The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Patrick was floored by the girl before him, his words catching in his throat as he fell silent.

Quincy did not bother with further conversation. Grabbing her press pass from the table, she stood up and left.

Patrick tugged at his tie, exhaling a long breath of relief.

Dealing with the devil always comes at a price, he mused.

After leaving Patrick’s press conference, Quincy took a shortcut and emerged transformed, her professional aura all but gone.

Dressed in a tank top with overalls and sporting a baseball cap, she slung a canvas bag over her shoulder, the picture of a college student.

She waited at the crossroads until a nondescript black Volkswagen pulled up.

“Are you my Uber?” Quincy asked.

The driver poked his head out, sunglasses masking his eyes. “Yeah, hop in, sweetheart.”

Quincy smiled and opened the door. Soon, the Volkswagen blended into the stream of city traffic.

“Captain Wolf, can’t you guys get me a better ride next time? This one just doesn’t suit my style,” Leopold grumbled from the driver’s seat, resting one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the door.

Percival, seated in the passenger seat, turned his head slightly, disregarding Husky’s complaints.

In the backseat, Quincy tipped her cap to greet Vivienne. “Long time no see.”

“You’ve gotten taller.” Vivienne smiled back.

They skipped the small talk, diving straight into the heart of the matter.

“Ever since the operation to take down Mark ended, I’ve been out of the loop, just lying low in Rivenwood. After the lab was blown up by someone named Willa, I got zero instructions. It was not until yesterday that I was suddenly told to come to Sea City and give Patrick his next assignment.”

you met the big

I know is that the boss goes by F-Poison. The orders come through online messages. I’ve tried tracking him, but there’s nothing to trace.” Quincy pulled out her

on

old network’s been beefed up since our mentor’s days. We can’t track it with what we’ve got,” Percival said, looking back

after all these years, GTO had upped their game. Plus, the original backdoor was locked away at Vanguard Agency headquarters, probably already compromised by

GTO’s internal network was a pipe dream

burdened by the thought of having

the bomb on the ship, I was out of the loop. That was another team

“Another team?”

captured, I thought F-Poison would activate us, the underlings, but it never happened, and the operations kept running smoothly. This leads me to believe Mr. B was not the real second-in-command or that others at her level are still

has more than one

her deputy in Sea City. I’ve yet to figure out who that is,” Quincy said, which aligned

for instance. If it had not been for this trip to Sea City and

Belle was not GTO’s second-in-command after all;

was in charge of Sea

F-Poison

know for now. I’ll let you know if anything else

parked the car, and Quincy stepped

left, Percival moved to the back

eyes. “The Sea City lab is right under the Ashford family’s factory. We’ll wait for

agreed. “Yeah, and the Boyd family will probably fall to Patrick soon. Once a person gets too big for their

exchanged knowing smiles, anticipating the final

happened in decades was happening – the first and the second branches united, completely sidelining

the hell is the contract with the Ashford family? Speak up, you decrepit

beating, was

“Ah, ah, ah…”

Eliza by the hair. “Spit it out, you little wench. Where

the pain and spoke,

tell you, our family is the rightful heir. Even if we two families have to split the assets, you have no part in it. Hand over the Ashford contract now and change the name of it to

control of