The Million-Dollar Heart

"Yeah, that's the guy," Ronald furrowed his brow, his voice tense. "He approached me and wanted to partner up for some bionic tech venture. He knew way too much, which made me wonder if the whole project had been compromised. You said it was top secret. I put him off for now, but then today, I caught wind of some black market dealings."

The Churchills, the Pendletons, and the Brooks were the only families Vivienne ever trusted enough to bring into the bionics project.

It wasn't surprising that Dracon had gotten wind of it—his family had their fingers in every pie.

But him seeking out the Brooks for a partnership? That was curious.

The Linklaters were never short on business and always had more profitable projects ongoing.

And yet, Dracon had set his sights on bionics—a field they hadn't shown interest in before.

More importantly, right after his little inquiry, the black market started buzzing with hidden camera trades.

"Leave this to me. You don't worry about it anymore," Vivienne said, tucking away the files.

Ronald nodded. "Alright, got it. If anything else comes up, I'll let you know."

After they split, Vivienne pulled out her phone and dialed Matthew, who was now running the show at Frostfire Intelligence Agency. The black market was under his jurisdiction. "Check out who's supplying the cameras, and remember, don't spook them."

Matthew had been training recruits for so long that he was practically gathering dust. Thus, he jumped at the assignment.

Within half a day, he had a lead.

"Vivienne, got a name. The buyer's an old-timer on the market goes by 'Slick.' His supplier? The Brooks. As for who Slick's distributing to, still working on that.' Vivienne frowned. "When's the next drop?"

"Tonight. Under the Rivenwood suburb overpass. I've got a team in place. You want him breathing or not?" Matthew was thrilled to finally have a mission. "Alive," Vivienne said gravely. "And unharmed."

"Roger that!" Matthew was all but rubbing his hands in glee.

Rivenwood suburb overpass, Slick stood in the shadows, his hawk-like gaze scanning

flashed its headlights thrice in the distance before going

responded with three rapid flashes of

figure approached,

"Slick?"

"Sean."

and opened the box under the faint light.

Slick reached out, Sean snapped the box

"The cash?"

you ask your

before he could

rubbed his hands together. "Mr. Matthew, you didn't have to come yourself." Matthew produced an envelope from

"Same pin as always."

the envelope. "Thanks, Mr. Matthew. You know I'm always

leave, lights flooded the area,

drew his gun, pressing it against Slick's back. "An ambush,

Matthew, I swear I

from the

Intelligence Bureau.

moment. Why did this

"Miss,

adjusted,

Damn, an old acquaintance.

"Astrid! What a surprise."

been captive under Belle's thumb, and Matthew had been the one

had been busy training agents at Frostfire,

lower their weapons and