The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Leopold and Matthew had just finished loading the Abernathy family into the van, including Cormac, when the stench inside hit them like a wave, almost driving them back out the door. But seeing Vivienne and the others frozen by the bedside, Leopold steeled himself and stepped inside.

The woman on the bed was a shadow of her former self, her hair tangled and matted like weeds upon the pillow. Her face was streaked with dirt, and it looked like the Abernathys hadn't bothered to clean her in ages. If it weren't for the faint rise and fall of her chest, Leopold might have mistaken her for a corpse.

Wait a minute! Those features...

How cshe looked a bit like Percival? Realizing this, Leopold's pupils dilated, his finger pointing shakily at the woman on the bed.

Then he glanced at Percival, whose stony face was unreadable, and noticed the air around him growing colder and heavier. Leopold took a step back, feeling as if his throat had been seized. He couldn't manage to utter a complete sentence.

Finally, it was Vivienne who broke the silence. "Mr. Wolf, let's get her out of here first." She was genuinely shocked. They had only cto fetch a witness back to Rivenwood, and here they were, stumbling upon the very person Percival had spent years searching for.

Mr. Wolf's aunt, the Ellington heiress-Holly Ellington! "Gavin Abernathy!" The torrential rain outside devoured any trace of light, leaving their car in the darkness, save for the occasional flash of headlights that flickered before Vivienne's eyes.

Percival, with lips pressed together and eyes as cold as ice, stared into the abyss beyond the window.

Tseemed to crawl by.

At last, the man spoke. His voice was hoarse, almost eerie in the pitch-black setting, yet Vivienne heaved a sigh of relief as she said, "Mr. Wolf, trust me, I will heal your aunt." Percival's grim expression softened slightly. He shifted, leaning his head against Vivienne's shoulder. "Vivienne, I do trust you. It's just... I can't control..." He couldn't control the hatred bubbling up inside him toward Gavin and the entire Abernathy family.

He had assumed that even if Gavin didn't care for his aunt, out of respect for her status as the Ellington heiress, she would be placed in an unknown hospital with professional care to at least keep her alive.

But the reality was starkly different! In this remote village, there were only a few, including Cormac! The moment Percival had pulled back the covers, even he couldn't suppress the rising bile in his throat.

He now understood where that foul stench lingering around the Abernathy property cfrom! Beneath that soiled and stained blanket was Holly's withered body, wounds festering and crawling with maggots! At that moment, Percival felt a murderous rage! The last shred of his sanity reminded him that those people were still useful. But the agony he felt for Holly and the hatred for the Abernathys set his heart ablaze with fury! Percival allowed himself to bury his head deeper into Vivienne's stomach, his clenched eyes hiding the torrent of hatred. Feeling the warmth through the thin fabric, Vivienne swallowed hard, her hand gently caressing his hair as a chill flashed in her eyes. "Mr. Wolf, the dead do not deserve our hatred." Matthew glanced up through the rear-view mirror at Vivienne and pursed his lips.

He couldn't recall the last the had seen such a chilling expression on Vivienne's face.

The ancient warrior lineage was formidable, but was Vivienne afraid? If someone hurt a person Vivienne cared about, they couldn't just hand their life over to the Grim Reaper without her consent.

His phone rang then, and he glanced at the caller ID before saying, "Vivienne, it's Draven." "Hand it over." Matthew passed the phone to her.

Vivienne answered. Draven's voice, cool yet tinged with anger, cthrough, "Young Master, there's been trouble!" "What has the Abernathy family done now?" Vivienne didn't need to guess; she knew Gavin must have stirred up more trouble.

Anna, having calmed Kaitlyn, joined Draven, "Ms. Vivienne, Gavin had people dig up Mrs. Littleton's et parents' graves. They've taken the ashes and are threatening that if we don't hand over the secret recipe within three days, they'll scatter her parents' ashes to the winds!" Vivienne's grip on the phone tightened as she inhaled deeply. "How is Kaitlyn holding up?" Anna looked at the figure shivering on the couch, her expression bordering on hysterical, and shook her head. "Not well. She's been muttering about running out of time. She's probably been triggered by the Abernathys. Ms. Vivienne, what do we do now?" In the darkness, a cold light flickered in Vivienne's eyes. "Stay at the villa. We'll be right back." After a pause, remembering Holly in the car, she added, "Have Brody prepare a secure room in the lab. I need to put someone in there." Anna acknowledged, "Alright." "What's wrong?" Percival's voice was muffled against her, his head still buried in her abdomen, which suddenly tensed, the muscles quivering slightly.

Vivienne set her phone down with deliberate slowness, her voice tinged with disbelief. "Gavin dug up Kaitlyn's folks' graves, threatening to scatter their ashes if the family secret isn't handed over." "Damn! That's downright diabolical!" Matthew furrowed his brows. "The Abernathys sure play the lapdog well, don't they? Have they no fear of karma?" "This time, it looks like the Grimshaws have really given them an ultimatum." Percival's analysis was calm, his eyes hiding all the negativity. "They're nothing but opportunistic trash!" Vivienne's gentle hands began to soothe his tense back. "If they're trash, then they belong in the dumpster. But, we've got another score to settle before that. Not all Abernathys are Grimshaw's dogs." Percival blinked in surprise. "You mean Victoria?" Leopold was astonished. "You can't be serious, Vivienne. Hasn't Victoria always been her daddy's little girl, doing all sorts of dirty work against the Littletons? You toldshe forced Kaitlyn into donating blood for their twisted purposes." Vivienne replied, her tone contemplative, "I can't be sure why she did what she did, but I've got a hunch she's not the villain here." She recounted the episode where Victoria was supposed to have kidnapped Kaitlyn but ended up dropping her off at the Rivenwood Shopping Center instead.

Matthew chuckled skeptically. "So, what you're saying is, all those things she's done might've been an act due to circumstances beyond her control?" Leopold jumped in, "You don't think it's got something to do with Percival's aunt, do you?" mmMwWLlilOfiflO&1 mmMwWLlilOfiflO&1 mmMwWLliI0fiflO&1 mmMwWLlilOfiflO&1 mmMwWLliI0fifl0&1 mmMwWLlilOfiflO&1