The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

With a thunderous bang, Diana’s gun fired, but the bullet whizzed past Vivienne’s ear, barely grazing a hair.

Unfazed, Vivienne did not even flinch.

Diana, panic-stricken, stared at the figure before her, feeling her wrist trapped as if in an iron vise, pain radiating through her bones like a fracture in progress.

“You... you're Sasha!” Karen's gaze was heavy, a mix of the strange and the familiar.

She had never imagined that the story behind her kidnapping was so convoluted! Clenching her fist, Karen threw a punch that landed squarely in Diana’s gut with the force of a sledgehammer.

“Touch my daughter, and you're dead meat!” Diana’s punch could take down a full-grown mastiff, but Karen’s blow could kill a full-grown bull.

The difference in strength was enormous.

Diana felt as if her insides had been rearranged, her nerves and flesh overwhelmed by pain. It was as if she was about to be ripped apart. The agony was excruciating! Karen then slapped Diana’s face repeatedly, and in no time, Diana’s once delicate features swelled up like a balloon.

Diana tried to steady herself, to take another look at her adversary, but her swollen cheeks pressed so tightly against her eyes that they would not open! Lifting Diana off her feet, Karen's fingers flew, sending needle after needle into Diana’s scalp.

“Ah!” [x] Diana fell to her knees, screaming in torment.

The pain was unbearable! Rolling on the ground, Diana banged her head against rocks as if the blunt trauma could somehow dull the sharper pain within.

Even as her head was bloodied and bruised, Diana hardly noticed.

Yet, the anger boiling inside Karen was far from quenched.

By now, Vivienne had untied herself. Karen had already neutralized the poison in her system the moment she touched down.

Vivienne moved to Zelda's side, who was still bound, and settled her against a tree before coming to assist Karen.

After all, F-Poison was their next formidable challenge! F-Poison stood still, watching the display as if enjoying a spectacle.

“You two really do look so alike. | wonder if all daughters look like their mothers.” Wearing Gillian’s face, she sipped a glass of red wine with a smile, as if the battleground was a social gathering and they were simply old friends reunited.

Karen narrowed her eyes, the silver needles in her hand ready to strike.

Vivienne, too, was on high alert, determined not to let F-Poison slip away again.

“Are you F-Poison?” Karen asked softly, as if in casual conversation, “You seem... younger than | expected.” F-Poison chuckled, caressing her cheek with a soft stroke as if indulging in a moment of vanity.

“Aging isn’t easy,” she quipped. “This face is all | have left to charm the days away.” With a swift motion, F-Poison ripped off her mask and flung it towards Karen and Vivienne, the skin transforming mid-air into a whirling blade aimed at Vivienne’s heart.

“Frost!” Vivienne ducked, narrowly missing the skin-blade, and kicked a few rocks towards F-Poison.

Stepping the airborne stones to gain momentum, Karen accelerated, grabbing a rock and turning it into a projectile. With a burst of energy, she hurled it towards F-Poison with lethal precision.

The skin-blade buried itself in the tree where Vivienne had been tied, while the rock pierced F-Poison’s thigh, embedding itself in the ground and creating a small crater.

Blood seeped from F-Poison’s wound, and Karen's breaths grew uneven.

Just as Vivienne was about to unleash her poison, Karen raised a hand to stop her.

Vivienne paused, sensing something invisible in the air—particles that could trigger a violent explosion upon contact with poison. It was the reason Karen held back.

“F-Poison, there's no escape now!” Karen and Vivienne stood side by side, united against their foe.

F-Poison, clutching her wounded leg, threw down a smoke grenade.

Shielding their eyes from the smoke, Karen and Vivienne quickly traced F-Poison’s escape route.

As the smoke cleared, they saw F-Poison holding Zelda at the cliff’s edge, a hostage in her grasp.

“You both might overpowertogether, but with this hostage, what can you really do?” F-Poison taunted, gripping Zelda's neck tightly, ready to snap it at any moment.

Then, from above, the sound of a helicopter’s rotors sliced through the air.

Vivienne smiled faintly. “F-Poison, would you rather go up or down? Either way, | can accommodate you.” From the helicopter, Percival aimed his machine gun—not at F-Poison, but at Zelda! F-Poison took a step back, pebbles tumbling down the cliff into the abyss below, but no echo came. Clearly, the height of this cliff was immeasurable.

“You're cornered. Surrender now!” Karen stood protectively in front of Vivienne, resolute and formidable.

F-Poison sneered. “Surrender? I've heard that before, over a decade ago. Even against many more enemies back then, | didn’t surrender. What makes you think | would now?” Karen frowned. Over a decade ago? Could it be the “Destruction Plan”? But F-Poison looked barely older than Vivienne—how old was she back then? A child trained to grow into this role by GTO? Vivienne, too, was puzzled, feeling that perhaps F-Poison was not the person before them at all.

No matter the gender, Belle always called F-Poison “Mom” !Books Chapters Are Daily Updated Join & Stay Updated for All Books Updates...

The person standing before Vivienne had a youthful face, but the rest of her physique showed no signs of aging.

That was why Vivienne had to ask whether F-Poison was just a code nor something more.

“Karen, or should | say, Sasha,” F-Poison’s hand trailed along Zelda's neck, “Congratulations on your reunion. We have all the tin the world ahead of us but for now...” With that, F-Poison swiftly twisted Zelda's neck.

But the expected limpness of broken bones did not occur.

Instead, Zelda's body beceven more rigid! At this moment, F-Poison realized with alarm that she was dealing with a bionic robot! Preparing to make a hasty retreat off the cliff, F-Poison was caught off guard by the sound of a gunshot.

With a loud bang, the robot’s head burst open, and from its body sprouted countless tendrils that viciously snared F-Poison.

“You!” F-Poison struggled but could not break free.

Vivienne let out a cold laugh. “Did you think you were the only one using bionics?” Karen gave Vivienne a thumbs-up. “Impressive, you've done your homework.” “You taughtwell,” Vivienne signaled up to Percival in the sky.