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!

her chin in her palm, her mind

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

looked at Percival with

stood, looping her arm through Percival’s, her smile beaming at Mara. “It’s been a

warmth was such that even she would

she was driven—Vivienne was all about making

was her true love, Mr.

appealing than

Since that was the case, she was

stumbled to her feet, only to collapse to her

was wrong about everything before. Please forgive me. Gillian and Grandma misled me, and I never meant for things to go so far. I was

and Isolde was too young to understand, at least Cecilia would

her dismay, no one came to her

out loud but managed to keep

room fell into an awkward silence until Mara lifted her head, her eyes

a smile, mimicking Mara’s tone. “What are you doing? I never

He smiled,

easily. Mara, don’t pull this act again. Admitting your mistake

from

a kid fresh out of elementary school was

Get up, what’s with this

climbed back onto her feet, and whether by design or not, she winced at

she

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

eyes betraying a fragility, like a delicate flower about to be blown

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