The Million-Dollar Heart

Patrick was floored by the girl before him, his words catching in his throat as he fell silent.

Quincy did not bother with further conversation. Grabbing her press pass from the table, she stood up and left.

Patrick tugged at his tie, exhaling a long breath of relief.

Dealing with the devil always comes at a price, he mused.

After leaving Patrick's press conference, Quincy took a shortcut and emerged transformed, her professional aura all but gone.

Dressed in a tank top with overalls and sporting a baseball cap, she slung a canvas bag over her shoulder, the picture of a college student.

She waited at the crossroads until a nondescript black Volkswagen pulled up.

"Are you my Uber?" Quincy asked.

The driver poked his head out, sunglasses masking his eyes. "Yeah, hop in, sweetheart."

Quincy smiled and opened the door. Soon, the Volkswagen blended into the stream of city traffic.

"Captain Wolf, can't you guys get me a better ride next time? This one just doesn't suit my style," Leopold grumbled from the driver's seat, resting one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the door. Percival, seated in the passenger seat, turned his head slightly, disregarding Husky's complaints.

In the backseat, Quincy tipped her cap to greet Vivienne. "Long time no see."

"You've gotten taller." Vivienne smiled back.

They skipped the small talk, diving straight into the heart of the matter.

"Ever since the operation to take down Mark ended, I've been out of the loop, just lying low in Rivenwood. After the lab was blown up by someone named Willa, I got zero instructions. It was not until yesterday that I was suddenly told to come to Sea City and give Patrick his next assignment."

you met the big

F-Poison. The orders come through online messages. I've tried tracking him, but there's nothing to trace." Quincy pulled out

tried to trace the source on her laptop but hit

old network's been beefed up since our mentor's days. We can't track it with what we've got," Percival said, looking back

a backdoor, but after all these years, GTO had upped their game. Plus, the original backdoor was locked away at Vanguard Agency headquarters, probably already compromised

network was

the thought of having such a

pocketed her phone. "As for the bomb on the ship, I was out

"Another team?"

the operations kept running smoothly. This leads me to

saying F-Poison has more than one so-called second-in-command like Belle?" Leopold

Sea City. I've yet

Patrick, for instance. If it had not been for this trip to Sea City and the discovery of the bionic

GTO's second-in-command after all; she was just the regional

was in charge of

was F-Poison even

for now. I'll let you know if anything else comes up," Quincy

the car, and Quincy stepped

she left, Percival moved to the back seat. "What's the plan

Sea City lab is right under the Ashford family's factory. We'll

the Boyd family will probably fall to Patrick soon. Once a person gets too big for their britches, they're

knowing smiles, anticipating

family, something that had never happened in decades was happening - the first and the second branches united, completely sidelining Wendy and Eliza to take over the Boyd Group. "Where the hell is the contract with the