The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Vivienne's gaze shifted across the room, the corners of her lips curling up slightly. "Harrison, surely you must recognize some of these faces. Back in the day, as an intern, you joined the Littleton family's R&D team to develop new products. These people were your partners and mentors."

Harrison's hand, hidden under the table, clenched his shirt tightly. Ignoring Vivienne, he rasped in disbelief, "Blake, Trent, how could you do this to me?"

"How much did Vivienne pay you to bear false witness against me?"

Jerry cleared his throat, "These witnesses haven't spoken yet. How do you know it's perjury?"

Harrison shot back, "Why else would you bring them here if not to pin the crime of ingratitude on me? Mrs. Littleton, I respected your kindness to me back then and didn't quarrel with you. After all these years, why can't you let me go?"

Leopold, sitting among the audience, glanced at Harrison's reddened eyes. "This guy's quite the actor," he remarked.

He elbowed Thomas, "Is this what they call a 'male gold digger' on the internet?"

"Clearly," was the unspoken reply.

Before Thomas could respond, a crisp female voice surprised them from behind.

Leopold turned sharply, just in time to catch a grimace of pain, "Griffin Martinez! A little heads-up next time, you scared me half to death!"

Seeing Leopold's lips turn pale, a flicker of concern crossed Griffin's eyes. "Oh dear, I thought you knew. Are you okay? Need me to check?"

Leopold quickly waved her off, "No, no, I'm fine!"

"Oh." Griffin looked slightly dejected, her disappointment visible.

Thomas couldn't stand it and shot his brother a look that clearly read: That's why you're single!

Leopold silently protested his innocence.

jerk you were talking about? No

"He's nothing but

words resonated in the

far from them, caught

sparked with an idea, thinking of Emrys Abernathy and others they had

if Harrison's concoction would work, he considered the implications if

he was already a pawn being sacrificed, he'd be worrying

are you familiar with them?"

courtroom drama before turning to Victoria, who was clearly bored, "When you visited Vivienne, did you

Victoria, yawning, showed little

could I

Vivienne and Percival

me because of

think they'd share their plans with me? They're

words implied Gavin was the fool

why Vivienne bothered

plotting against Gavin?

was after Gavin, he'd likely help them along. Protecting Gavin must

dead. His life or

was ensuring the Abernathy family's assets didn't fall into Madeline and her

of anger, about to lash

a chill, Gavin's grip on his cane tightened,

Grimshaw family, who else

to where Percival had been looking, but she missed

curiosity piqued, she glanced back at Gavin, then noticed several researchers