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,

car pulled up outside

signet ring from

wish had finally

family ring and caught sight of Nathan, whom she had not seen in over twenty

and Nathan

is Eliza Boyd, the main culprit behind the murder of my beloved mother. Please,

to the murmurs around her; her eyes were

to ask why he

was too

pinned Eliza to the ground, handcuffed her,

up blood and, with a jolt, burst into

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

whispered, “Vivienne,

head. “No, it was her own

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

today, Nathan’s eyes had only ever

nestled into Nathan’s embrace, 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

stroked Cecilia’s hair. “It’s okay now,

and Eliza’s deranged screams seemed

the Boyd family had truly vanished into

through Sea City; it was a story that demanded

Cecilia and Nathan to her villa, not expecting that Maddox would already

You can just call me Maddox,” he said with a familiarity that took Cecilia and

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

seat. I’ve been briefed about the family situation. Don’t worry. I’ll handle the aftermath in

Maddox’s boisterousness, Nathan

how to interact with Maddox,

to smooth things over. “Uncle, why

can plan some fun activities for tomorrow,” Maddox

nodding, led Cecilia back to

not supposed to be

was quite the character, unsettling yet