The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Victoria's gaze followed Vivienne's motion, turning to face the screen. The dim room, lined with high-tech medical paraphernalia, flickered with the sterile glow of the monitors. There, in the cold embrace of the hospital bed, lay a woman whose pallor was so ghostly it seemed to drain the life from her surroundings. Only the misty rhythm of her breath against the pale blue mask of the respirator bore witness to her clinging to life.

The footage was silent, yet Victoria could almost hear the incessant beep of the heart monitor haunting her ears. She held her breath, her heartbeat thundering, threatening to burst through her eardrums. She didn't need to be a medical expert to know her mother's condition was dire.

The arms that had once held her so tenderly were now a roadmap of scars-a patchwork of pain. Some were old, their wounds healed to leave nothing but pale ghosts on her skin. Others were fresh, angry, and brown, each one a raw nerve in Victoria's heart.

"Mom..." her lips trembled, teeth chattering, a broken cry tearing through her throat.

Her sobs filled the living room, spreading like a sorrowful tide.

Vivienne watched in silence, gesturing to Anna and the others, who quietly ushered Kaitlyn out of the room, their steps retreating up the staircase.

Kaitlyn couldn't resist glancing back to see Victoria, who always seemed so formidable, now as vulnerable as a child who had lost her favorite toy. Her shoulders shook with helpless despair, a mirror to the time Kaitlyn had stood amid the rubble, feeling the world collapse around her. Maybe she had misjudged Victoria all along?

Her thoughts were cut short as she ascended the stairs, leaving behind Vivienne, who leaned over to pick up the laptop lying on the coffee table.

"All these years, you've been helping Gavin, hoping he'd take care of your mom, right?" she said softly.

did well enough, he'd tell me where

didn't either," Vivienne reassured,

you know these men?" she asked, referring to Emrys and the others trying

over with red, swollen eyes.

Vivienne echoed, a speculative tone in her voice. "Gavin's brother?" Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ (F)indNƟvᴇl.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels

to the Abernathy family records, he died over a decade ago. But here

of his name, Emrys-who had been tied up by the Nine Mystics Society like a hog for slaughter-stared wide-eyed at Victoria, writhing on the ground with desperation in his eyes.

cahoots with her, aren't you? Gavin promised me. He said if I kept an eye on this Ellington woman, he'd take me back once it was all over. You traitor, you think you

hardened. "All these years, you've been

pushing Emrys back. Realization dawned in his beady eyes. "So what if I have? You better release me, or else

your Dad's favorite, and yet Gavin, the treacherous, heartless scoundrel, took the head of the Abernathy family right from under him! You

was in denial, his voice

his own wife a man who stepped on the very woman who helped him rise to power. How could you expect any loyalty from him?" Twirling her hair, Vivienne mused, "Before your father died, he must have left you money, right, Emrys?

paid a fortune to ensure her ashes would be forever bound, damning he soul. That woman was your mother! He used your inheritance to condemn your mother

face turning crimson with rage as Victoria's words echoed