The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Fiona lay on the operating table, her eyes wide with horror as she watched Vivienne slice away her

necrotic organs before stitching her abdomen back together. Machines that signified the waning of her

life were now, bit by bit, displaying signs of vitality.

Speechless, Fiona could only gawk at Vivienne with her mouth half-open, like a dummy.

Having finished the last stitch, Vivienne scrutinized Fiona’s belly, frowning deeply. “This won’t do. It’s

unsightly. I’ll have to redo everything,” she lamented, and with those words, she began to undo the

stitches.

Fiona heard the sutures tearing through her skin but felt no pain. Yet the phantom agony in her mind,

coupled with the sight before her, tormented her so fiercely that death seemed a sweet release.

Vivienne repeated the process three times until, at last, she was satisfied.

“Fiona, darling, was it worth risking your life for White Tiger?” Vivienne covered Fiona’s body, and as

she spoke, she lifted Calista—who had a scalpel stuck in her eye—off the table and dropped her into a

nearby chair.

Fiona’s head was immobilized; she could only glance sideways to see.

“When will you tire of these little games? There’s no thrill left in it.” Vivienne sighed, pulling the scalpel

from Calista’s eye. Blood followed the blade, splattering Fiona’s face.

Calista screamed, her fingers trembling uncontrollably, her mind teetering on the brink of

unconsciousness but unable to succumb. One eye was a bloody, hollow mess; the other brimmed with

pleas no one heeded.

Vivienne scooped out the useless eyeball with a clinical detachment and tossed it into the trash like

yesterday’s leftovers.

Calista, now half-blind, was easier to manage this way—for Vivienne had little patience for those

unwilling to cling to life.

Numb to it all, Calista knelt on the floor, her voice a broken record of mercy pleas. “Vivienne, please… I

won’t dare again, never again…”

She had now realized that Vivienne was a fearsome force, eclipsing even the infamous F-Poison.

Calista had once thought that having her bones shattered by F-Poison was the height of suffering, yet

in Vivienne’s grip, that was mere child’s play.

Unmoved by the begging, Vivienne dusted Calista’s empty socket with a powder. “This will save your

life,” she said thoughtfully.

“A Life-saving pill goes for five million, but this powder—it’s twice that. Plus my services… you owe me

a fortune, Calista. How will you repay?” Vivienne mused, shaking her head.

Calista’s mind was a void; she would agree to anything Vivienne said.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” she whispered.

“Good,” Vivienne nodded. “Then you’ll work for Rex. He needs an assistant—a capable one.”

Rex, who actually was Brody, from the YQ Lab had contacted Vivienne with an unusual request some

time ago. He needed a human subject for an experiment, assuring her it would not be life-threatening.

Initially, she had refused, but Calista seemed a fitting candidate now.

A medical prodigy herself, Calista could be a valuable asset to Brody’s work.

Shivering, Calista faced her uncertain future while Fiona, still on the table, could feel her body healing

and breaking in equal measures.

Checking the monitors, Vivienne noted, “Not bad, recovery’s on track.”

She began to remove the tubes from Fiona. “But how will you repay me?”

Fiona shuddered inwardly, her body still immobile.

“Never mind, I’ll hand you over to Mr. Wolf,” Vivienne decided, covering Fiona with a blanket. “I forgot

to mention, you’re bedridden for life now.”

Fiona would be in perpetual agony, her organs forever on the brink of collapse, unable to even

contemplate suicide.

Vivienne wheeled Fiona out and discreetly removed Calista.

Everyone thought Fiona was on the mend, save for her newfound muteness.

Heloise cried a single sincere tear, mourning the loss of her comfortable life as much as her daughter’s

plight.

Flynn and Richard hovered over Fiona while Vivienne exchanged a brief word with Percival and left the

hospital. She had other pressing matters, or else Brody’s messages would become a nuisance.

After sending Vivienne and Calista, now concealed in a trash bag, onto the car to be taken away by

Anna, Percival received a call from headquarters.

“I’m on my way,” he said before hanging up and casting one last look at the bustling Ellington family,

the people he had grown up with and held dear.

…

The next morning, Vivienne arrived at the YQ Lab, fresh from a restful sleep in the car.

She popped the trunk and unfurled the trash bag, revealing Calista, who had curled up during the

bumpy ride.

Blinking open her one remaining eye, Calista’s world was blurrier than ever.Books Chapters Are Daily

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She tumbled out of the trunk, her body aching all over. “Where… where is this?” She croaked.

Anna, silent as ever, followed Vivienne into the lab, which looked the same as ever, save for the half-

finished 3D bio-printer.

Upon seeing Vivienne, Holden hurried over. “Ma’am, are you here for Rex?”

Vivienne nodded as Holden gestured toward the innermost lab, “Right in there, go ahead.”

Other researchers in the lab steered clear of Brody’s domain. The last time Holden had rushed in with

urgent business, he nearly got gassed. It was only after popping one of Rex’s pills that he had

recovered.

Since then, no one dared venture too close.

Equipping Anna and Calista with gas masks, Vivienne pushed open the heavy door to Brody’s lab.

“Damn it, not again! This is infuriating! Vivienne, you asshole!” Brody had not noticed her entry.

Cursing Vivienne’s name whenever an experiment failed was his way of venting.

Vivienne frowned. “What did you just say?”

Startled, Brody looked up, his eyes lighting up upon seeing Vivienne, “Perfect timing! Take a look at this

concoction. I can’t shake the feeling it’s meant for something other than poisoning. There’s another

purpose, but I can’t figure it out.”

He seemed to have forgotten the insult he’d just hurled at her.

Vivienne’s gaze followed the potion, which was breaking down into various cells and recombining

endlessly. The healing properties it was producing were becoming more apparent.

She had always wanted to develop an antidote for the potion but had not expected it to start isolating

healing cells on its own.

Curious.

By then, Brody had taken notice of Calista, missing an eye, and gave her a once-over, “Is this my new

test subject?”

Vivienne nodded. “Are you pleased?”

“Pleased, indeed. Come here, let’s try this injection on you.” With a swift motion, Brody administered

the shot to Calista, who convulsed instantly.

Vivienne barely noticed, her attention fixed on the cellular structure emerging from the potion.

“Mom! What is the true nature of this potion?” She wondered.