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.

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

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

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

her soda and burped. "I tossed that rock to check if she was an android. Never

pair wet wipes, pondering quietly. "It only shows

their highest version. "Zelda" at the scene was the pinnacle of these experiments-an android being capable

given to Vivienne

made no progress for years, but

"It seems we

focused on finding Karen to check on Zachary, William Pendleton, or the Brooks family.

the 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 have

Brooks family has been under surveillance. No issues there, and

we couldn't risk using any chemicals. Even Percival's

after settling the bill, caught the tail end of

Vance again?" Karen propped her chin on her hand, tapping her cheek in thought. When Percival turned around and saw Vivienne in the

why don't we head

of home,

family must

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

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

care much for the term 'family.' In fact, she

person is, there is always a tender

been deeply wounded by her foster parents-left battered