The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne) novel Chapter 573

Percival immediately got in touch with Thomas. "We need to head to Sea City. Leopold's in trouble."

Thomas was in the midst of a routine drill at Vanguard Agency. Hearing Percival's words, his expression froze. "Husky checked in from a different location just this morning, and he replied to the roll call in the chat group ten minutes ago. There's no way something's happened."

To streamline operations, Vanguard Agency conducted random roll calls in their chat group, ensuring everyone checked in unless they were deep undercover like Vance.

Percival's brows furrowed.

Ten minutes ago was when Vivienne had made her first call.

If Leopold was replying to the roll call, he could not have missed Vivienne's call!

What on earth was going on?

Vivienne also sensed that something was amiss. It was unlike Leopold to drop off the radar.

Then, out of the blue, Charlotte Redwood, who had not been in touch for a while, called Vivienne.

"Things have hit the fan, Vivienne. Something happened to Griffin," Charlotte said, her voice laced with urgency.

"What's happened?" Vivienne asked, her face a mask of composure.

Leopold had been assigned to infiltrate the Martinez family. If Griffin was in trouble, too, it had to be connected.

Charlotte swallowed hard before replying, "Griffin's been locked up by her family. They won't let her communicate with anyone. If it was not for an old cell phone she found to contact me with, I'd have no clue she was in trouble."

Griffin was locked up?

Vivienne's brow creased. "Why would the Martinez family lock up Griffin? What's gone down?"

"That guy she was crushing on—Leopold. He's been caught stealing bioweapon secrets from the Martinez family. He's now locked up in Sea City's military prison, awaiting trial!"

"What?" Vivienne gripped Percival's wrist, and he immediately pulled over to the curb, still on the line with Thomas.

Vivienne turned on the speakerphone so both Percival and Thomas could hear.

"Why would Leopold steal bioweapon secrets from the Martinez family?" Vivienne pressed for answers.

Charlotte stamped her foot in frustration. "I've got no idea, and neither does Griffin. She just can't believe Leopold would do such a thing. She wanted to testify for him in court, and that's why she's been detained. She contacted me so I could get in touch with you to see if you could come up with a plan."

"Griffin mentioned that the bioweapon research is a national secret. If Leopold doesn't come clean, he could be facing the death penalty. And this time, it's someone from the ancient warrior lineage intervening directly. They said not even Leopold's superiors can do anything about it."

Percival's already stern face grew colder. It was obvious—they did not want him involved.

"How long has Leopold been locked up?" Percival inquired.

Charlotte hesitated, then quickly replied, "Mr. Ellington, he's been in custody for nearly two weeks. Griffin's beside herself with worry."

The chill on Percival's face deepened. "Thomas, what's Leopold's check-in record been like over the past couple of weeks?"

"Punctual and responsive, nothing unusual." Thomas's voice cooled as well.

Then, Soren's voice came through. "Percival, something's fishy here."

"Ms. Vivienne, Husky's been active in our chat group every day for the last two weeks. He's been responding less, but the last time he spoke was three days ago," Anna added.

Their chat group was initially set up by Vivienne to discuss a new bomb detection device but had since turned into a casual conversation hub.

Vivienne and Percival seldom checked the group, usually leaving Anna and Thomas to interact with Leopold.