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.

legs shifting position as she lounged back on

set aside your presence on the ship, my daughter and I were there, too. I would

murmured

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

sharpened as she looked

with the Boyd family. But for the sake of the bionic tech, I could not completely sever our relationship. I thought of sending an invite, and the Boyd family’s head

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 dealt

then a signal beeped in her

The shipment had arrived.

He wanted to check it but could not do so in front of Vivienne,

her eyes closing.

she

not to move. He knew Vivienne was not dozing off but contemplating his

a nerve, and his pale excuses and

increasingly anxious as his phone continued

shipment had arrived, just deliver

Why bother messaging him?

post outside the cabin and were now at the Sea

and Thomas had secured the docks, sealing off all incoming shipments and

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

the black market, identical to flour and often

furrowed.

glance with Leopold before revealing

“Three tons.”

Anna gasped. “How much?”

“Three tons,” Thomas repeated.

of Keco could profit enough to buy

had anticipated a significant haul but had

than Keco, we’ve found nothing else,”

GTO’s virus research base, following leads to

base, so Leopold and Thomas had been on

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

substance, they had stumbled upon a

neck-deep in drug trafficking, a kingpin no

a dead end by now. Three tons of Keco was no small find, and it

he took the Keco bag. “And keep