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,

cue, a police car pulled up outside the funeral home, and out stepped

family signet ring from her

wish had finally

sight of Nathan,

and Nathan was there with the police

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

to the murmurs around her; her eyes were fixed

him, to ask why he

it was

Eliza to the ground, handcuffed

and, with

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

and whispered, “Vivienne,

shook her head. “No, it was her own undoing. She couldn’t handle the shock

could secure the ring and get closer to Nathan

or today, Nathan’s eyes had only ever held

her estrangement from her family would be her final chapter, yet here she was amid an unbelievable turn

Cecilia’s hair. “It’s okay

portrait, and Eliza’s deranged

to the Boyd family had truly

was a story that demanded discussion due to the sheer weight of its

to her villa, not expecting that

Nathan, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Vivienne’s uncle, Maddox Perez. You can just

“Mr. Perez, I’ve heard much about

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

Maddox’s boisterousness, Nathan

to interact with

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

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

nodding, led Cecilia back to

family not

the character,