The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Just then.

The door to their room swung open, pushed by Gavin from the outside. The sudden noise startled the middle-aged man inside, whose gaze darted toward the sound. Harrison, with blood at the corner of his mouth and reddened eyes, caused his expression to drastically change.

Madeline let out a scream, snapping Gavin back to reality. He hurriedly instructed someone to help Harrison up. "Victoria, have you lost your mind? Are you trying to murder your own husband?!" Victoria stared blankly at her hands, her pupils dilated in shock. It didn't make sense to her. From what she had observed of Harrison recently, his seemingly weak demeanor had to be an act. She might have been a bit too reactive, a little too rough, but surely it wasn't enough to make someone cough up blood.

She opened her mouth, her gaze sweeping over Harrison's pitiful, semi-conscious state, her eyes tightening. "Who knew he was so fragile? It was just a joke."

Her nonchalant chuckle and carefree demeanor only infuriated Gavin further. He raised his hand to strike, but Sophie, who had followed him into the room, lit up with schadenfreude, barely able to hide her glee.

Only Madeline, her pupils contracting, stepped forward to intercept.

Smack!

The expected pain didn't explode on Victoria's face. To her surprise, a slim figure had blocked Gavin's blow.

Victoria raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping over Harrison, who was being helped up, and Sophie at the door, finally resting on Gavin's shocked face. Then, she glanced at the person who had shielded her, reluctantly coming to a conclusion. Madeline!

Interesting.

She wondered how Madeline planned to betray her this time.

"Mom!"

a deathly silence for a full two minutes after the slap, only broken by Sophie's panicked scream, "Mom, what are you

of it, pushing his daughter aside to embrace Madeline, who was now teary-eyed and holding her

what matters. Gavin, you're being

with Victoria. The message was clear: see, even if you disagree with me, Gavin will

kept silent, but Gavin immediately sensed the hidden meaning in Madeline's words. He waved his hand, dismissing the servants to tend to Harrison's wounds, then turned and shut the door, leaving the four of them in

at the laptop still streaming the trial, then asked,

The room went silent.

She met Gavin's gaze with indifference, looked around in surprise, then pointed to herself, "Are you asking me?" Gavin took a deep breath. "Who else would I be

Kipling is definitely done for. Dad, you might as well cut ties with the Abernasy family to avoid

could you say that? He's my uncle. Mom just helped you, and

she were foolish. "What does your mom helping me have

and white with frustration, tugging at Gavin's sleeve to complain, "Our family and the Abernasy family are united. We can't just separate because we want to.

expression darkened, and he turned his

"Just close the bank account used for receiving the money. No matter how skilled they are, they won't be able

serious advice, "Dad, this is so simple to

the money, just use a different bank account and find

dismissed her ideas without a second thought. "Nonsense! The connections we've built aren't something you can just pull back whenever you

I'll arrange

refused to entertain any more of Victoria's objections, decisively ending the conversation, "Seize the opportunity to plead with Richard, hoping he'll pressure Vivienne to let Kipling go." "At the very least, they

laughed in

hear yourself?