The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne) novel Chapter 581

Zelda nearly dropped her whisk when Leopold came crashing down onto the cobblestone path with a thud.

“Blimey, Leopold, that’s flagstone, you absolute brute!” She exclaimed, still half-focused on perfecting her cake recipe.

Jasper could not help but chuckle at the scene. “Alright, alright, enough with the dramatics. Get up,” he said with a grin.

Leopold rose, shaking his head with a laugh and holding a gift box. “Well, Sir, these are some of your favorite things. I wasn’t sure what you'd like, so I just grabbed a bit of everything.”

Jasper's smile widened. “You're quite the character, kid. No wonder that Martinez girl fancies you so much. Speaking of which, aren’t you going to come out?”

Hearing this, Leopold froze, his feet suddenly as heavy as lead.

His heart stopped for a moment as if encased in ice.

Vivienne and Percival exchanged glances that did not need words; it was clear Leopold was in the dark.

Percival just shrugged. If he knew, would he have even shown up?

Thomas muttered under his breath, “Percival’s as ruthless as ever.”

Zelda, putting aside her baking tools, dragged Griffin out from the shadows. “No use hiding now, love. It's not like you're being dragged to the altar.”

Griffin Martinez stood at the threshold, her eyes cast down, her feet rooted to the spot.

Both of them were wracked with unspeakable thoughts and mutual guilt.

Vivienne nudged Leopold forward with a swift kick. “Snap out of it, will ya?”

Leopold stumbled into Griffin's space, and she looked up, her eyes rimmed with unshed tears, at a loss for words.

Zelda snickered and finally remembered to turn off the oven while she, along with Natalia and Yasmine, quietly exited the kitchen.

Percival and Vivienne ushered Jasper to the back garden, leaving the two frozen figures alone in their awkward silence.

A chill breeze caused Griffin to shiver slightly.

Leopold wordlessly took off his jacket and draped it over Griffin's shoulders, breaking the silence. “When did you get back?”

“Yesterday,” Griffin mumbled, “Dad said you were alright, so he let me come.”

Before she could say more, she wrapped her arms around Leopold, her sobs muffled against his chest.

Leopold, taken aback, was not sure how to react.

After a while, Griffin pulled back slightly, sniffling. “Couldn't you try to comfort me just a bit?”

Leopold had never seen Griffin cry. In his impression, Griffin had always been the woman who was either forcing him to marry her, chasing after him on a motorbike, or swinging his custom-made whip at those thugs.

Panicking a little, he blinked in surprise. “You cry?”

Griffin took a deep breath and kicked him in the shin, annoyed. All the tears she had shed for him when he was captured, and he was clueless!

“Ouch!” Leopold yelped, rubbing his leg.

Her anger melted away as she saw Leopold's comical attempt to stand on one leg, and she could not help but laugh.

Leopold looked up to see her smile through the tears.

At that moment, he vowed never to make her cry again.