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.

to send him away, Winston said in his soft voice, "Then I'll apologize to Auntie for

Alyssa, who was

you'd apologize to the

blame big sis. It's my fault

raced, thinking of how she could use this

how furious Grandpa was last time? He won't let you take Winston

was one thing; if Grandpa George

a servant began to

Grandpa George asked, they would

really wanted to

Sasha for forgiveness, why not seek Arthur's

has lost patience with

Arthur showing his face was

her, that would remove a significant thorn from Alyssa's

all wrong. Arthur, powerful as he may be, is still a man. No man dislikes a

Linklater estate was always meant

Alyssa silently agreed.

as Arthur's other half. Sasha's sudden appearance not only

the moment, Brianna threw out her idea, "Sasha cares so much about her daughter. If something happened to her, Sasha would be too distracted to

by Alyssa's sudden intensity, quickly covering for herself, "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

wanted Sasha gone, not anyone

not Vivienne,

Brianna. You can go

Alyssa on the bed. For some reason,

the room, Alyssa received a

her heart sank, and she quickly

low pitch spoke, "The boss has a job for

"The boss usually contacts me directly.

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

soured on

past few days? Do you really think he's going

heart skipped a beat, and she hurried to explain, "I