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.

shook his head, too, indicating he

a different story. Upon waking and finding familiar faces – and the red-clad woman gone – he knew he had been

I

punch him

mask?” Yuri couldn’t help asking. The woman had given him an odd sense of familiarity as if they had met before. The mention

The face under the mask was probably not

of disguise; they wouldn’t dare show

stood up. “Vivienne, she mentioned

which was to investigate Samantha’s whereabouts. Instead, he ended up being the one

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

of questions, wondering why they were returning home without having completed their mission. Were they just going

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

for the woman in red. However, she was not exactly going to cause a problem.

being third wheels, what else

Percival:

You get used to

been bizarre, and this was the first time Vivienne had encountered such tactics. The silver needles from her fan were coated in a deadly poison, which would have required her

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

everything for that man, leaving my sister and I with

torture! But when I almost lost it, she suddenly brought me to this sanatorium, where I found Carl. You

Vivienne’s eyelids lowered, hiding the look

to come back with us?”

Huxley replied

in a mysterious smile. “Alright

roar of private jets could be heard outside. The uncles peeked out to see

two planes? How will

“Uncles, Vivienne and I will head back first. In a day, someone will come to

Everyone was puzzled.