The Million-Dollar Heart

Just then.

The door to their room swung open, pushed by Gavin from the outside. The sudden noise startled the middle-aged man inside, whose gaze darted toward the sound. Harrison, with blood at the corner of his mouth and reddened eyes, caused his expression to drastically change.

Madeline let out a scream, snapping Gavin back to reality. He hurriedly instructed someone to help Harrison up. "Victoria, have you lost your mind? Are you trying to murder your own husband?!" Victoria stared blankly at her hands, her pupils dilated in shock. It didn't make sense to her. From what she had observed of Harrison recently, his seemingly weak demeanor had to be an act. She might have been a bit too reactive, a little too rough, but surely it wasn't enough to make someone cough up blood.

She opened her mouth, her gaze sweeping over Harrison's pitiful, semi-conscious state, her eyes tightening. "Who knew he was so fragile? It was just a joke."

Her nonchalant chuckle and carefree demeanor only infuriated Gavin further. He raised his hand to strike, but Sophie, who had followed him into the room, lit up with schadenfreude, barely able to hide her glee.

Only Madeline, her pupils contracting, stepped forward to intercept.

Smack!

The expected pain didn't explode on Victoria's face. To her surprise, a slim figure had blocked Gavin's blow.

Victoria raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping over Harrison, who was being helped up, and Sophie at the door, finally resting on Gavin's shocked face. Then, she glanced at the person who had shielded her, reluctantly coming to a conclusion. Madeline!

Interesting.

She wondered how Madeline planned to betray her this time.

"Mom!"

fell into a deathly silence for a full two minutes after the slap, only broken by Sophie's panicked scream, "Mom,

to embrace Madeline, who was now teary-eyed and holding her face. "I was disciplining my child. Why did you suddenly jump in? Let me see, why are

As long as Victoria is okay, that's what matters. Gavin, you're being too impulsive." "Even if Victoria is wrong, she's grown up; you can't hit her. If Richard

silently sharing a look with Victoria. The message was clear: see, even if you disagree with me, Gavin will still push you to meet

waved his hand, dismissing the servants to tend to Harrison's wounds, then turned and shut the door,

glanced at the laptop still streaming the trial, then asked, "What

The room went silent.

on the bed, showed no intention of getting up. She met Gavin's gaze with indifference, looked around in surprise,

have? Kipling is definitely done for. Dad, you might

He's my uncle. Mom just helped you, and you

she were foolish. "What does your mom helping me have to

white with frustration, tugging at Gavin's sleeve to complain, "Our family and the Abernasy family are united. We can't just separate

darkened, and he

used for receiving the money. No matter how skilled they are, they won't be able to trace it back to

advice, "Dad, this is so simple to resolve. Why bother taking

really after the money, just use a different bank account and find

Gavin dismissed her ideas without a second thought. "Nonsense! The connections we've built aren't something you can just pull back whenever you

I'll arrange for you

any more of Victoria's objections, decisively ending the conversation, "Seize the opportunity to plead with Richard, hoping he'll pressure Vivienne to let Kipling go." "At the very

nearly laughed