The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)

Thaddeus eventually snapped back to reality. His vacant gaze focused on Vivienne's beautiful face before he suddenly burst into tears, trying to throw himself into her arms. "Grandma, Michael, and Joseph are bad people! They scared me and locked me up! I never want to see them again!"

"Alright." Vivienne took Thaddeus into her arms. "I promise you. You won't ever see them again."

She held the crying Thaddeus and walked shoulder to shoulder with Percival towards the exit.

When they reached the door, they found Iris still standing motionless.

Vivienne looked back at her. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"No." Iris wiped away her tears and gave a bitter smile. "I don't know how to face Dorian and Cordelia."

After all, if she hadn't softened at the last moment, Thaddeus wouldn't have suffered this ordeal, and Vivienne and Percival wouldn't have been so ruthlessly pressured by Arabella, almost ruining their reputations.

She paused and then added. "Vivienne, I've decided to go back to Ozoria today and never come back. As for the Hawthorn family affairs, you can handle them as you see fit. I won't blame you for anything." Vivienne lowered her head in silence for a moment and then looked at Iris as she nodded gently. "Take care."

Iris covered her mouth to muffle her sobs and nodded back at Vivienne.

Only after seeing Vivienne and Percival walk away did she squat down and bawl loudly.

Why had the Hawthorn family come to this?

They were a broken home with nothing but family feuds.

After her tearful outburst, Iris didn't go to see Beatrice. Instead, she went straight back to her hotel and booked a flight to Ozoria that same day.

She then turned off her phone, refusing to take any more calls from Beatrice and the others.

If Beatrice needed her financial support in the future, she would wire money regularly.

But she was done meddling in the Hawthorn family affairs and didn't want to hear about it anymore.

Her flight was scheduled for five in the evening.

Just before boarding, she heard someone calling her name.

When she turned around, she saw Dorian and Cordelia running anxiously towards her.

Frozen in surprise, she watched Dorian run out of breath while trying to reach her, grab her hand, and say, "At least say goodbye to us before leaving, right? And you even turned off your phone. We might have missed you if Percival hadn't checked your flight details."

"Aren't you mad at me?" Her eyes began to well up.

"Mad... Of course I'm mad." Dorian said, a bit annoyed. "But you're still my dear sister."

Cordelia also took Iris's hand. "Let the past be the past. We'll all be fine in the future. Take care of yourself in Ozoria."

Tears began streaming down her face as Iris nodded. She hadn't expected that, after putting Thaddeus through so much distress, Dorian and Cordelia would still come to see her off.

She saw Vivienne holding Thaddeus and standing with Percival in the distance, watching.

Feeling both ashamed and touched, she covered her face and wept.

That night, at the Baker family's place.

Vivienne was there to treat Faye. It was her last treatment, and Faye's condition had improved significantly. She was no longer as weak as she was before.

"You seem happy today?" Vivienne asked as she treated Faye.

She had noticed that the moment she walked in, Faye seemed to be in good spirits. Her lips curled upward into a subtle smile.

"Of course I'm happy. Arabella finally got what she deserved and was arrested by the police!" Faye looked at Vivienne with surprise. "Aren't you happy? She framed you and hired thugs to create a ruckus at your place."

Arabella's attempts to twist the truth at the Baker's had infuriated Faye, and it was even worse when Arabella had the gall to slander Vivienne online. The mere mention of Arabella made the Bakers grind their teeth.

But now the truth was out.

What happened at the hospital that afternoon had been widely circulated online by the journalists hired by Arabella and Beatrice. They had hoped to use moral pressure to restrain Vivienne but ended up helping her instead.

Now everyone in Havenwood knew what kind of person Arabella was.

Not only that, the videos taken by the journalists had been edited by internet users into short clips, like the one with Arabella banging her head and the one where she was shaking Beatrice. The edits, paired with different music, were hilarious.

Faye showed Vivienne these videos while laughing so hard that she was shaking. "Look, look, these guys are so creative."

"Stop moving." Vivienne didn't really care. She had never given much thought to people like Arabella.

She saw that the video of her kicking Arabella had been edited and set to music.

In the video, she kicked Arabella in time with the music, and Arabella kept crashing into the wall. She was helpless.

She took out her phone, forwarded the video to Matthew, and texted him. "In three minutes, I don't want to see videos like this online."

Matthew was silent for a while. He was probably watching the video and then texted back. "It's... kind of funny."

"Scram."

Three minutes later, Faye, who was still watching the video, was confused. "Why can't I watch the video of you kicking Arabella anymore?"

"Maybe it got flagged for violent content and got taken down." Vivienne casually replied.

"I wish I'd downloaded it." Faye looked regretful.

Vivienne didn't say anything. Even if it had been downloaded, Matthew's hackers would have deleted it.

After finishing the treatment, Vivienne advised her on what to do. "Starting today, you're gonna take these pills I put together for you every morning and night. You were too weak before, so I didn't want to shock your system with any topical stuff, but now you can start using them tomorrow."

She pulled out a bottle and a box. "You pour a capful of this into your bath each day, dilute it with hot water, and soak for half an hour. Then smear this stuff from the box on your scars once a day, and come back for more when you're out."

Feeling a mix of joy and anxiety, Faye asked, "So, how long till my scars heal?" She added. "I wanna get back to school as soon as I can."

"You can go right now, if you've got the guts for it." Vivienne replied as she packed up her medicine box. "Remember, I've told you that there's only a chance of your scars healing. I can't guarantee it. So, what if they don't heal? Are you gonna ditch school forever?"

The truth was that she could completely heal Faye. It would just take about a month.

Faye's situation was different from Isolde's. Isolde's facial issues were due to poisoning. A simple detox did the trick.

But Faye's scars weren't just skin deep. There was serious damage to the underlying tissues. It would take time for the cells to regenerate, so she couldn't expect instant results like Isolde.

However, she didn't tell her any of this. She wanted Faye to muster up more courage. She didn't want her to hide from the world just because of a few stares and boldly step out into society. After tidying up, she left Faye's room, leaving her to mull over things on her own.