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.

high spirits, "This Harrison, he's the jerk you were talking about? No wonder he managed to charm Vivienne's friend; he does look

annoyance. "He's nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing. Just watch, he's going

resonated in

too far from

sparked with an idea, thinking of Emrys Abernathy and

if Harrison's concoction would work, he considered the implications if Emrys and the others recanted.

already a pawn being sacrificed, he'd be worrying about his

with them?" Gavin

drama before turning to Victoria, who was clearly bored, "When

Victoria, yawning, showed little

"What could

Vivienne and

because of

share their plans with me? They're

Gavin was the fool for

why Vivienne bothered protecting

plotting against

Gavin, he'd likely help them along. Protecting Gavin must serve some other purpose. Victoria's thoughts drifted, her gaze returning

Gavin might as well have been dead. His life or death held no interest

assets didn't fall into Madeline and

about to lash out, but Percival's

his cane

raised an eyebrow. Besides the Grimshaw family,

followed to where Percival had been looking, but she missed

Gavin, then noticed several researchers entering the