The Million-Dollar Heart

Victoria's gaze followed Vivienne's motion, turning to face the screen. The dim room, lined with high-tech medical paraphernalia, flickered with the sterile glow of the monitors. There, in the cold embrace of the hospital bed, lay a woman whose pallor was so ghostly it seemed to drain the life from her surroundings. Only the misty rhythm of her breath against the pale blue mask of the respirator bore witness to her clinging to life.

The footage was silent, yet Victoria could almost hear the incessant beep of the heart monitor haunting her ears. She held her breath, her heartbeat thundering, threatening to burst through her eardrums. She didn't need to be a medical expert to know her mother's condition was dire.

The arms that had once held her so tenderly were now a roadmap of scars-a patchwork of pain. Some were old, their wounds healed to leave nothing but pale ghosts on her skin. Others were fresh, angry, and brown, each one a raw nerve in Victoria's heart.

"Mom..." her lips trembled, teeth chattering, a broken cry tearing through her throat.

Her sobs filled the living room, spreading like a sorrowful tide.

Vivienne watched in silence, gesturing to Anna and the others, who quietly ushered Kaitlyn out of the room, their steps retreating up the staircase.

Kaitlyn couldn't resist glancing back to see Victoria, who always seemed so formidable, now as vulnerable as a child who had lost her favorite toy. Her shoulders shook with helpless despair, a mirror to the time Kaitlyn had stood amid the rubble, feeling the world collapse around her. Maybe she had misjudged Victoria all along?

Her thoughts were cut short as she ascended the stairs, leaving behind Vivienne, who leaned over to pick up the laptop lying on the coffee table.

been helping Gavin, hoping he'd take care of your mom, right?" she said

her once proud posture collapsing as she sank to the floor. Her voice was hoarse. "I thought... if I did well enough, he'd tell me where my mom

either," Vivienne reassured, patting

she asked, referring to Emrys and the others trying to make

looked over with red, swollen eyes.

speculative tone in her voice. "Gavin's

Victoria felt caught in a web of deceit. "Yes, his half-brother Emrys. According to the Abernathy family records, he died over a decade ago.

been tied up by the Nine Mystics Society like a hog for slaughter-stared wide-eyed at Victoria, writhing on the ground with desperation in his eyes. Vivienne approached and ripped the duct tape from his mouth. "What do

you? Gavin promised me. He said if I kept an eye on this Ellington woman, he'd take me back once it was all over. You traitor, you think

these years, you've been watching my

voice was cold as steel, pushing Emrys back. Realization dawned in his beady eyes. "So what if I have? You better release me, or else I'll report you to my brother. You'll lose your claim to the

colors. You are your Dad's favorite, and yet Gavin, the treacherous, heartless scoundrel, took the head of the Abernathy family right from under him! You think Gavin wouldn't betray you?" Victoria's voice rose with a hint of mirth. "How about I show you the family tree? I bet you won't find

Emrys was in denial, his

it impossible? Gavin lied even to his own wife a man who stepped on the very woman who helped him rise to power. How could you expect any loyalty from