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.

about to retort when Karen continued, "Or the time you cried about diapers and not wanting to break the rule of 'no touching between the sexes.' That settled it; Karen always had the last

Rivenwood's finest stew house, where Karen feasted to her heart's content. It

robot, an android," Karen said, reclining in her chair

to check

pondering quietly. "It only shows the androids

the two samples Karen had left behind, had reached their highest version. "Zelda" at the

Vivienne by Zachary Churchill just

no progress for years, but

knitted. "It seems we have a mole among

Zachary, William Pendleton, or the Brooks family. She

definitely a leak, but a mole is unlikely. Without Scott Brooks, the Brooks family is clean, and

the Brooks family has been under surveillance. No

particles, we couldn't risk using any chemicals. Even Percival's shot wouldn't have

caught the tail end of the conversation. "The gun

I thought they'd switched guns. Could it be Vance again?" Karen propped her chin on her hand, tapping her cheek in thought. When Percival turned around and saw Vivienne in the

"Master, Vivienne, why don't we head home and

mention of

family must

was only because Diana had pushed

her mother's hesitation, Vivienne reached out and took Karen's hand. "Mom, let's go

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

how strong a person is, there is always a tender scar

deeply