The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Vivienne pushed open the heavy iron gate, rubbing her arms.

Though the sun was shining bright outside, the place seemed to cast a chilling shadow over everything.

“Mom, Grandpa, are you sure you don’t need me to come with you?” Vivienne asked.

Jasper shook his head. “No need, sweetheart. Your mother and I can handle this. You just wait here, okay?”

Vivienne nodded, watching Karen and Jasper disappear through the doorway.

She settled back into the car and began to nibble on a strawberry cheesecake.

As Karen pushed open the door, a nauseating stench hit her full force.

The person inside, hearing the noise, slowly turned her head.

Her hair was a tangled mess, unwashed for days.

Stains marred her clothes, and her bare feet were caked in dirt.

The source of the foul smell was clear—it emanated from her.

Jasper sighed deeply at the sight. “Diana…”

The person trapped here was, indeed, Diana!

After the cliff side explosion, Diana had been rushed to the hospital. Once she survived, the Perez family had locked her away here.

The villa might have looked like a luxury home, but it was more akin to a prison cell.

It had everything—a complete set of furniture.

But the all-black decor and the perpetual darkness turned the spacious abode into a haunted house.

There were no lights, no windows, and even the walls were painted black.

heat

here, with only the torment of stillness, existing was worse than

Diana remained alive. Unaware of time or place, she could not hear anything outside her darkness. She relied on touch to

blinding, and it took Diana a while to adjust and recognize the

slowly stood up, mouth agape, but no sound

stared blankly at Karen

like an eternity, she suddenly charged at them, screaming, “I am the only daughter of the

swiftly pushed her back, protecting her

his head, realizing just how

over. I have nothing to say. I’ve raised you all these years, but our bond is broken. I can never forgive you.

hand,

desire to engage with the

an end to it all.

relationship had to be

leave, Diana’s eerie laughter filled the room, reminiscent

you talk

said adopting a child would bring prosperity to the Perez

spare me your righteousness! You’re nothing but a hypocrite! You adopted me

you off that day. If I had,

last look, then

couldn’t understand why I adopted Diana and Willa, especially with so many kids at home. Rumors spread, and I thought she was educated enough not

you adopt

Karen, and said, “Diana was the child of one of my men. Her parents died in the line of duty, and I initially planned to send her to an orphanage and support her from

threads of fate entwined. “I don’t remember how I

proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing did

I

“Mr. Wolf, you’ll always

and said, “Vivienne

looped her arm through Jasper’s, “Yes, and

room for regret. To them, regret was for those

Vivienne—they were not the type to bemoan

masters of their destiny,