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,

faces – and the

I

at him and wanted to punch him out of frustration

woman had given him an odd sense of familiarity as if they had met before. The mention of having held Vivienne as a

face under the mask was probably not

wouldn’t dare show their

she mentioned Samantha. What’s that

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

Percival. “Mr. Wolf, it’s time to head home. Some webs

were returning home without having completed their mission. Were they

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

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

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

and Percival: Don’t blame

get used

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

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

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

it, she suddenly brought me to this sanatorium, where I found Carl. You guys know

see.” Vivienne’s eyelids lowered, hiding

come back with us?”

replied

lips curved in a mysterious

be heard outside. The uncles peeked out to

“Just two planes? How will

will head back first. In a

Everyone was puzzled.