The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Chapter 14

In the office, there was this thirty–year–old woman, all decked out in designer gear, looking all posh

and fancy. Next to her was a five–year–old boy, smugly looking up at another little boy cowering in the

corner.

Across from this posh lady were the kindergarten principal and a teacher

“Thaddeus!” Cordelia spotted the boy in the corner and dashed over, her anxiety even pushing her to

tears, “Oh my God! What happened to you? Why is your nose bleeding?” She quickly pulled out a

tissue to wipe the blood off Thaddeus‘ nose.

Vivienne shifted her gaze to Thaddeus, her expression cold, a chill emanating from her. Did he get into

a fight?

She saw Thaddeus‘ swollen face and still–bleeding nose. How could she think this was just kids

fighting?

Thaddeus‘ state had Dorian’s face turn red. He turned to the principal and teacher, demanding angrily.

“You just stood there and watched while a kid got beaten up like this?”

The principal sighed, “Well, Mr. Hawthorn, we couldn’t really do anything. Thaddeus just suddenly

started hitting Dino. When we got there, he even had a knife in his hand.”

She glanced at Dorian and continued, “This is serious. We had to notify the parents. Dino’s parents

arrived before you. They’re insisting we give them an explanation. We’ve been dealing with this…”

“1 didn’t hit anyone.” Thaddeus whispered from Cordelia’s arms. He must be so scared. He hid in

Cordelia’s arms, his small body trembling

Dorian felt heavy–hearted. His mother didn’t like him, nor did she like Thaddeus. Since he was little,

Thaddeus had been bullied in the Hawthorn family. which made him become shy and introverted, even

to the point of not liking to talk. After what happened today, he might not want to speak at all. Thinking

about this, Dorian gritted his teeth, “I know my son. He’d never hit anyone. He’s the one who got hurt.

His nose is still bleeding. Can’t you see that? Couldn’t you have called a doctor to check him over?

Couldn’t we have dealt with this after we arrived?”

Before the principal could respond, the posh lady interrupted angrily, “What kind of attitude is this? Your

son hit my son, and instead of apologizing, you are blaming us? I’m telling you, if anything happens to

my son, I won’t let you off.”

She finished, glaring at Thaddeus, seething, “So young and already knows how to use a knife. Will he

become a murderer when he grows up? A child like this, might as well drown him in the toilet.”

Cordelia, who was comforting the emotionally unstable Thaddeus, couldn’t stand it anymore, angrily

retorting. “You’re downright evil! You’re accusing my son before the truth is out! Do you know how

much psychological trauma your words can cause him?”

“Do I care what you think?” The haughty lady retorted, “In any case, Thaddeus hit my son. He must

compensate, and he must be expelled from kindergarten. Otherwise, I’ll expose this and let everyone

see the kind of child you’re raising – a murderer!”

“You!” Cordelia was too angry to speak.

Dorian also clenched his fists, his face full of anger, but he was unable to speak. They insisted that

Thaddeus hit someone, and there was no way to

refute it.

Standing aside, Vivienne raised her eyebrows, casually asking. “You say he hit someone. Do you have

proof?” With her hands in her pockets, she looked completely at ease. The naturally falling hair at her

temples added to her allure.

Hearing this, Dorian snapped back to reality, “Right! The school has CCTV. I want to see the footage.”

As soon as he spoke, the posh lady and the principal looked uncomfortable, “The CCTV broke last

week.”

Their expressions didn’t escape Vivienne’s eyes. Her gaze turned icy.

Dorian was taken aback: The CCTV broke? What a coincidencel

Vivienne gave a slight smile, casually saying, “It’s broken? No problem, I can fix it.”

The posh lady and the principal looked uneasy. Dorian and Cordelia were also shocked. Vivienne can

fix CCTV? Didn’t she even skip college?

Vivienne took in the principal and the posh lady’s expressions, turned to Dorian and asked. “Do you

know where the CCTV room is?”

Dorian hadn’t fully recovered from what she had just said about repairing the surveillance, so he

nodded blankly upon hearing this. “I do.”

“Lead the way” Vivienne said, heading towards the door

The principal and the posh lady were both taken aback. The posh lady moved to block Vivienne’s path,

“No! The CCTV is already broken, who knows if you will tamper with ff to frame my son?”

The principal also chimed in, “Our CCTV room is off–limits to outsiders.”

Vivienne lowered her eyes, her expression indifferent, “So you want to call the police?”

The principal was stunned. How could they let the police come? If the police came, they would uncover

the truth, and she would be in trouble too.

At this point, the teacher pulled the principal aside, whispering, “Maybe we should let her take a look.

The CCTV footage has already been deleted, and she’s so young, she probably can’t fix the CCTV.

Maybe she’s just trying to scare us.”

The principal thought for a moment, then told Vivienne, “Alright, I’ll take you there.”

A few minutes later, the principal led them to the CCTV room. Without saying anything, Vivienne

motioned for the security guard to stand up, and she

took his seat.

She first looked for today’s footage, but the content of half an hour before they arrived was missing.

She turned to the principal, asking calmly. “The CCTV isn’t broken. Care to explain?”

The principal blushed, squirming slightly. “The security guard said it was broken earlier, but I was too

busy to check if it had been fixed”

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Chapter 14

Vivienne didn’t bother to respond to her. Instead, she was hammering away at the keyboard with her

delicate fingers. She was so fast that nobody could make out what she was doing.

Dorian and Cordelia were gobsmacked at the sight of her masterfully working the computer. They did

not realize that Vivienne was such a whiz with computers. She was so efficient that she could easily

outstrip the tech engineers from the Hawthorn family’s company

The faces of the principal, the posh lady, and the class teacher turned ghostly pale.

Holy cow! She really knew how to use a computer. If she managed to retrieve that surveillance footage,

they’d be in deep trouble.

With that thought, the posh lady blurted out, “What the heck are you guys up to? You hit someone and

you can’t even apologize, and now you’re here wasting my time? I warn you, I…

Before she could finish her sentence, she saw the surveillance footage on the computer screen. Her

mouth hung open, but she couldn’t say another word.

Vivienne turned around, giving her a chilling stare, her voice as cold as ice. “What do you wanna do?”