The Million-Dollar Heart

Vivienne had no patience for Finnian's games. She'd scoured his mansion, inside and out, finding nothing more than a bunch of unused robots, a dog, and two cats - but no trace of what she was really after. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath, feeling like a fool for being played yet again.

Finnian, leaning against the wall with a smug look, said, "Sweetheart, you're gonna have to clean up this mess you've made. Look at this chaos!"

"Why don't you let Fido do it?" Vivienne snorted, snatching the apple Finnian was about to bite into right out of his hand as she stormed out.

Once she was gone, Finnian checked his surroundings for any "threats" before pulling out his phone to text Vesper, [Where are you?]

[I'm at Willa's.] Vesper replied, pocketing the phone. In the span of moments, he had changed into a woman.

The mirror reflected a cascade of soft locks over her shoulders, the sharp lines of her face now softened.

She had not undergone any dramatic disguise, just manipulated her facial bones slightly, which was painful enough for her not to change back to this real face frequently. But for this meeting, a male guise would not do.

She brushed her hair and changed into comfortable jeans and a tee, then knocked on the neighboring door.

Puzzled, Willa opened the door to find a stunning woman smiling back at her. "You are?"

"Willa, it's been ages," the woman said with a smile.

Willa peered into the woman's eyes, sensing an answer she dared not voice. She stepped back, overwhelmed.

The woman tapped Willa's forehead and playfully flicked her nose. "Don't recognize me, huh? I barely recognized you, too."

welled up in Willa's eyes at the

cried, rushing into the woman's

mistake as a child, Sasha would "punish" her like that before taking the blame in

now," Karen said soothingly, comforting Willa

remembered her. Otherwise, she would

sight that would have shocked Maddox. He would never have believed the stoic Willa capable of

Willa's crying subsided,

to you? Where have you been all these years, and why haven't you come

hand tightened as if afraid that letting go would cause

did not resist. "I've seen Dad already," she said with a smile. "Yuri, his wife, Natalia and Yasmine - I've met

Willa knew that meeting them was not the

a reason you're not telling them the truth? Does it have to do with

but why I

you

"I remember bits - like ruining Grandpa's garden or chopping up Mom's lipstick for

and it had gone undetected for years until she secretly matched her DNA with Yuri's during Vivienne's paternity test. That was when she discovered she was Sasha and began

detached from her life before age ten - it was like hearing someone else's story. Time had stretched long, and recovery was complicated. Too rapid a confrontation with the hypnosis could cause