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.

head, too, indicating

waking and finding familiar faces – and the red-clad woman gone – he knew he had been saved

thought I was

looked at him and wanted to punch him out of frustration but restrained himself for Vivienne’s

under that mask?” Yuri couldn’t 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

face under the mask was

are masters of disguise; they wouldn’t dare

she

which was to investigate Samantha’s whereabouts. Instead, he ended

Percival. “Mr. Wolf, it’s

uncles were full of questions, wondering why they were returning home without having completed

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

control except for the woman in red. However, she was not exactly going to cause a problem. After all, they had deliberately allowed some things to happen so

what was our purpose here in M State? Apart from being third wheels, what else did we accomplish?” Vivienne’s three

Percival: Don’t

You get used to

them for injuries. The woman in red’s moves had 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

severely shaken Huxley,

then, Mom lost everything for that man, leaving my sister and I with only each other to depend on. Later, I was captured, and F-Poison dumped me in an

it, she

see.” Vivienne’s eyelids lowered, hiding the look in

want to come back with us?” She

Huxley replied

lips curved in a mysterious smile.

heard outside. The uncles peeked out to see

couldn’t help but ask, “Just two

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

Everyone was puzzled.