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 racing with

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

up, Mara looked at Percival

Percival’s, her smile beaming at Mara.

that even she would have

was all

Mr. Wolf merely

thought, “Now I’m not only less appealing than a strawberry cheesecake but

her. Since that was the case, she

to her feet, only to collapse to her knees with a

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

did nothing and Isolde was too young to understand, at least Cecilia

dismay, no one came to her

loud but managed

lifted her head, her eyes filled with fear and pleading,

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

Vivienne, noting her barely suppressed mirth. He smiled, affectionately ruffling her

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

snorted from

kid fresh out of elementary

Isolde is right. Get up, what’s with

I do to apologize?” Mara screamed silently. Reluctantly, she climbed back onto her feet, and whether by design or not, she winced at a sudden pain in

bed, she

then did Cecilia move to her side, helping

ever heal?” Mara clung to Cecilia’s hand, her eyes betraying a

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