The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Vivienne shot Arthur a look, pretending not to hear his objection, her long legs crossed as she sat on the sofa.

She then clicked on the third trending topic on Twitter, curious to see how Alyssa had dug her own grave this time. Opening the tweet, there was an auclip that played for both Sasha and Arthur to hear.

"What's going on with you and Scott? Have you been with him?" "What does it matter to you if I've been with Scott? What right do you have to ask?" "I'm not interested in your personal life. I've been waiting for Arthur for years..." "Why drag my brother into our issues?" "We're family. Why can't your brother pay for your mistakes?" Sasha frowned, murmuring, "I never said any of that. She's clearly manipulated my voice." Arthur, angered, added, "Sasha would never say such things. This is obviously doctored!" Vivienne looked at the online file, the aucontinuing to play, and raised a question, "When she entered, would the guards have checked her? Could she bring something that even the Linklaters couldn't detect?" Arthur, catching on to Vivienne's implication, his gaze sharpening, said sternly, "Someone get those two guards in here now!" It was either the guards were bribed by Alyssa to let her sneak in the recording device, or Alyssa had something so sophisticated that even the Linklaters' latest detectors couldn't pick it up, though the latter seemed highly unlikely.

When the two guards cin, they felt the intense pressure emanating from Arthur, like a lion asserting his dominance, making them exchange nervous glances.

Arthur played the recording from Vivienne's phone out loud on the coffee table, letting it loop.

Hearing their voices in the recording, one guard's legs trembled as he stammered, "Mr. Linklater, I swear I followed protocol and thoroughly scanned Ms. Wright with the detector! Knowing her history with being thrown out before, I was even more diligent! But I found nothing!" The other guard, witnessing the scene, spoke up for his colleague, "Mr. Linklater, I saw him check Ms. Wright carefully. We didn't intentionally let her bring any electronic devices in!" Arthur, with years ofbat experience, could tell these men likely weren't lying. Moreover, it wasn't easy to be a guard for the Linklaters without proven loyalty.

Vivienne, her fingers flying over her laptop keyboard, pulled up the Linklaters'prehensive surveillance footage in less than a minute.

The video showed, from the entrance of the Linklaters' estate, Alyssa and Winston being scanned by two guards with a detector, not missing any spot.

"Let them go. It's not their fault," Vivienne said calmly.

Once the guards had left, Arthur moved closer to Vivienne, watching the surveillance footage. Vivienne chuckled coldly, "Seems like there's a third possibility." All three understood that someone was eager to stir up trouble.

Sasha, rubbing her belly, suggested, "Let's not sit around all morning. Let's go have breakfast; dad should be downstairs by now." The sly looks exchanged between mother and daughter in that moment mirrored each other perfectly.

Surprise flickered through Arthur's eyes, followed by a chuckle.

Sitting at the grand dining table of the Linklaters, everyone gathered for breakfast except for Hector Linklater, who was always abroad due to his diplomatic duties.

Yorick, at the head of the table, served Sasha a fried egg and handed Vivienne a glass of milk.

Noticing Sasha's red-rimmed eyes, Yorick's hands trembled slightly.

"Sasha, have you been crying? It's my first tseeing you cry," Yorick asked, visibly anxious.

Sasha, having been trained by him, wasn't known for such displays of emotion.

To his surprise, and likely Jasper's as well, Sasha shook her head, feigning strength amidst her vulnerability, "Dad, I'm fine. Just getting older, losing sof my former resilience." Dracon looked on in disbelief; his sister-in-law was known for her fierceness, adept in both intellect andbat, even more intimidating than his brother at times.

Arthur, slamming his hand on the table, fumed, "Sasha and I are getting married tomorrow, and One teleast row, and someone releases a recording slandering her integrity, accusie her of mistreating Alyssa and extending her wrath to Alyssa's brother!" "We can't even find evidence to refute the recording's content! Sasha was so wronged she couldn't help but cry in the living room!" Upon hearing this, Yorick instructed the butler to bring him the details of the online scandal.

Reading through thements under the tweet, Yorick's initially stern face tensed further.

"I thought Sasha was manipulative, but this is beyond. Disloyal, unkind, and malicious!" "The recording clearly shows she was involved with Scott, poor Alyssa waiting faithfully only to have her love snatched away by another woman, and to top it off, she's involved with someone" how disgusting!" "Can't judge a book by its cover. Why drag Alyssa's little brother into the feud with her? Get out of Veridia!" "Going after a little kid, really? Using a child to vent her displeasure, is she even human?" "And to think War God still favors her, makessick!" Yorick slammed his phone down, struggling to contain his towering rage, his eyes blazing with fury.

Opening Twitter, he saw even the Linklater family's official account was bombarded with mentions, and their DMs flooded with countless messages.

"If War God actually marries Sasha tomorrow, he's no hero of mine in Veridia!" "War God dethroned by a woman, talk about a fefatale!" "Who's joiningto protest at the Linklater's tomorrow? No way this wedding's happening!" "Break off the engagement, break it off, break it off!!!" "The Linklater family's lost their minds, letting one woman tarnish their reputation...' Yorick's face turned red and then pale with anger, his breaths heavy and uneven. In a fit of rage, he snatched the tablet from the butler, hurling it to the ground where it shattered into pieces. He stomped on it repeatedly, fuming. "This is outrageous! Who dared to do this? Once I find out, they've made an enemy of the Linklater family!"