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…”

horrifying. Someone, call the

outside the funeral home, and

removed the Boyd family signet ring

wish had

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

ring went to Cecilia, and Nathan

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

to the murmurs around her; her eyes

ask why he did not love

it was

Eliza to the ground, handcuffed her, and escorted her

with

supposed to marry Nathan! Let me go! I’m Mrs. Ellington! That Cecilia is nothing,

Vivienne’s eyes and whispered, “Vivienne, did

own undoing. She couldn’t handle the shock

She thought she could secure the ring and get closer to Nathan by orchestrating this funeral, but

ago or today, Nathan’s eyes had only ever

eyes moist with emotion. She had thought her estrangement from her family would

hair. “It’s okay now,

mother’s portrait, and Eliza’s deranged screams

Boyd family had truly vanished into

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

her villa, not expecting

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

shook Maddox’s hand warmly. “Mr.

about the family situation. Don’t worry. I’ll

Maddox’s boisterousness, Nathan was unsure

interact with

things over. “Uncle,

some fun activities for tomorrow,” Maddox said, waving them off with

Cecilia

family not supposed to

quite the character,