The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

When Vivienne and Percival turned to look again, the woman in red had vanished without a trace.

Vivienne wanted to chase after her, but Percival grabbed her wrist. “Vivienne, let it go. She hasn’t shown us her full hand yet.”

Even for Vivienne and Percival, it had been a stalemate at best. If they pursued her, their chances of victory were slim.

Besides, their main reason for coming to M State was to rescue people, and now that they had, their mission was complete. However, they still hadn’t figured out why the puppet master behind this charade had gone to such lengths.

Vivienne peered in the direction the red-clad woman had disappeared, her gaze murky and unreadable.

Atop a nearby hill, the woman in red stood, her eyes fixed on the scene below where she could see Vivienne’s group.

Lucky for her, she had packed a smoke grenade, which briefly obscured their vision, allowing her a swift escape.

It had been years, and it was time for her to return to Veridia.

She scoffed disdainfully, snapped her fan shut, and walked away. “Wait for it. We’ll meet again.”

…

Elsewhere.

Huxley had fainted from fright during the scuffle and was now jabbed awake by Vivienne’s needle.

“You guys alright?” Vivienne asked, looking toward Larry and Carl.

Larry, clutching his chest, replied, “Vivienne, we’re fine.”

He had sustained some injuries, but they weren’t a big deal for him.

too, indicating

faces – and the red-clad woman gone

I

him

help asking. The woman had given him an odd sense of familiarity as if they had met before. The mention of having held Vivienne as a child had also piqued his curiosity. However, he

no use. The face under the

people are masters of disguise; they wouldn’t dare show

she mentioned Samantha. What’s

Samantha’s whereabouts. Instead, he ended up being the one

looking at Percival. “Mr. Wolf, it’s time to

were returning home without having completed their mission. Were they just going to leave the woman in

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

in red. However, she was not exactly going to cause a problem. After all, they had deliberately allowed some things to

being third wheels, what else

Percival:

get used to

been bizarre, and this was the first time Vivienne had encountered such tactics. The silver

a cracked rib for Larry, and a severely shaken Huxley, Vivienne addressed the latter,

lost everything for that man, leaving my sister and I with

when I almost lost it, she suddenly brought me to this sanatorium, where I found Carl. You guys know what happened

eyelids lowered, hiding

come back with us?” She

Huxley replied

lips curved in a mysterious smile.

private jets could be heard outside. The uncles peeked out

couldn’t help but ask, “Just two planes? How will

and I will head back first. In a day, someone will

Everyone was puzzled.