The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Maddox’s grin froze on his face, and the bowl in his hands clattered to the floor.

Heads turned at the sound.

“Maddox, you just broke Natalia and Yasmine’s favorite bowl, you’re so screwed, man! Say goodbye to your wallet!”

“Oh, Maddox, when will you learn? You handle things like a bull in a china shop, and look what happens!”

“Oopsie, don’t be mad, Natalia and Yasmine, I’ll buy you a new one and make Uncle Maddox here pay up!”

Trying to keep cool, Maddox forced a smile and turned to the girls. “Sorry, Natalia and Yasmine, but I cut my hand pretty bad. Doesn’t anyone feel sorry for me?”

Luke immediately whisked the two kids away. “Girls, remember not to date a guy like this one.”

Yuri and Fredrick also quickly made their exit, unable to watch the embarrassing scene any longer!

After everyone left, Karen pulled out a small bottle of antiseptic powder and sprinkled it on Maddox’s wound, which healed quietly.

“No need to look so surprised, Maddox. Without Frost, I’d have less than a 2% chance.”

Karen smiled at Maddox and added, “Just don’t tell Dad, okay? I don’t want him to worry. Just say I’m off to find Frost’s dad, and it’ll be a long time before I can come back, alright?”

Maddox fought back tears, his eyes reddening but not allowing a single tear to fall.

Even with Vivienne and Karen working together, they only had a 2% chance of success. That left Maddox thinking…

“Sasha, can’t we just not do it?” Maddox struggled with the idea one last time.

“No, we have to do this,” Karen replied with certainty.

Maddox went silent, accepting that this was unstoppable.

a tense game of chess, neither willing to give

Jasper suddenly asked, “Vivienne,

a

“She’s my daughter; she can’t

longer hold back, and her chess piece landed with a thud

It could

chatty tonight,

bit her lip. “She doesn’t want you to

voice. “Tell me the truth, Vivienne. What are

her fists, the words barely escaping her

eyes, the procedure had only a

so easily repaired Calista’s failing organs. Yet, its effects seemed mild, which

about to inject this mysterious ST-1

one percent chance. And that one percent was only for the surgery itself; for the medication, she had no

eyes moist. “Alright, can you promise your grandpa

reddened eyes

this. Pretend I’m clueless so she can go into surgery

carried a heavy

she chose to

would pretend to be oblivious, letting his precious daughter take her path

surgeon was his granddaughter, he couldn’t add to the pressure she had

up, looking at the finished chess game. “You lost today. Next time, we’ll have your mom win it back

eye as she stared at the interwoven pieces, her heart heavy

it Jasper or Karen, none of them wanted to put pressure on her. They had chosen to keep

Perez Mansion eventually returned to silence, broken only by the occasional snore, which somehow didn’t seem

of

go, we should head

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