The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Percival's eyebrows arched in surprise.

Indeed! Floyd knew a lot, those symbols turned out to be his family's script.

"Wow, they belong to your family? Why would your family create suchplicated scripts? It seems pretty hard to write, doesn't it

tire you out?"

"We don't use them anymore, actually. They were used by our ancestors long ago. They thought of these as family secrets, so they

developed a script only our family could decipher."

"Howe you know about it if it's that ancient?"

"Every child in our family learns it from a young age, along with English. Plus, my dad still has sof these books at home, so |

picked it up over time."

Floyd looked towards Vivienne in the driver's seat, "But my dad always said this was unique to our family. Why do you have

something with our family's script on it?"

His eyes were filled with a thirst for knowledge, driven by his father's stern warnings that these secrets must never be shared with

anyone, under any circumstances!

Vivienne didn't turn back, "We found these and are still trying to decode them. They might be related to a case."

"So, you're detectives?"

Percival and Vivienne remained silent.

Taking their silence as confirmation, Floyd turned to Juliette, impressed, "No wonder you wouldn't tellwhat was going on at

lunch. It's because you're detectives, that's so cool!"

Juliette chuckled awkwardly.

"Don't worry, | won't tell anyone!" Floyd promised, covering his mouth.

Vivienne glanced at him, saying nothing.

Soon, they arrived at the house, and Vivienne stepped out with the kids.

The bear slippers Floyd had worn the day before were gone, but Vivienne pulled out an identical pair from the shoe cab.

Seeing the familiar slippers, Floyd gave Vivienne a sweet smile, "Thank you."

Percival washed sfruit, and then they headed upstairs. The study looked the sas the day before, except the items from

the floor were now on the desk.

"Let's sort through everything you can understand. I'll help you with these," Vivienne said, dragging two chairs over, one big and

one small, for them to sit on.

Floyd seemed in good spirits, swinging his legs that dangled in the air.

He began by writing down the meanings of the symbols Vivienne had drawn, according to his memory. For the symbols he couldn't

write, he used phic spelling.

Vivienne and Percival sat quietly beside him, not saying a word.

For the next half hour, the whole family watched Floyd work.

Eventually, Floyd put down his pen, scratching his head sheepishly, "That's all | can remember for now. Can | tell you the rest after

| get the dictionary from home?"

Vivienne took the report and scrutinized the densely packed writing. Floyd knew quite a bit!

He had written neatly, making theplex symbols easy to understand, and even noted several meanings for sof them.

Percival decided it was tfor dinner and called everyone down. Floyd was well-behaved, eating everything withoutplaint,

adhering to the good virtues of dining in silence.

As it neared tfor Floyd to go home, Vivienne, not Percival, took it upon herself to drive Floyd back.

Floyd was happy to be with Vivienne, at least she hadn't scared him to tears.

Floyd was buzzing with excitement in the car.

Breaking the silence on the drive, Vivienne glanced at Floyd through the rearview mirror at a red light, "There's something I've

been curious about."

"What's that?" Floyd looked up, puzzled.

"You mentioned this script is unique to your family. Aren't your family members going to be upset with you for sharing it with me?"

Vivienne's question was met with a few seconds of silence before Floyd looked down again, his bangs obscuring his expression.

"Like you saw yesterday, my parents are always fighting, mostly over this script. My dad wants to keep using it, but my mom

disagrees, leading to endless arguments and a strained relationship."

"I often hear my mom say that my dad is harming others by insisting on using the script. If telling you about it can somehow

prevent a tragedy, then maybe it's the right thing to do."

Floyd's eyes, filled with sorrow, didn't escape Vivienne's notice.

She softened her gaze, her own emotions hidden.

When they arrived, Vivienne opened the car door for Floyd and straightened his clothes, "You're hnow."

Just then, the sound of something crashing cfrom inside the mansion.

Floyd looked as if he was choking.

"Please, just go. | can go in by myself." Floyd's face was red, his eyes darting towards the yard, not wanting Vivienne to witness

such an embarrassing scene.

The doorbell attracted the housekeeper, who appeared with an apologetic face.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Ellington, but we're having strouble at htoday. It's not a good tto invite you in. We'll definitely have

you over sother time."

Vivienne waved it off, "No worries."

As Floyd walked towards the yard under Vivienne's watchful eye, she turned to leave.

"Bang!"

The sound of something heavy falling, followed by the housekeeper's scream and then a loud roar, halted her.

"Where have you been this late? Just like your annoying mother, didn't | tell you not to stay out so late?!"

Vivienne narrowed her eyes, returning to the yard's entrance. With a slight effort, the lock clicked open.

Approaching the living room, she saw the housekeeper on the ground and a man holding a child, the sscene Percival had

described.

Seeing Vivienne, the man's irritation grew, "Who are you to barge into my huninvited?"

Before Vivienne could even get a word in, he barked an order to the bodyguards waiting outside, "What are you waiting for? Grab

her, now!"

Vivienne couldn't help but let out a scoff at the sudden appearance of these goons.

No sooner had the bodyguards taken a step forward than they found themselves frozen in place by an unseen force, utterly unable

to move, "What's the matter with you lot? Need a manual on how to do your jobs?!"

The bodyguards were on the verge of tears, casting desperate glances towards Vivienne, who looked as nonchalant as if she were

at a Sunday brunch.

Growing tired of their ipetence, Vivienne's patience wore thin, "Put the child down."

"And who the hell do you think you are to orderaround?" The man's anger surged, and in that moment, he was all set to

eliminate Vivienne once and for all.

With a slight curl of her lips and a look of utter disdain, Vivienne faced him.

"That's it, you're asking for it!" With those words, the man lunged at Vivienne with all the force of a bull charging.