The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Keith's voice dropped to a whisper, "No, I'm not leaving Rivenwood. With the officials and their hounds on my tail, I need a hideout in some secluded part of Rivenwood. Stock it with a month's worth of water and provisions."

"Let them loosen their grip on the borders, then you can sneak me out."

Brady hadn't expected this casual contact, who hadn't been activated for ages, to be so resourceful.

But now wasn't the time for nitpicking. He took a deep breath and said, "Fine, as long as you're not afraid of being caught by Vivienne and her crew. And remember, if you betray us, we, the Abernathys, won't spare anyone you care about!"

The next day.

Vivienne woke up from a good night's sleep unfazed by the news of Keith's escape.

She had anticipated this outcome, "Keith, always a thorn in our side since the Littleton debacle. Must be one of the Abernathys' moles in the force."

In the car, Anna raised her voice, "Ms. Vivienne, isn't it better that he's vanished?"

Leopold's incredulous voice came through the speaker, "Better? Anna, are you still half asleep?! How do we dig into the Abernathys without a lead?"

The front passenger seat pursed their lips in silence, turning away to massage their temples, not wanting to engage further with Leopold.

Vivienne, even from the backseat, could feel the frustration, "If Keith is off the grid, we can spin the story however we want. Whose side was he on? Use your head!" Leopold was stunned, "Really? But Vivienne, without solid evidence, won't we face complaints?"

"The Abernathys wouldn't dare," Percival couldn't stand Leopold's periodic brain fades.

Leopold finally got it, "So, we're hunting for a legitimate reason to raid the Abernathys. Percival, why didn't you just say so? What's with the riddles this early in the morning?" Pausing, Leopold added, "And don't we already have enough on them? Why go through all this trouble just for an excuse?"

He was lost at the complexity that seemed to thicken around Vivienne and Percival's plans.

Simple matters turning unnecessarily convoluted.

gave him a look reserved for idiots,

mimed locking his

arrived at

and Percival stepped out, followed by Anna, Leopold, Thomas, and

along with a slick lawyer, awaited

a jab at Vivienne but she ignored

fluctuating between shades of purple and

had already taken

Gavin, Victoria, Sophie, and

the room, her gaze pausing briefly before

whispered to Percival, "Looks like they're

might drop Gavin, but not Harrison." Vivienne hummed, glancing at Gavin, "The fact that

a stoic face, "He won't survive

Vivienne raised an eyebrow.

informed, "Got a tip. Someone's already

smirked, "Wonder how much Gavin's willing

smirked back, "Vivienne, you've turned

Gavin had to die.

by their

his end

decade ago wasn't thoroughly investigated." "For ten years, my client has been gathering evidence." He handed documents to the judge, "These papers prove Littleton's product was safe." "Yet, the victims insisted it was Littleton's fault, backed by Harrison's testimony. We suspect a conspiracy against the Littletons, involving

said he was specially flown in from abroad, an expert in these

Upon hearing Jerry's accusations,

finally speaking up: "I object! Your honor, this incident happened a decade ago. The original recipe was destroyed long ago; how can we verify if

the original research team as a

doors swung