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.

was found on your ship,” she stated, her legs shifting position

presence on the ship,

murmured absentmindedly,

in relief and began to rise, “Could this

she looked at him. “You know

just find it odd. After the engagement party fiasco, I cut all ties with the Boyd family. But for the sake of the bionic tech, I could not completely sever our

wanted to drop off a floral arrangement. I did

beeped in her earpiece—it

The shipment had arrived.

time, Patrick’s phone buzzed with a message. He wanted to check it but could not do so in

eyes

she

Vivienne

touched a nerve, and his pale excuses and

grew increasingly anxious as his phone continued to vibrate in his

had arrived, just deliver

Why bother messaging him?

Percival and Anna had left their post outside the cabin and were now at the Sea

had secured the docks, sealing off all incoming

over

identical to flour and often

brow furrowed. “How

with Leopold before revealing an astonishing

“Three tons.”

Anna gasped. “How much?”

“Three tons,” Thomas repeated.

tons of Keco could profit

had not

Keco, we’ve found nothing else,” Thomas

Sea City to uncover GTO’s virus research base, following leads to the Ashford family’s harbor, expecting a shipment for virus experimental

was their chance to breach the base, so

movements from the ship’s cabin; each of his moves was a potential key to unraveling the web of intrigue surrounding

substance, they had stumbled upon

in drug trafficking, a kingpin

Keco was no small find, and it

as he took the Keco bag. “And