The Million-Dollar Heart

Keith's voice dropped to a whisper, "No, I'm not leaving Rivenwood. With the officials and their hounds on my tail, I need a hideout in some secluded part of Rivenwood. Stock it with a month's worth of water and provisions."

"Let them loosen their grip on the borders, then you can sneak me out."

Brady hadn't expected this casual contact, who hadn't been activated for ages, to be so resourceful.

But now wasn't the time for nitpicking. He took a deep breath and said, "Fine, as long as you're not afraid of being caught by Vivienne and her crew. And remember, if you betray us, we, the Abernathys, won't spare anyone you care about!"

The next day.

Vivienne woke up from a good night's sleep unfazed by the news of Keith's escape.

She had anticipated this outcome, "Keith, always a thorn in our side since the Littleton debacle. Must be one of the Abernathys' moles in the force."

In the car, Anna raised her voice, "Ms. Vivienne, isn't it better that he's vanished?"

Leopold's incredulous voice came through the speaker, "Better? Anna, are you still half asleep?! How do we dig into the Abernathys without a lead?"

The front passenger seat pursed their lips in silence, turning away to massage their temples, not wanting to engage further with Leopold.

Vivienne, even from the backseat, could feel the frustration, "If Keith is off the grid, we can spin the story however we want. Whose side was he on? Use your head!" Leopold was stunned, "Really? But Vivienne, without solid evidence, won't we face complaints?"

"The Abernathys wouldn't dare," Percival couldn't stand Leopold's periodic brain fades.

Leopold finally got it, "So, we're hunting for a legitimate reason to raid the Abernathys. Percival, why didn't you just say so? What's with the riddles this early in the morning?" Pausing, Leopold added, "And don't we already have enough on them? Why go through all this trouble just for an excuse?"

He was lost at the complexity that seemed to thicken around Vivienne and Percival's plans.

turning unnecessarily

look reserved for idiots, "Shut

Leopold mimed locking

arrived at

followed by Anna, Leopold, Thomas,

along with a

Vivienne but she ignored him

between shades of purple

taken his

had their representation too - Gavin,

her gaze pausing briefly before a smile played

to Percival, "Looks

Harrison is more useful to them than Gavin. They might drop Gavin, but not Harrison." Vivienne hummed, glancing at Gavin,

a stoic face, "He won't survive

Vivienne raised an eyebrow.

Someone's already en route to the

smirked, "Wonder how much Gavin's willing to pay for his

"Vivienne,

Gavin had to die.

not by

his end was a matter of whimsy. Vivienne's smile didn't waver as the judge entered and

judge, "These papers

was specially flown in from abroad, an

Upon hearing Jerry's accusations,

Jerry to finish before finally speaking up: "I object! Your honor, this incident happened a decade ago. The original recipe was destroyed long ago; how can we verify if what