The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Wendy was the first to pick up her milkshake and take a gulp, setting off a reluctant chain reaction among the others. They had no choice but to follow suit and sip away.

It was not until the last drops of the milkshake were consumed that Vivienne stood up, flicking her wrist in dismissal, “That’ll do for today. Get some rest, folks. See you all tomorrow.”

With that, Vivienne and Percival left the Boyd residence and returned to the house Maddox had prepared for them to catch some sleep.

No sooner had they left than Wendy, forgetting her cane, bolted to the bathroom and began to hurl.

The other Boyds followed suit, much to the dismay of the household staff, who pinched their noses in disgust.

It was revolting.

To have so many people retching at once was unheard of, and Yannick even spewed on Wendy’s beloved woolen rug.

Already, the house was tainted with the smell of barbeque and smoke, and now this collective upheaval of recently chewed food added insult to injury.

The odor was insufferable.

The Boyds spent a grueling half-hour vomiting before they finally collapsed back onto the couches, utterly spent.

The once prized woolen rug had been relegated to the trash, a sight that made Wendy’s heart ache.

Theodore, drained and pale, leaned on his wife’s shoulder, still dry-heaving.

Teresa, repulsed, shoved him away. “Get off me. You stink of decay. It’s disgusting.”

Theodore weakly slapped Teresa, not because he could not bear to hurt his wife, but sheer exhaustion. “You wench, you think you smell any better?”

“You dare hit me? Believe it or not, I’ll divorce you for this!” Teresa howled, her voice nearly giving out from the strain.

Dehydrated and powerless, no one had the energy to argue further.

up on the couch, accepted a glass of water from a

who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. “Mom, if you hadn’t eaten so much, we wouldn’t have followed suit. Why did you

gave you so many glances, but you just kept eating, forcing us to

“Do you really think I wanted to eat

were taken

her mother. “What do you

“It wasn’t just you. I didn’t want to eat either, but my hand acted on its own, reaching for food

choked back a sob. “Dad, could it be

Yannick felt similarly manipulated. Teresa confessed, “It was indeed like being possessed. I moved when

closer to Hayden, frightened. “Don’t scare me,

forget who Vivienne is,” Wendy reminded them

investigated Vivienne—or so she

stayed in some convent in Havenwood before going

for a country girl. She must have bewitched him. What do

the recent nausea. “Some backwater girl isn’t going to best us,

learned something, it couldn’t be that powerful. The real masters are

Percival, or who knows how much he will

other Boyds agreed with Mara’s

City—to marry him to Gillian Ashford and cement an alliance between the Boyd and Ashford families.

at their villa, Vivienne and Percival were settling

“What did you do to

giggled, “Just a little trinket from Brody. It’s supposed to control people for half an hour, making them do as they wish. I simply enhanced it a bit,

Vivienne’s hair with pride. “Look at

into the villa, where the servants

button by the bed, and

broadening as she scurried off, as if she could not

and Percival exchanged

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