The Million-Dollar Heart

After leaving the Brooks Mansion, Vivienne and Percival had hopped aboard a private jet and touched down in M State.

Stepping off the jet, they were met by a line of Percival's men, clad in black suits, standing rigid like soldiers. It was an impressive sight.

"Mr. Wolf, seems like you've carved out quite the kingdom for yourself here," Vivienne said, her eyes crinkling with a teasing allure.

She knew her Mr. Wolf had more than one identity-there was the public one as the head honcho of Vanguard Agency, and then there was the private one, Mr. Percy, whose depths she hadn't plumbed. Looking at the reception they got, it was clear Mr. Wolf was a big fish in this area.

How much dough was he stashing on the side?

Percival looked at her fondly and playfully tapped her nose. "This is my turf."

As if reading her thoughts about his secret stash, he chuckled softly. "There's no secret fund. All the income from here is being accounted for. I'm going to hand it all over to you in due time."

"Not bad! You're on the ball," Vivienne replied, clearly pleased.

Her three uncles trailed behind, cringing at the display. They were here for a rescue, not to witness this lovey-dovey nonsense!

They settled into the lavish accommodations arranged for them, places that outshone even the grandeur of the Ellington and Perez family estates. Hardly had they sat down when someone came in with news: three men had been spotted down at SouthMine.

Maddox, Fredrick, and Yuri, eager to get to South Mine and pull off the rescue, were bewildered to find Vivienne and Percival still lounging, sipping water without a hint of urgency.

"Aren't we going to move? Shouldn't we rush to save them?" they asked, baffled by the couple's nonchalance.

Percival explained, "My people have got them covered. They won't let anything major happen."

Vivienne set down her teacup, shadows flickering in her eyes. "If they went through all this trouble to lure us here, why not play along?"

revenge. But as they were about to be escorted back by Percival's men, they learned that Larry and

was Samantha's doing or

and Percival had come personally to see what

to say..." Fredrick was the first to catch

if you guys had this figured out, why

had been eating at the three uncles over this whole

up discussing things on the plane, and

exchanged

surely, this couldn't be

be that Percival's influence was

was surely Percival's fault, not

uncles nodded

another day of Percival being

Meanwhile, down in SouthMine...

any longer," Carl said after a full day, hungry and thirsty, unable to bear it any

don't find a way out, we're going

brows and a grim expression, agreed. "We can't keep waiting. Vivienne must be tied up with something, or this place is just hard to find.

a solo mission, and not only had he failed, but he had

of Emerald

without so much as a chance to fight back. The identity of those behind the kidnapping was still a mystery,

But now, with no sign of Vivienne and their strength waning after a day without food, they were at their limit. If they waited any longer, they might as well

in determination as he stood. "The priority