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!

in her palm, her mind racing with

words with Mara were enough before she turned to Percival. “Percival, why don’t you

sitting up, Mara looked at

her arm through Percival’s, her smile beaming at Mara. “It’s

even she would have been surprised at

driven—Vivienne was all

love, Mr. Wolf merely a supporting

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

had not expected that Vivienne would actually reach out to her. Since that was the case, she was not about to miss this opportunity to overplay

to her feet, only to collapse to

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

even if 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

no one came to

laughed out loud but managed to

awkward silence until Mara lifted her head, her

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

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

has the biggest heart. She doesn’t hold grudges easily. Mara, don’t pull this act again. Admitting your mistake is one thing, but forgiveness comes from genuine remorse,

snorted from the corner,

scolded by a kid fresh out of elementary school was too much for Mara’s ego to

is right. Get

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

she clutched her

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

Cecilia’s hand, her eyes betraying

hardly anything that can’t be fixed.