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, indicating

and the red-clad woman gone – he knew he had

I was

looked at him and wanted to punch him out of frustration but restrained himself for Vivienne’s

see what she looked like under that mask?” 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 through his memory but found no trace of

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

disguise; they wouldn’t dare show their true faces

stood up. “Vivienne, she mentioned Samantha. What’s

investigate Samantha’s whereabouts. Instead, he ended up being the

“Mr. Wolf, it’s

returning home without having completed their mission. Were they

“Okay,” Percival nodded.

exactly going to cause a problem. After all, they had deliberately

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

and Percival:

You get

had encountered such tactics. The silver needles from her fan were coated in

examining them and finding only minor injuries, a cracked rib for Larry, and a severely shaken Huxley, Vivienne addressed the latter, “Didn’t F-Poison

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

It was torture! But when I almost lost it, she suddenly brought

eyelids lowered, hiding the look in

you want to come

Huxley replied without

lips curved in a mysterious smile.

be heard outside. The uncles peeked out to see two sleek

two planes? How

back first. In

Everyone was puzzled.