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’.

then, too, skinned alive. I was terrified. They took Huxley. That’s why I agreed to

seemed Mara was indeed referring to

time

the café where I met Aaron. She’s the one

fists, vexed at how close he had been to

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

frowned, annoyed. “The same

ages, always losing her

at Percival’s screen, unsurprised. If F-Poison were easy to catch, they

couch and asked, “So, you’ve only seen F-Poison once this whole time and communicated with Gillian

swear, I’m telling

her fingers before Mara’s eyes. “Fine. Tell Gillian you messed up, ask her to handle it, and say you’re going on the lam.

me? Are you going to

thought about

face brightened. “You’ll

experiments to conduct, and I can’t have

handed Vivienne

anesthetic. Mara writhed in agony, the pain worse than

ignored her screams, absorbed

Vivienne watched, satisfied.

but her experiments were too valuable to trade for one

into Percival’s

subsided, Vivienne

adjusted her in

around his neck. “Good. Mr. Wolf, I’m

and Aaron, who hadn’t had a chance to shine all night, seized the moment. “Vivienne, I’ll grab us some breakfast. What

as he gently set Vivienne down on the couch, completely disregarding Mara, who had fainted on