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

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

I

wanted to punch him out of frustration

they had met before. The

it’s no use. The face under the mask was

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

“Vivienne, she mentioned Samantha. What’s that

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

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

of questions, wondering why they were returning home without having completed their mission. Were they just going to leave the woman in

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

exactly going to cause a problem. After all, they had deliberately allowed some things to happen so

being

Percival: Don’t blame

get used to

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

a severely

for that man, leaving my sister and I with only

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

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

want to come back with us?”

Huxley replied without

in a

The uncles

but ask, “Just two

will head back first. In a day, someone will come to take you back

Everyone was puzzled.