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

a look reserved for idiots,

Leopold mimed

arrived at the

and Percival stepped out, followed by Anna,

with a

wanted to throw a jab at Vivienne but she ignored him completely

between shades of

taken his seat among

representation too - Gavin, Victoria, Sophie, and

scanned the room, her gaze pausing briefly before a smile played on her

whispered to Percival, "Looks like

"Let's wait. Harrison is more useful to them than Gavin. They might drop Gavin, but not

face,

Vivienne raised an eyebrow.

a tip. Someone's already

how much Gavin's

smirked back, "Vivienne, you've turned

Gavin had to die.

by their

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

started presenting their cases. As the plaintiff, Jerry spoke first, "The Littleton incident a decade ago wasn't thoroughly investigated." "For ten years, my client has been gathering evidence." He handed documents to the judge, "These

flown in from abroad, an expert in these kind of

Upon hearing Jerry's accusations,

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 the plaintiff presents