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.

her legs shifting position as she

no idea about this. Even if we set aside your presence on the ship, my daughter and I were there, too. I would never risk our lives

murmured

relief and began to rise, “Could this be

looked at

family. But for the sake of the bionic tech, I could not completely sever our relationship. I thought of sending

men told me the Boyd family’s head wanted to drop off a floral arrangement. I did not question it, but it’s suspicious now that I think about it. I had always

nodded, then a signal beeped in her earpiece—it

The shipment had arrived.

He wanted to check it but could not do

eyes closing. “Let

she

to move. He knew Vivienne

bomb had touched a nerve, and his pale excuses and

anxious as his phone continued to vibrate

had arrived, just

Why bother messaging him?

had left their post outside the

secured the docks, sealing off all incoming shipments and detaining the

found it—it’s Keco,” Thomas reported, handing over a bag of

black market, identical to flour and often sold alongside grains to

furrowed. “How

with Leopold before

“Three tons.”

Anna gasped. “How much?”

“Three tons,” Thomas repeated.

Keco could profit enough to buy a small

but had not

than Keco, we’ve found nothing else,” Thomas

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

the base, so Leopold and Thomas

cabin; each of his moves was a potential key to unraveling

their surprise, and instead of securing the experimental substance, they had stumbled upon a

in drug trafficking, a

tons of Keco was no small find, and it demanded the intervention of the local Drug

officers,” Percival instructed as he took the Keco bag. “And keep this under wraps;