The Million-Dollar Heart

Vivienne's gaze shifted across the room, the corners of her lips curling up slightly. "Harrison, surely you must recognize some of these faces. Back in the day, as an intern, you joined the Littleton family's R&D team to develop new products. These people were your partners and mentors."

Harrison's hand, hidden under the table, clenched his shirt tightly. Ignoring Vivienne, he rasped in disbelief, "Blake, Trent, how could you do this to me?"

"How much did Vivienne pay you to bear false witness against me?"

Jerry cleared his throat, "These witnesses haven't spoken yet. How do you know it's perjury?"

Harrison shot back, "Why else would you bring them here if not to pin the crime of ingratitude on me? Mrs. Littleton, I respected your kindness to me back then and didn't quarrel with you. After all these years, why can't you let me go?"

Leopold, sitting among the audience, glanced at Harrison's reddened eyes. "This guy's quite the actor," he remarked.

He elbowed Thomas, "Is this what they call a 'male gold digger' on the internet?"

"Clearly," was the unspoken reply.

Before Thomas could respond, a crisp female voice surprised them from behind.

Leopold turned sharply, just in time to catch a grimace of pain, "Griffin Martinez! A little heads-up next time, you scared me half to death!"

Seeing Leopold's lips turn pale, a flicker of concern crossed Griffin's eyes. "Oh dear, I thought you knew. Are you okay? Need me to check?"

Leopold quickly waved her off, "No, no, I'm fine!"

"Oh." Griffin looked slightly dejected, her disappointment visible.

Thomas couldn't stand it and shot his brother a look that clearly read: That's why you're single!

protested his

he's the jerk you were talking about? No wonder he managed to charm Vivienne's friend; he does look pretty

but

resonated in the small

not too far from them, caught

idea, thinking

concoction would work, he considered the implications if Emrys and the

already a pawn being

them?" Gavin fumbled with his

Victoria, who was clearly bored, "When you visited Vivienne, did you manage to gather any

Victoria, yawning, showed little

"What could

Vivienne and Percival

me because of

plans with

words implied Gavin was

why Vivienne

someone be plotting against Gavin? What a delightful

likely help them along. Protecting Gavin must serve some other purpose. Victoria's thoughts drifted, her

her, Gavin might as well have been dead.

ensuring the Abernathy family's assets didn't fall into Madeline and her

lash out, but Percival's icy stare

on his cane tightened, his demeanour changing