The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)
Chapter 26

At Tranquil Estates.

When Vivienne got back, Dorian and Cordelia were just stepping through the door. Vivienne gave a shout, then asked, "Mr. Hawthorn, how's the enrollment coming along?" Earlier that day, Dorian and Cordelia had taken Thaddeus to sign up at the Imperial Blossom Nursery.

Dorian nodded in response. "It's going well. Thaddeus really likes the school." There was a hint of tiredness on his face as he sank onto the couch, looking worn out. Vivienne sat down next to him, gave him a once-over, then asked, "What's up?"

"Ah!" Dorian sighed, "It's nothing, I'm used to it."

Seeing his reluctance to spill the beans, Vivienne turned to Cordelia. "What's going on?"

She wasn't one to stick her nose into other people's business, but she was quite comfortable with Dorian and his family. If she could help, she would naturally offer a hand.

But Dorian seemed to always shy away from troubling her, keeping things to himself.

"Forget him." Cordelia rolled her eyes at Dorian, then gave him a pat. "It's no big deal. Even if you can't replace work, I've got some savings. You can look for work in other cities. Beatrice might have her claws in Havenwood, but can she reach everywhere else?"

Cordelia added, "Besides, Thaddeus' tuition has been completely waived. What are you worried about? Don't bring your work troubles home and ruin Vivienne's mood."

They had just found out that day, when they went to sign up, that Imperial Blossom Nursery had waived Thaddeus' tuition. To them, this was like manna from heaven.

At first, when Thaddeus got accepted into Imperial Blossom Nursery, she was thrilled. But after discussing with Dorian, they realized they couldn't afford the high tuition. So they decided to send Thaddeus to a regular kindergarten. They went to Imperial Blossom Nursery to explain, only to be told that Thaddeus' tuition was waived. This was cause for celebration.

But even with the tuition problem solved, Dorian was still stressing over replaceing work, complaining all the way home about how he wouldn't be able to support his family. It was driving her up the wall. Vivienne got it, Dorian was having a hard time replaceing work because of Beatrice's meddling. She gave a small smile, she didn't care if Dorian had a job or not, she was fully capable of supporting his family. Dorian was in his forties and was looking quite down in the dumps lately because of work.

Glancing at Dorian, Vivienne pulled out her phone, opened her social media, and found 99 new messages on Facebook. She was stunned, then remembered her post asking for job leads, which she hadn't checked since posting. She started going through the messages.

"Am I seeing this right? You're really looking for work? How about joining our company? You can be the CEO."

"Omigod! Am I seeing things? Do you need a job? Come to Alliance Enterprises. I'll give you the chairman position, cause I want to travel the world."

"Do you need money? Tell me your address, I'll send you a cool 10 million to spend!"

Vivienne rubbed her temples, looking helplessly at the comments, finally resting her eyes on the last one. The principal from Cloudcrest High School in Havenwood asked, "Would you like to come visit our school?"

Vivienne was confused, Cloudcrest High School was where Arabella went to school. Having read the comments, she left the app and opened a chat with a user named 'Dawson' whose profile picture was black, "Does Alliance Enterprises have a branch in Havenwood?"

He replied almost instantly, "Oh no! Mystic Mistress, you don't even know where my branches are? I'm heartbroken..."

Vivienne didn't feel like chatting, so she sent Dorian's resume over. "Find a spot for him." After a pause, she added, "He's my dad!"

"Mystic Mistress, don't worry. I'll make sure your dad is well taken care of..."

A long message then came from his side.

Vivienne just shut off her phone.

As soon as she put it away, Dorian's phone rang. Not sure what the person on the other end was saying, but Dorian replied solemnly, "Understood."

After hanging up, Dorian looked at Cordelia and Vivienne, "Joseph invited us to his wife's birthday party tonight, and he made a point to say Vivienne should come too."

Cordelia frowned. "Why do they want Vivienne there? They don't like her, why the sudden change of heart?"

Vivienne gave a small smile, "Let's go! Let's see what they're up to."

The folks at Hawthorn Mansion wouldn't invite them for no reason. Perfect! She was curious to see what they were planning.

Elsewhere.

Percival also accepted the invitation.

In the car.

Percival's slender fingers were slowly tapping on his phone, and his deep-set eyes were fixed on the world outside the car. His face was stone-cold and expressionless. His fingers were still lazily tapping on the screen, and his eyes squinted, not saying a word.

"What is Arabella up to?" Leopold frowned as she saw Percival hang up the phone. "The Hawthron family practically wants to keep you as far away as possible. As soon as you leave their house, they invite you to attend Octavia's birthday banquet?"

Percival's fingers continued to tap slowly on his phone, his narrow eyes squinting without saying a word.

Thomas glanced at him through the rearview mirror and asked, "Mr. Percival, are you really going to the birthday banquet tonight?"

"Of course!" Percival finally broke the silence. "After all, she did save Isolde."

A smirk formed on Percival's handsome face, an icy glint in his eyes. "She's pretty sharp."

Leopold was confused by his vague words. "What do you mean? Did you replace something?"

Lifting his head, Percival's voice was flat, "She's too greedy." He didn't know why Arabella treated Isolde behind his back, but it surely wasn't out of a doctor's kindness.

Thomas nodded. "Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. This Arabella is quite the greedy one."

"What are you two talking about? I don't get it." Leopold scratched his head in confusion, his ear stud gleaming in the sunlight.

Seeing the expectant look on Leopold's face, Thomas explained, "When Mr. Ellington gave Arabella her thank you gift, the moment she saw the check, her eyes gave away a flash of greed. She tried to cover it up, but I caught it. I suspect that her motive for saving Miss Isolde is not so pure."

"Oh my gosh! Is she stirring up trouble?" Leopold's eyes bulged in surprise, and then he grinned from ear to ear, "Cool, I was getting bored."

With that, he leaned towards Percival. "Take me with you. I want to see the show!"