The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

On the other side of town, Vivienne sat contentedly in the car, having just polished off a luscious strawberry cheesecake that Percival had brought her.

With a full belly, she finally remembered the matter at hand.

“So, you mentioned you had a crucial video conference tonight. What’s got you swinging by all of a sudden?” Vivienne leaned in, eyeing Percival curiously.

Percival, driving with his usual cool demeanor, cleared his throat. “That conference is nothing compared to you.”

“I never told you where I was heading today,” Vivienne said with a teasing smile, though Percival felt a chill run down his spine at her grin.

Exhaling softly, Percival eased the car to a stop in front of a bustling steakhouse, turned to Vivienne, and said, “I got a call from Kenneth about you being at Elite University, so I thought I’d check on you.”

Vivienne rubbed her temples, somewhat exasperated. “Aaron’s just a kid. Why are you always so concerned with him?”

Percival parked the car and looked at her, “I simply can’t stand any man coveting you, even if that man is just a boy.”

Vivienne gazed at Percival. She had always heard that a man in jealousy was at his most handsome, but she had not expected it to be this striking! Could it be that because the man was Percival, he appeared so irresistibly dashing?

He was so handsome, and she loved it!

Percival playfully tapped Vivienne’s nose. “Let’s go have your favorite beef stew.”

Vivienne wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a firm kiss on his lips before cheerily hopping out of the car.

The kiss left Percival breathless, wishing for another.

Vivienne thought to herself, “Opportunities like this don’t come often!”

As they sat down to the bubbling hot pot, Vivienne devoured the meal with gusto.

“Mr. Wolf, I’ll be heading to Mara’s place tomorrow to treat her injury. Wait for my signal,” she said, gobbling down a piece of tripe.

Percival, ever so composed, wiped a bit of sauce from the corner of her mouth and said, “Understood.”

Vivienne’s lips curled into a sly smile; she was eager to see what was really going on.

next morning, Vivienne knocked on Mara’s apartment door, only to be greeted

you doing here?” She

here to fix the computer for

inside, Mara called out, “Vivienne? Come in. I’m just

inquisitively. A shower

it’s not what you

in a towel. If not for

we spilled some soy milk during breakfast, so I went to rinse off. Please don’t misunderstand,”

way straight to Mara. “Did

inwardly, feeling validated in her suspicion that there was something between Vivienne and

Aaron and then turned to Vivienne, “No, I’ve been careful, just like you

here or in the bedroom?” Vivienne

Every time Vivienne was upset

your help,” Mara said sweetly,

awkwardly, avoiding Vivienne’s

address Aaron so familiarly sent a wave of frost through

grabbed her medical kit and headed to

stopped by Mara, “I’m about to change in

turned red. “I… I

laughed softly. “I’ll go

bedroom, Mara changed and sat on the bed. “Vivienne,

looked

close.

faint smile playing on her lips. Mara was quite

simply naive, but she had

you drink a pot of green tea before your

Mara blinked in confusion.

a microchip into Mara’s scar. “Trying to light up the whole forest with your green

you talking about? What forest?”

inserted needles into Mara’s scar, Mara screamed in

“Beauty comes at

face was being forcibly molded back together,

you done to my face? I agreed to let you experiment, but

game of Tetris on her