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 he was

– and the red-clad

I was a

him out of

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 of

face under the mask was probably not her

masters of disguise; they wouldn’t dare show their true faces in

she mentioned Samantha. What’s that

a solo mission from Vivienne, part of which was to investigate Samantha’s whereabouts. Instead, he ended up being the

it’s time to head

without having completed their mission. Were they

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

was not exactly going to cause a problem. After all, they had deliberately

from being third wheels, what else did we accomplish?” Vivienne’s

Percival: Don’t

You get used to

was the first time Vivienne had encountered such tactics. The silver needles from her fan were coated in

Larry, and a severely shaken Huxley, Vivienne addressed the latter, “Didn’t F-Poison capture you? How did

Back then, Mom lost everything for that man, leaving my sister and I with only each other to

I almost lost it, she suddenly brought me to

hiding the look in her

to come back with us?”

Huxley replied

lips curved in a mysterious smile. “Alright

private jets could be heard outside. The uncles peeked

but ask, “Just two

will head back first. In a day, someone will come

Everyone was puzzled.