The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Eliza squinted her eyes and then burst into tears, spilling the beans about everything Vivienne had done in the Boyd Mansion.

From the first day she arrived, insisting the whole family disinfect and kneel to welcome her, to the gruesome act of cutting off Wendy’s hand, Eliza left no stone unturned in her vivid recount.

The crowd was in disbelief. How could Vivienne, just a young girl, be so extreme?

Eliza then produced a video as evidence. “This is from our home security system. Every single thing she did is captured here. I’m not lying!”

The video played out before their eyes, and gasps of shock were heard, especially during the chilling moment Vivienne severed Wendy’s hand.

Vivienne did not deny her actions and calmly admitted, “Yes, I did those things.”

“Vivienne, if you hadn’t done all this, how could my mother have passed away so suddenly? It’s all because of you. You better give me the Boyd family signet ring back now. It belongs to our family, and you don’t deserve to wear it!”

Eliza’s accusations, backed by the video, filled everyone with righteous indignation towards Vivienne.

Watching Eliza’s tear-stained face, Vivienne just smiled. “Why don’t we watch the rest of the video?”

Eliza was puzzled. The footage of the hand-cutting had already played.

What more could there be?

The crowd turned their attention back to the screen only to see Vivienne reattach Wendy’s hand, followed by the Boyd family members beating her on the ground. Then, the video showed Eliza smothering her mother to death with a pillow!

Eliza stumbled backward in shock.

Impossible. She had deleted that part of the video and even destroyed the hard drive.

How could it still exist?

The room fell silent.

“Eliza killed her!”

“My God, her own mother…”

is horrifying. Someone, call the

if on cue, a police car pulled up outside the funeral home, and

approached, removed the Boyd family signet ring from her finger, and handed it

had

Vivienne relinquish the Boyd family ring and caught sight of Nathan, whom she had

ring went to Cecilia, and Nathan was there

Boyd, the main culprit behind the murder of my beloved mother. Please, take her away,” Nathan said, sheltering Cecilia in his arms without sparing

deaf to the murmurs around her;

to approach him, to ask

it was too

to the ground, handcuffed

blood and, with a jolt, burst into

Mrs. Ellington! That Cecilia is nothing, I’ve killed her, I killed

Vivienne’s eyes and whispered, “Vivienne, did

own

she could secure the ring and get closer to Nathan by orchestrating this funeral, but she had been deluding

Nathan’s eyes had

with emotion. She had thought her estrangement from her family would be her final

hair.

mother’s portrait, and Eliza’s deranged screams seemed

Cecilia’s ties to the Boyd family had

City; it was a story that demanded discussion due to the sheer

Nathan to her villa, not

uncle, Maddox Perez. You can just call me Maddox,” he said with a

shook Maddox’s hand warmly. “Mr. Perez,

shoulder chummily. “We’re all family here, no need for formalities. Come on, Cecilia, take a seat. I’ve been briefed about the family situation. Don’t worry. I’ll handle the aftermath in Sea City. No one messes with

with Maddox’s boisterousness, Nathan was unsure how to

how to interact with Maddox, leading

in to smooth things over. “Uncle, why don’t you let them

some rest. We can plan some fun activities for tomorrow,” Maddox said,

nodding, led Cecilia

family not supposed to

was quite the character, unsettling yet oddly