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.

his head, too,

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

I was

at him and wanted to punch him out of frustration

they had met before. The mention of having held Vivienne as a child had also piqued his curiosity. However, he

it’s no use. The face under

are masters of disguise; they wouldn’t dare

“Vivienne, she

been on a solo mission from Vivienne, part of which was to investigate Samantha’s whereabouts. Instead, he ended up being the one kidnapped, a humiliating turn

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

were full of questions, wondering why they were returning home without having completed their mission. Were they just going

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

the woman in red. However, she was not exactly going to cause a problem. After all, they had

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

Percival:

You get

been bizarre, and this was the first time Vivienne had encountered such tactics. The silver needles

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

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

I almost lost it, she suddenly brought me to

eyelids lowered, hiding the look

to come back

Huxley replied

curved in a

private jets could be heard outside. The uncles peeked

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

I will head back first. In a day, someone

Everyone was puzzled.