The Million-Dollar Heart

Alyssa's arms were etched with scabs and whip marks that Brianna could clearly see, yet she pretended not to notice.

Those were the handiwork of Grandpa George himself, a man who wouldn't stop until he'd drawn blood.

The mention of it left Alyssa in a daze.

Right, she thought, I'm the eldest daughter of the Wright family. Even for the sake of the family name, Arthur shouldn't have treated me this way.

It must be Sasha who's stirring things up.

"Big sis?"

Brianna watched Alyssa zone out, her eyes betraying a hint of disgust.

Winston, accompanied by a servant, came jogging over, his young face full of concern that seemed genuine. He was startled upon seeing Alyssa's injuries, "Big sis, what happened to you?" Alyssa frowned and withdrew her hand.

The last person she wanted to see right now was Winston.

If it hadn't been for him, Grandpa George wouldn't have been so harsh on her.

Brianna saw it all and, hiding her scorn, explained to Winston, "Little bro, someone bullied your big sis. Didn't you notice?"

"Bullied?"

Winston's young brow furrowed, puzzled as he looked at Brianna. "Big sis, who bullied big sis?"

Brianna's face turned cold at being called 'big sis.' "Who else could it be? In the Linklater family, who wields such power? If not Sasha and her daughter Vivienne, then who?" Winston quickly figured it out.

Shaking his head, he spoke clearly, "I trust Auntie; she wouldn't bully anyone. Maybe big sis didn't apologize to Auntie? Grandpa said if you do something wrong, you have to own up to it." Brianna raised an eyebrow but didn't reply.

Alyssa's face darkened.

She knew what she had done and certainly didn't need a five-year-old lecturing her.

"Then I'll apologize to Auntie for big sis.

was

"Winston, you'd apologize to the Linklaters

sis. It's my

of how she could use this opportunity to get into the Linklater

forgotten how furious Grandpa was last time? He won't let you take Winston out again."

Grandpa George found out she'd

stayed longer, a servant began to urge him to

George asked, they would

left; he really wanted to

Sasha for forgiveness, why not seek Arthur's favor? If he's on your side, who cares about Sasha and her

pondered, "But Arthur has lost patience with me... he won't even

fainting at the Linklater estate without Arthur showing his

eliminate her, that

you're getting it all wrong. Arthur, powerful as he may be, is still a man. No man dislikes

position at the Linklater estate was

Alyssa silently agreed.

seen herself as Arthur's other half. Sasha's sudden appearance not only shattered her dream of

her, Sasha would be

"Of course, if big sis could win Arthur over by herself, we wouldn't need to resort to this. It's all up to you now." Alyssa didn't immediately agree. Brianna's suggestion seemed to support her but was actually using her to

gone, not

not Vivienne, who was

You can go now,"

the bed. For some reason, she felt there was something about her big sister she couldn't quite

room, Alyssa received

heart sank, and she quickly

a voice altered to a low pitch spoke, "The boss has a job

boss usually contacts me directly. Why go through

out a scoff, his mockery particularly grating over the phone, "With the lab

soured on you.

vanishing act these past few days? Do you really

hurried to