The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Vivienne sat up straight, her gaze cool and calculating. “Spill it, what’s the deal with you and F-Poison? And besides Gillian, who else is in on it?”

Mara hadn’t expected Vivienne to know even about Gillian. It was clear she wouldn’t be leaving until she came clean.

She dropped to her knees, her voice a mix of desperation and fear. “Percival, Vivienne, I didn’t mean to betray you all. I had my reasons!”

Vivienne spared her a disinterested glance, motioning for her to continue.

“My brother, Huxley, he’s been taken by F-Poison to M State. I had no choice but to save Huxley’s life; I had to do as they said. They already killed my mom. I didn’t dare disobey!”

It was a predictable story for Vivienne.

Only two people could exert such leverage over Mara – her brother, Huxley, and her mother, Nancy. Even if she wanted to disregard the lives of her own family, she had to consider her own skin.

“What did they promise you in return?” Vivienne pressed.

Mara wiped away a tear, her voice trembling. “Boss said if I turned Aaron to her side, I could rebuild the Boyd legacy, claim back all of the Boyd family fortune, and they’d help me get my revenge… So I…”

Vivienne almost laughed.

Even if Mara regained every last cent of the Boyd fortune, what then? Did she really believe she had the power to restore her family’s name?

Vivienne was not looking down on Mara. Mara’s lack of capabilities was a known fact.

“When you say ‘Boss’, are you referring to F-Poison?” Vivienne prodded.

Mara shook her head. “I don’t know who you’re talking about. All I know is Boss looks just like Gillian. They took us both. Gillian resisted at first, but Boss pinned her with a silver needle, leaving her incontinent and vomiting blood until she called her ‘Boss’.

skinned alive. I was terrified. They took

seemed Mara was indeed referring

was the last time you

at the café where I met Aaron. She’s the one who gave me

his fists, vexed at how close

his laptop, hacking into the café’s surveillance. There was F-Poison. But as she left the café, she vanished into

“The same

F-Poison for ages, always losing her at the

easy

Mara to a seat on the couch and asked, “So, you’ve only seen F-Poison once this whole time and communicated with

nodded earnestly. “I swear, I’m telling the

up, ask her to handle it, and say you’re going

about me? Are you going to punish

about

“You’ll treat my

and I can’t have you

handed

Mara’s face without anesthetic. Mara writhed in agony, the pain worse than any

screams,

Vivienne watched, satisfied.

be easy to let Mara die, but her experiments were too valuable to trade for one

while, Vivienne settled into Percival’s embrace

pain subsided, Vivienne stirred.

her in

wrapped her arms around his neck. “Good. Mr.

was breaking, and Aaron, who hadn’t had a chance to shine all night, seized the moment. “Vivienne, I’ll grab

set Vivienne down on the couch, completely disregarding Mara, who had fainted on the floor. “I’ve already had