The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Jasper was fuming, his face beet red with anger.

After finally reconnecting with his estranged daughter and granddaughter, the last thing he wanted was to have his precious granddaughter, Vivienne, whisked away by some smooth-talking charmer when he wasn’t looking.

“This guy, Percival, always seemed decent enough, but it turns out he’s sneaky as a fox!” Yuri exclaimed, shaking her head disapprovingly.

Luke chimed in, determined, “We can’t just let him get away with whisking Vivienne away. We need to settle the score.”

Leaning lazily against the wall, arms crossed, Fredrick offered a more pragmatic view. “What’s there to settle? Even if you confront Percival, do you really think Vivienne, who’s head over heels for him, would agree to leave him?”

Vivienne: I’m not head over heels!

Jasper shot Fredrick a glare. “If you’ve got nothing sensible to say, zip it!”

Raising an eyebrow, Fredrick countered, “So what’s your plan? Force them to annul the marriage right away?”

Jasper was at a loss for words. How could he, as a grandfather, encourage his own granddaughter to divorce? Nonetheless, he was still not happy with it!

Fredrick clapped Jasper on the shoulder, trying to ease the tension. “Look, she’s all grown up. They’ve got their marriage license. Instead of getting all worked up, why not focus on throwing them a proper wedding? We, the Perez family, won’t let our girl be shortchanged!”

Jasper snorted dismissively. “A wedding, sure. But the Ellington family is not getting off easy for tricking my granddaughter!”

Maddox and Yuri nodded in agreement. Zelda sighed, the voice of reason lost in the commotion.

Meanwhile, Cecilia had just woken up from a nap and, out of habit, began scrolling through Facebook. Suddenly, she came across Vivienne’s post – no caption, just a photo of a marriage license. Still groggy, she scrolled past it and then saw an identical post from Percival.

a sudden burst of realization, Cecilia sat bolt

did she

There it was, clear as day: a marriage license with Percival and Vivienne’s names on it. Then,

tossing aside the covers and grabbing a coat on

My son has gone

just finished his coffee, was startled by Cecilia’s outcry. Clutching

thrust her phone at Richard. “Dad, look!

in the day. You’ve got to move fast when you

always hovering, waiting to whisk her away. I had to be cunning and got the license first to keep

only roll her eyes. Why did Richard

celebration. Let’s start with a family

agreement, her heart swelling with joy at

They should be involved in setting the date,” Richard added, referring to

treated Vivienne well all her life. Although her mother has returned,

and headed upstairs

news had set the

and got a marriage license with

dog! He didn’t even propose

no proposal, just off

Did you have a hand in Percival eloping with

staring at the group chat without daring to utter a

he truly was

through his mind when he opened his phone to find Percival and Vivienne’s marriage license all over