The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Clutching her mother tightly, Vivienne’s tears erupted like a fountain. She wept uninhibited, her sobs echoing through the car like a child’s.

In her mother’s embrace, time seemed to stand still. It was different from the time she had swindled Finnian out of 80 million dollars; this was raw, unfiltered emotion.

After crying herself to near exhaustion, Vivienne finally ceased her tears and remembered she had a bone to pick with her mother.

“Mom, you…” Vivienne started but stopped as she noticed Karen dozing against the car window.

How could any mother be so absent? She was crying her eyes out!

“Vivienne, honey?” Karen murmured, waking to her daughter’s voice and wiping drool from her chin. “Oh, it’s been ages since I heard you cry. Still puts me right to sleep.”

Vivienne was speechless, gazing intensely at her mother, who seemed so different from when she had first seen Anna.

“Mom!”

Karen pulled Vivienne into a hug. “Frost, I’m starved. How about we grab some beef stew before we get into all that?”

Overhearing from outside, Percival could not bear the scene any longer and climbed into the car. He had hoped for a heartwarming reunion, yet Karen’s mind was preoccupied with thoughts of beef stew!

Now he knew where Vivienne got her appetite.

“Master, is food all you ever think about?” Percival complained as he got into the car. Vivienne had been crying her heart out, and Karen had not even tried to comfort her.

Karen slapped Percival’s arm. “Shut it and drive.”

“Mom, please don’t knock the sense out of my Mr. Wolf,” Vivienne said, rubbing the back of Percival’s head tenderly.

Percival chuckled softly, grateful for Vivienne’s gentle touch.

Karen scoffed. “It’s not like you peed on him when you were a kid!”

Vivienne blushed crimson, having no memory of such an incident.

cried about diapers and not wanting to break the rule of ‘no

Karen always had

up at Rivenwood’s finest stew house, where Karen feasted to her heart’s content. It was then that she circled back to the matter at

android,” Karen said, reclining in her chair and rubbing her belly without a care in

her soda and burped. “I tossed that rock to check if she was an android. Never thought I’d

the pair wet wipes, pondering quietly. “It only shows the

enhanced by the Brooks family and the two

at the scene was the pinnacle of these experiments—an

to Vivienne by

no progress for years, but now they could

brows knitted. “It seems we have a mole

finding Karen to check on Zachary, William Pendleton, or the Brooks family. She

table. “There’s definitely a leak, but a mole is unlikely. Without Scott Brooks, the Brooks family is clean, and Baron has long retired. Maybe it’s time to look elsewhere, like new contacts they might have

With Scott gone, the Brooks family has been under surveillance. No issues there, and the Churchill and Pendleton

we couldn’t risk using any chemicals. Even Percival’s

settling the bill, caught the

muffled. I thought they’d switched guns. Could it be Vance again?” Karen propped her

and saw Vivienne in the same

“Master, Vivienne, why don’t we head home and

the mention of home, Karen seemed

Perez family must be

not ready to face Jasper, not after everything. It was only because Diana had pushed Vivienne

reached out and took Karen’s hand.

care much for the

is, there is always a

learned the truth about her origins, she had been deeply wounded by her foster

state of isolation, building walls so high that she would not let

with the revelation that she had blood relatives who had been searching for her for over thirty years, the prospect of getting close was even more

Grandpa’s waiting for us,” Vivienne said, her hand warm in Karen’s—a comfort akin to the cozy sweaters her mother used to

she single-handedly established the Nine Mystics Society, witnessing her transformation from a tiny tot into the admirable