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…”

Someone, call the

outside

family signet ring from her finger, and handed it

had

saw Vivienne relinquish the Boyd family ring and caught sight of Nathan, whom she had not seen in over twenty

ring went to Cecilia, and Nathan was there

the murder of my beloved mother. Please, take her away,”

murmurs around her; her

ask why

it was too

Eliza to the ground, handcuffed her, and escorted her into the police

Eliza coughed up blood and, with a jolt, burst into manic

I’m Mrs. Ellington! That Cecilia is

whispered,

“No, it was her own

ring and get closer to

or today, Nathan’s eyes had only ever

her eyes moist with emotion. She had thought her estrangement from her family would be her final chapter, yet here she was amid an unbelievable turn of

stroked Cecilia’s hair. “It’s okay

portrait, and Eliza’s deranged screams seemed to fade

ties to the Boyd family had truly vanished into thin

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

her villa, not expecting that Maddox would already be waiting for

introduce myself. I’m Vivienne’s uncle, Maddox Perez. You can just call me Maddox,” he said with

shook Maddox’s hand warmly. “Mr. Perez, I’ve heard much

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

Maddox’s boisterousness, Nathan was unsure how

was unsure how to interact with Maddox, leading to

over.

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

led Cecilia back to their

family not supposed to be

was quite the character,