The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Patrick’s limbs were beyond his control, his body betraying him as he followed Vivienne’s retreating steps.

Behind him, Gillian’s heart-wrenching cries for her father echoed through the air, but he was powerless to respond.

Patrick finally felt the command of his body returned when they reached a secluded cabin on the ship.

But now, with both Percival and Anna guarding the door, escape was an impossibility.

“Kneel,” Vivienne commanded, her voice serene as she sat on the seat representing authority.

Patrick fell to his knees with a thud, not out of compulsion but from the sheer force of Vivienne’s presence.

His legs tingled with numbness, sharp pains shooting through his knees as if a thousand needles were pricking them.

Beads of sweat formed on his brow, trickling down his temples and disappearing onto his shoulders.

Vivienne sat with her legs crossed, her slender neck held high with disdain, a hint of scorn in her gaze.

As Patrick knelt, Vivienne wondered what her mother had seen in him. How could such a spineless man be entrusted with the critical technology of bionics?

She regarded him with contempt and curiosity, slowly pulling the small “Morning Glory” from her pocket and tossing it at Patrick.

Instinctively, he caught it, his forehead bulging with veins, paralyzed with fear.

When he saw what it was, he finally heaved a sigh of relief.

He had thought she had thrown a knife at him!

“Madam, what is this?” he stammered.

Vivienne raised an eyebrow, her voice calm. “A miniature bomb.”

Shocked to his core, Patrick scrambled behind the couch for cover.

He thought it was a knife, but it was even worse – a bomb! Vivienne was more reckless than his boss.

Who in their right mind tosses a bomb around like a toy?

Observing Patrick’s reaction, Vivienne could almost be certain of his innocence regarding the bomb incident that evening.

shifting position as she lounged back on the sofa, lazily eyeing

set aside your presence on the ship, my daughter and I were there, too. I would never risk our lives by planting a

Vivienne murmured

and began to rise, “Could this be connected to the Boyd

sharpened as she looked at him. “You know

the Boyd family. But for the sake of the bionic tech, I

my men told me the Boyd family’s head wanted to drop off a

a signal beeped in her earpiece—it was

The shipment had arrived.

it but could not do so

yawned, her eyes closing. “Let me

that, she

Vivienne was not

touched a nerve, and his pale

phone

had arrived,

Why bother messaging him?

the cabin and were now

sealing off all incoming shipments and detaining the

handing over a bag of what seemed to

on the black market, identical to flour and often sold

furrowed. “How

exchanged a glance with Leopold before

“Three tons.”

Anna gasped. “How much?”

“Three tons,” Thomas repeated.

tons of Keco could profit enough to buy a small

but had not imagined it would

Keco, we’ve

virus research base, following leads to the Ashford family’s harbor, expecting a shipment for

to breach the base, so Leopold and Thomas had been on watch

on Patrick’s movements from the ship’s cabin; each of his moves was a potential key to unraveling the

securing the experimental substance, they had stumbled upon

neck-deep in

dead end by now. Three tons of Keco was no

with the DEA officers,” Percival instructed as he took the Keco bag.