The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Flynn’s pupils contracted slightly at her words, and then he let out a scornful chuckle. “F-Poison? And who’s Samantha? You’re speaking gibberish to me.”

Vivienne regarded him coolly. “You insinuated yourself into Flynn’s life, became his confidant, and waited till he let his guard down. The day before the shooting, you two switched identities.

In that massacre, the real Flynn died a hero, saving lives. And you—you lived on, wearing his face.

Francis, you’ve schemed for eternity at the cost of everything, even delivering yourself into our hands. Did you ever calculate that this life would be your last within these walls?”

Flynn—no, Francis now—his expression cracked at her words, but he quickly masked it with laughter.

His face, or rather the lifelike mask he wore, began to split, revealing a much younger visage underneath.

Vivienne couldn’t help but feel a pang of surprise. Willa was well into her forties, yet the man before her, supposedly her father, looked to be in his early twenties.

“Vivienne, you’re even sharper than your mother,” F-Poison admitted defeat. There was no point in hiding anymore. He had lost, utterly and without a chance to turn the tables.

Yet, losing to her didn’t feel like a disgrace. Vivienne was the most formidable adversary he had ever encountered.

Her mother, Karen, was formidable too, but he sensed in Vivienne that rare quality of the student surpassing the master. Given time, she would certainly eclipse her mother.

“But I’m curious, how did you unravel my secrets?” Now that his true identity was exposed, he abandoned all pretense, his youthful face twisted with a grotesque smile that was wholly unsettling.

“I’ve explained once to Samantha, and I don’t fancy repeating myself,” Vivienne replied, her gaze piercing.

She leaned in slightly, a smirk playing on her lips. “But there is one thing I will tell you.”

Francis raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“While you and Samantha devoted your lives to the quest for immortality, I haven’t concocted an elixir of eternal life, but I have created a life-extension pill that adds five years to a person’s life. It’s based on your ST-1, and it’s given me a direction for my own studies into immortality.”

The life-extension pill was indeed real.

invention Vivienne had stumbled upon

life-saving pill, she discovered that her first

brought the pills to

order of life and death was a sacrilege, even if it

be a mere extension of life, but to her,

people killing for just one dose. That wasn’t something she wished to

ten pills and kept

drug intrigued her—not to sell, but as a scientific challenge, one

dilated in shock. “What did you

invented the life-extension

of RST would have been unnecessary. Capturing Vivienne

him dismissively. “I don’t waste words on the

your next life as a lesser creature, to

hanging in the air, she and Percival stepped out. From her

Boom!

echoed through the valley as Vivienne

Percival was silent, his face etched

Percival was in a bad mood, Vivienne turned to him, held his hand, and said, “Mr. Wolf,

Percival’s uncle, the one person in the Ellington family

it had been another man wearing his uncle’s face. Before uncovering Francis’ identity, he had despised Flynn for his perceived betrayal and the threat

truth—that it wasn’t his uncle who betrayed him, but Francis—filled him with remorse for

on Percival and knew how unsettled he must feel. Now that Francis was out of the picture, Percival was

Francis to suffer a torment that gnawed to the bone

them continue the search for immortality. If Francis lived, they would find

the luxury of keeping

that Francis, Samantha, and the shadowy figure behind her were too powerful.

the spot was the

of warmth

best