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 he

Upon waking and finding familiar faces – and the red-clad woman gone

thought I was

looked at him and wanted to punch him out of frustration but restrained himself

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 combed through his memory but found no trace

use. The face under the mask was probably

of disguise; they wouldn’t dare show

up. “Vivienne, she

investigate Samantha’s whereabouts. Instead, he ended up being the one kidnapped, a humiliating turn of events

it’s time to

home without having completed their mission. Were they just going to

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

was not exactly going to cause a problem. After

our purpose here in M State? Apart from being third wheels, what

Percival: Don’t

get

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

severely shaken Huxley, Vivienne addressed the latter, “Didn’t F-Poison

that man, leaving my sister and I with only each other to depend on. Later, I was

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

lowered, hiding

want to come back with us?”

replied

lips curved in a mysterious smile.

outside. The

but ask, “Just two planes? How will we all

head back first. In a day, someone will

Everyone was puzzled.