The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)
Chapter 14

In the office, there was this thirty-year-old woman, all decked out in designer gear, looking all posh and fancy. Next to her was a five-year-old boy, smugly looking up at another little boy cowering in the corner. Across from this posh lady were the kindergarten principal and a teacher.

"Thaddeus!" Cordelia spotted the boy in the corner and dashed over, her anxiety even pushing her to tears, "Oh my God! What happened to you? Why is your nose bleeding?" She quickly pulled out a tissue to wipe the blood off Thaddeus' nose.

Vivienne shifted her gaze to Thaddeus, her expression cold, a chill emanating from her. Did he get into a fight?

She saw Thaddeus' swollen face and still-bleeding nose. How could she think this was just kids fighting?

Thaddeus' state had Dorian's face turn red. He turned to the principal and teacher, demanding angrily, "You just stood there and watched while a kid got beaten up like this?"

The principal sighed, "Well, Mr. Hawthorn, we couldn't really do anything. Thaddeus just suddenly started hitting Dino. When we got there, he even had a knife in his hand."

She glanced at Dorian and continued, "This is serious. We had to notify the parents. Dino's parents arrived before you. They're insisting we give them an explanation. We've been dealing with this..."

"I didn't hit anyone." Thaddeus whispered from Cordelia's arms. He must be so scared. He hid in Cordelia's arms, his small body trembling.

Dorian felt heavy-hearted. His mother didn't like him, nor did she like Thaddeus. Since he was little, Thaddeus had been bullied in the Hawthorn family, which made him become shy and introverted, even to the point of not liking to talk. After what happened today, he might not want to speak at all. Thinking about this, Dorian gritted his teeth, "I know my son. He'd never hit anyone. He's the one who got hurt. His nose is still bleeding. Can't you see that? Couldn't you have called a doctor to check him over? Couldn't we have dealt with this after we arrived?"

Before the principal could respond, the posh lady interrupted angrily, "What kind of attitude is this? Your son hit my son, and instead of apologizing, you are blaming us? I'm telling you, if anything happens to my son, I won't let you off."

She finished, glaring at Thaddeus, seething, "So young and already knows how to use a knife. Will he become a murderer when he grows up? A child like this, might as well drown him in the toilet." Cordelia, who was comforting the emotionally unstable Thaddeus, couldn't stand it anymore, angrily retorting, "You're downright evil! You're accusing my son before the truth is out! Do you know how much psychological trauma your words can cause him?"

"Do I care what you think?" The haughty lady retorted, "In any case, Thaddeus hit my son. He must compensate, and he must be expelled from kindergarten. Otherwise, I'll expose this and let everyone see the kind of child you're raising - a murderer!"

"You!" Cordelia was too angry to speak.

Dorian also clenched his fists, his face full of anger, but he was unable to speak. They insisted that Thaddeus hit someone, and there was no way to refute it.

Standing aside, Vivienne raised her eyebrows, casually asking, "You say he hit someone. Do you have proof?" With her hands in her pockets, she looked completely at ease. The naturally falling hair at her temples added to her allure.

Hearing this, Dorian snapped back to reality, "Right! The school has CCTV. I want to see the footage."

As soon as he spoke, the posh lady and the principal looked uncomfortable, "The CCTV broke last week."

Their expressions didn't escape Vivienne's eyes. Her gaze turned icy.

Dorian was taken aback: The CCTV broke? What a coincidence!

Vivienne gave a slight smile, casually saying, "It's broken? No problem, I can fix it."

The posh lady and the principal looked uneasy. Dorian and Cordelia were also shocked. Vivienne can fix CCTV? Didn't she even skip college?

Vivienne took in the principal and the posh lady's expressions, turned to Dorian and asked, "Do you know where the CCTV room is?"

Dorian hadn't fully recovered from what she had just said about repairing the surveillance, so he nodded blankly upon hearing this. "I do."

"Lead the way." Vivienne said, heading towards the door.

The principal and the posh lady were both taken aback. The posh lady moved to block Vivienne's path, "No! The CCTV is already broken, who knows if you will tamper with it to frame my son?" The principal also chimed in, "Our CCTV room is off-limits to outsiders."

Vivienne lowered her eyes, her expression indifferent, "So you want to call the police?"

The principal was stunned. How could they let the police come? If the police came, they would uncover the truth, and she would be in trouble too.

At this point, the teacher pulled the principal aside, whispering, "Maybe we should let her take a look. The CCTV footage has already been deleted, and she's so young, she probably can't fix the CCTV. Maybe she's just trying to scare us."

The principal thought for a moment, then told Vivienne, "Alright, I'll take you there."

A few minutes later, the principal led them to the CCTV room. Without saying anything, Vivienne motioned for the security guard to stand up, and she took his seat.

She first looked for today's footage, but the content of half an hour before they arrived was missing. She turned to the principal, asking calmly, "The CCTV isn't broken. Care to explain?"

The principal blushed, squirming slightly, "The security guard said it was broken earlier, but I was too busy to check if it had been fixed."

Vivienne didn't bother to respond to her. Instead, she was hammering away at the keyboard with her delicate fingers. She was so fast that nobody could make out what she was doing.

Dorian and Cordelia were gobsmacked at the sight of her masterfully working the computer. They did not realize that Vivienne was such a whiz with computers. She was so efficient that she could easily outstrip the tech engineers from the Hawthorn family's company.

The faces of the principal, the posh lady, and the class teacher turned ghostly pale.

Holy cow! She really knew how to use a computer. If she managed to retrieve that surveillance footage, they'd be in deep trouble.

With that thought, the posh lady blurted out, "What the heck are you guys up to? You hit someone and you can't even apologize, and now you're here wasting my time? I warn you, I..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she saw the surveillance footage on the computer screen. Her mouth hung open, but she couldn't say another word.

Vivienne turned around, giving her a chilling stare, her voice as cold as ice. "What do you wanna do?"