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 was

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

I was

and wanted to punch him out of frustration

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 combed

face under the mask was probably

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

up. “Vivienne, she

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

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

were returning home without having completed their mission. Were they just

“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

from being third wheels, what else did

Percival:

get used to

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 have required her some

cracked rib for Larry, and a severely shaken

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

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

Vivienne’s eyelids lowered, hiding the

you want to come back with

replied without

in a mysterious smile.

outside. The uncles peeked

couldn’t help but ask, “Just two

answered, “Uncles, Vivienne and I will head back first. In a day,

Everyone was puzzled.