The Million-Dollar Heart

Clutching her mother tightly, Vivienne's tears erupted like a fountain. She wept uninhibited, her sobs echoing through the car like a child's.

In her mother's embrace, time seemed to stand still. It was different from the time she had swindled Finnian out of 80 million dollars; this was raw, unfiltered emotion. After crying herself to near exhaustion, Vivienne finally ceased her tears and remembered she had a bone to pick with her mother.

"Mom, you..." Vivienne started but stopped as she noticed Karen dozing against the car window.

How could any mother be so absent? She was crying her eyes out!

"Vivienne, honey?" Karen murmured, waking to her daughter's voice and wiping drool from her chin. "Oh, it's been ages since I heard you cry. Still puts me right to sleep."

Vivienne was speechless, gazing intensely at her mother, who seemed so different from when she had first seen Anna.

"Mom!"

Karen pulled Vivienne into a hug. "Frost, I'm starved. How about we grab some beef stew before we get into all that?"

Overhearing from outside, Percival could not bear the scene any longer and climbed into the car. He had hoped for a heartwarming reunion, yet Karen's mind was preoccupied with thoughts of beef stew! Now he knew where Vivienne got her appetite.

"Master, is food all you ever think about?" Percival complained as he got into the car. Vivienne had been crying her heart out, and Karen had not even tried to comfort her.

Karen slapped Percival's arm. "Shut it and drive."

"Mom, please don't knock the sense out of my Mr. Wolf," Vivienne said, rubbing the back of Percival's head tenderly.

Percival chuckled softly, grateful for Vivienne's gentle touch.

Karen scoffed. "It's not like you peed on him when you were a kid!"

Vivienne blushed crimson, having no memory of such an incident.

to retort when Karen continued, "Or the time you cried about diapers and not wanting to break the rule of 'no touching

stew house, where Karen feasted to her heart's content. It was then that she circled back to the matter at

android," Karen said, reclining in her chair and rubbing her

"I tossed that rock to check if she was an android. Never thought I'd get

only shows the androids

two samples Karen had left behind, had reached their highest

android was given to Vivienne by Zachary Churchill just

but

brows knitted. "It seems we have

on Zachary, William Pendleton, or the Brooks family. She thought they

table. "There's definitely a leak, but a mole is unlikely. Without Scott Brooks, the Brooks family is clean, and Baron has long retired. Maybe it's time to look elsewhere, like new contacts they might

With Scott gone, the Brooks family has been under surveillance. No issues there, and the Churchill and Pendleton families are

Karen added. "Because of the airborne particles, we couldn't

bill, caught the tail end of the conversation. "The

Vanguard Agency showed up, their gunshots sounded muffled. I thought they'd switched guns. Could it be Vance again?" Karen propped her chin on her hand, tapping her cheek in thought.

Vivienne, why don't we head home

of home, Karen seemed

family must be in chaos

was not ready to face Jasper, not after everything. It was only because Diana had pushed Vivienne to the

and took Karen's hand. "Mom, let's

knew that Karen didn't really care much for the term 'family.' In fact, she was downright resistant

matter how strong a person is, there is always a tender scar hidden away

her origins, she had been deeply wounded by her foster parents-left battered