The Million-Dollar Heart

Gillian screamed, her voice edged with sheer terror, "Are you out of your mind? You're in the car too, Mara!"

Panic clawed at her, urging her to leap from the speeding vehicle, but courage failed her.

As the car hurtled towards the end of the winding mountain road, Gillian curled up in the backseat, bracing for impact.

A jarring symphony of rubber grinding against asphalt pierced the air. Gillian's head slammed against the seat, her forehead instantly blossoming with a bruise.

Mara exhaled a long sigh of relief, casting a scornful glance back at Gillian. "Scared now?"

"Just go off and die by yourself; don't drag me into it!" In a fit of rage, Gillian hurled her purse squarely at Mara's face.

Mara, now prizing her beauty more than ever, caught sight of the incoming assault and immediately yanked at Gillian's hair, snarling, "Dare to mar my face? I'll make sure yours isn't worth keeping!" Gillian let out a piercing shriek.

And so, the two women grappled inside the car, exchanging blows and pulling hair-an unseemly spectacle.

Exhausted and breathless, they eventually stopped, both bearing the marks of their skirmish, neither having gained the upper hand.

Touching up her makeup in the mirror, Gillian said, "If you'd actually swallowed vitamins, Vivienne would have caught on in a heartbeat. She's the Specter Healer, and with her all-knowing mom, those two are sharper than anyone. You'd be the first to go if you slipped up."

Mara scoffed. "You could've warned me. I would've taken less. You're just looking to get rid of me!"

Gillian couldn't be bothered to argue. "I'll be transferring to Rivenwood soon. You'll have to play along with a few more of my performances, so don't forget."

With a cold snort, Mara started the car and drove away. She would have never kept up this charade with Gillian if it were not for her thirst for vengeance. Once that was quenched, she would be the first to kill this bitch and drop her and Vivienne into the pigsty!

eyed Mara with contempt. Her thoughts mirrored

to the Linklaters, Vivienne dropped Karen off at the Perez Mansion and then

the energy of youth-students engaged in sports, romance, and lively chatter. Only Aaron was in his dorm, bombarding Kenneth with a tirade

you have your own dorm? If you're staying here tonight, where am

end. His own dorm was seldom used, thanks to Kenneth's incessant visits. Kenneth, engrossed in the latest season's game on his tablet, paid no

how do you even

frustration

Vivienne's name,

was staying at the university that day because Vivienne

from the fridge, and dashed

up, considering Aaron's words,

at Elite

observing the couples and groups

when she was a sixteen-year-old student at Elite University, her classmates treated her like a kid, and she kept to herself, indifferent to

reflecting on those days, she realized how

clutching a strawberry cheesecake that had miraculously survived the run, save for one berry that had fallen off. "Got you a strawberry cheesecake." Vivienne took the cake, noting the lost berry. "Still lacking finesse, Aaron? Can't even run a short distance without

"I'm sorry, Vivienne. I'll be more careful

a half-baked fighter, you'll end up on the wrong side of a blade!" Vivienne's reprimand was harsh, not out of cruelty, but because, as the new head of the Miller family,

of the Miller family soon, he would be swallowed by

his head, guilt flashing in his