The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

An hour had passed before Mara finally stirred, a ghostly pallor on her face. Her voice was a weak whisper, barely there.

She had never felt so terrible in her life—it was like being on death’s doorstep!

That Gillian had actually given her a bottle of sleeping pills, and here she had thought they were vitamins.

If only she had known, she would not have taken a single one!

“Mara, you’re awake.” Cecilia’s voice carried a mixture of relief and worry, as if a great weight had been lifted from her heart upon seeing Mara’s eyes open.

To underscore her feebleness, Mara coughed deliberately, a decision she instantly regretted as her stomach convulsed painfully.

“Auntie, what happened to me?” Mara’s eyes brimmed with tears, but her pain was genuine.

Cecilia sat by the hospital bed, wiping away the tears streaking Mara’s face. “Oh, you silly girl. Do you have any idea how close you came to never seeing me again?”

Mara feigned shock, glancing down at her wrist as if seeing it anew, a look of realization crossing her face. “I… I’m sorry, Auntie. I just wasn’t thinking straight.”

“You really…” Cecilia held Mara’s hand, her heart full of unsaid words.

Across the room, Percival sat brooding on the couch, his eyes stormy as the horizon’s edge.

Vivienne, on the other hand, watched the scene with a certain amusement.

Such a promising talent, indeed.

Mara seemed to be cut from the same cloth as Gillian had been.

If she were to be signed and groomed properly, she might even outshine Kala!

Kala: Impossible, utterly impossible!

propped her chin in her

with Mara were enough before she turned to Percival. “Percival, why don’t you take Isolde back home? Everything’s under control here.

looked at

through Percival’s, her smile

warmth was such that even she would have been

she was driven—Vivienne was all

true love, Mr. Wolf merely

appealing than a

Vivienne would actually reach out to her. Since that was the case, she was

her IV and stumbled to her feet, only to collapse to her knees with

Gillian and Grandma misled me, and I never meant for things to go so far. I was awful, please don’t

Percival did nothing and Isolde was too young to understand, at least Cecilia would rush to stop her. After all, if you’re going to perform, you need to make it look real,

one

out loud but managed to

fell into an awkward silence until Mara lifted her head, her eyes filled with fear and

responded with a smile, mimicking Mara’s tone. “What are you

at Vivienne, noting her barely suppressed mirth. He smiled, affectionately ruffling her hair. “Yeah, Vivienne is so magnanimous,

don’t pull this act again. Admitting your mistake is one thing, but forgiveness comes from genuine remorse, not from such theatrics.

snorted from

fresh out of elementary school was too much for Mara’s ego to

Isolde is right. Get

screamed silently. Reluctantly, she climbed back onto her feet, and whether by design or not,

she clutched her cheek.

her side, helping Mara back into bed. “You need

to Cecilia’s hand, her eyes betraying a fragility, like

today’s technology, there’s hardly anything that can’t be fixed. Just take