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!

thoughts mirrored Mara's-each plotting

to the Linklaters, Vivienne dropped Karen off

the energy of youth-students engaged in sports, romance, and lively chatter. Only Aaron was

you going to clear out? Don't you have your own dorm? If you're staying here tonight,

incessant visits. Kenneth, engrossed in the latest

reactions, how do you even qualify for the

about to explode in frustration when his phone rang-it was

name,

university that day because Vivienne had said she

cake from the fridge, and dashed out,

considering Aaron's words, and quickly

Elite

sat on the steps, observing the

sixteen-year-old student at Elite University, her classmates treated her like a kid,

reflecting on those days, she realized how mundane

run, save for one berry that had fallen off. "Got you a strawberry cheesecake." Vivienne took the

tone frayed Aaron's nerves. "I'm sorry, Vivienne. I'll

side of a blade!" Vivienne's reprimand was harsh, not out of cruelty, but because, as the new head of the Miller

family soon, he would be swallowed by its undertow-a puppet emperor unfit to

head, guilt flashing in his