astrid’s superiors were strict, rarely approving family visits.

had approached Astrid precisely because she was a national agent, aiming

kept her work and personal life separate. She wouldn’t even discuss the news with Alfred, let alone work matters, leaving him

found Alfred, and they struck

while he used the impostor Astrid to attempt

on their second meeting. Meanwhile, Astrid’s organization had been quietly informed of her abduction by

gaining access to the core secrets. Moreover, he didn’t care much, his sole objective being to get close to Vivienne and bring her to a lab for GTO to

B, pretending to be

was not easy to handle. Instead of using

dealt in shady transactions for profit,

that Astrid

position within the Ellington Group, Fiona had orchestrated Astrid’s transport across

made it challenging for anyone to

from the Ellington Group, she no longer had the transportation means to move Astrid, forcing her to use private

general route, and Thomas blocked the

identify the specific car and not daring to make

Fiona’s dramatic exit from the Ellington family was

relief. Her work was vital to national security, and it could not fall into enemy hands. During

Luckily, Vivienne was shrewd.

personal note, I thank you for your contribution to protecting national secrets. I’ll recommend you for the highest medal of honor. Without you, who knows what crisis our nation could have faced,” Astrid said with

country; I just wanted to

symbol of the highest honor, coveted even among

And Vivienne wasn’t interested!

her lips into a smile. She truly didn’t care for it. Her mother had plenty, Percival had his share, and she was tired of seeing them around. In a family, not everyone needs a

probably would put on

I can’t

retorted, “Scram! You

picking up Percival’s bad

interjected, “What did you

“My

“You need time to recover and can’t leave the hospital just yet. I’ll