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.

the couch, accepted a glass of water from a

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

many glances, but

you really think I wanted to eat that

were taken

looked at her mother.

I didn’t want to eat either, but my hand acted

sob. “Dad,

confessed, “It was indeed like being possessed. I moved when Vivienne moved and ate uncontrollably

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

Vivienne is,”

investigated Vivienne—or so she thought. What she found was likely only what Vivienne wanted to

dots. “Vivienne stayed in some convent in Havenwood before going to Rivenwood. Maybe she

would fall for a country girl. She must have

from the recent nausea. “Some backwater girl isn’t going to

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

knows how much he will suffer.” Mara pressed, her lips thin. “Plus, Gillian is a far better

agreed

marry him to Gillian Ashford and cement an alliance between the Boyd and Ashford families. No matter how far Vivienne and

villa, Vivienne and Percival were settling in for the

Vivienne’s earlier antics. “What did you do to

people for half an hour, making them do as they wish. I simply enhanced it a bit, extending the effect to

said, ruffling Vivienne’s hair with pride. “Look at you, my clever

making their way into the villa, where the servants had everything prepared for a restful

just press the button by the bed, and we’ll be at your service. We won’t disturb

Percival and Vivienne a knowing look, her smile broadening as she scurried off, as if she could not bear to delay whatever

exchanged a puzzled

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