The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne) novel Chapter 504

Wendy was the first to pick up her milkshake and take a gulp, setting off a reluctant chain reaction among the others. They had no choice but to follow suit and sip away.

It was not until the last drops of the milkshake were consumed that Vivienne stood up, flicking her wrist in dismissal, "That'll do for today. Get some rest, folks. See you all tomorrow."

With that, Vivienne and Percival left the Boyd residence and returned to the house Maddox had prepared for them to catch some sleep.

No sooner had they left than Wendy, forgetting her cane, bolted to the bathroom and began to hurl.

The other Boyds followed suit, much to the dismay of the household staff, who pinched their noses in disgust.

It was revolting.

To have so many people retching at once was unheard of, and Yannick even spewed on Wendy's beloved woolen rug.

Already, the house was tainted with the smell of barbeque and smoke, and now this collective upheaval of recently chewed food added insult to injury.

The odor was insufferable.

The Boyds spent a grueling half-hour vomiting before they finally collapsed back onto the couches, utterly spent.

The once prized woolen rug had been relegated to the trash, a sight that made Wendy's heart ache.

Theodore, drained and pale, leaned on his wife's shoulder, still dry-heaving.

Teresa, repulsed, shoved him away. "Get off me. You stink of decay. It's disgusting."

Theodore weakly slapped Teresa, not because he could not bear to hurt his wife, but sheer exhaustion. "You wench, you think you smell any better?"

"You dare hit me? Believe it or not, I'll divorce you for this!" Teresa howled, her voice nearly giving out from the strain.

Dehydrated and powerless, no one had the energy to argue further.

Wendy, propped up on the couch, accepted a glass of water from a servant and said weakly, "Enough bickering."

Hayden, the second son who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. "Mom, if you hadn't eaten so much, we wouldn't have followed suit. Why did you have to be so compliant?"

"Yeah, Grandma," Huxley chimed in. "I gave you so many glances, but you just kept eating, forcing us to join in."

Wendy sighed. "Do you really think I wanted to eat that much?"

The others were taken aback.

Eliza, puzzled, looked at her mother. "What do you mean, mom?"

Hayden added, "It wasn't just you. I didn't want to eat either, but my hand acted on its own, reaching for food and bringing it to my mouth."

Margot choked back a sob. "Dad, could it be we've been possessed?"

Both Teresa and Yannick felt similarly manipulated. Teresa confessed, "It was indeed like being possessed. I moved when Vivienne moved and ate uncontrollably even though I was fully aware."

Mara shuffled closer to Hayden, frightened. "Don't scare me, not this late at night."

"Don't forget who Vivienne is," Wendy reminded them coolly.

Before Vivienne and Percival's arrival in Sea City, Wendy had thoroughly investigated Vivienne—or so she thought. What she found was likely only what Vivienne wanted to show.