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

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

up, Mara looked at Percival with remorse.

stood, looping her arm through Percival’s, her

she

was all about making

was her true love, Mr. Wolf

thought, “Now I’m not only less appealing than

that was the case, she was not about to miss this opportunity to overplay her

yanked out her IV and stumbled to her feet, only to collapse to her knees with a

forgive me. Gillian and Grandma misled me, and I never meant for things to go so far. I was

forehead hitting the floor. Though intentionally hard, she had assumed that even if Percival did nothing and Isolde was too young to understand, at least Cecilia would rush

her dismay, no one

laughed out loud but

silence until Mara lifted her head, her eyes filled with fear and pleading,

Mara’s tone. “What are you doing?

smiled, affectionately ruffling her hair. “Yeah,

pull this act again. Admitting

from

fresh out of elementary school

Isolde is right. Get up, what’s with this kneeling

back onto her feet,

against the bed, she clutched her

then did Cecilia move to her side, helping Mara back into bed. “You need to

heal?” Mara clung to Cecilia’s hand, her eyes betraying a fragility, like a delicate

exhaled softly. “With today’s technology, there’s hardly anything that can’t be