The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Chapter 42

Today was Monday, and many residents in the neighborhood were heading out to work at this time.

There were four families on their floor, all of whom were disturbed by Joseph’s ruckus and came out to

see what was going on.

“Can you guys keep it down? This is a residential area, not a supermarket. If you want to make noise,

do it somewhere else.”

“What’s the security guard doing? Why are they letting anyone in? I was filming late last night and was

woken up by the noise. I’m going to give the security a piece of my mind!”

“If you keep making noise, I’m going to call the cops!”

Hearing the complaints from the neighbors, Dorian quickly apologized and dragged Joseph back into

the house.

“Bro, why are you stirring up trouble so early in the morning?” Dorian asked with a frown..

“What am I stirring up?” Joseph shouted back with an ugly face, “I’d like to know what you guys are up

to! Dorian, this is your lovely daughter, drugging me with aphrodisiacs and spreading those photos

around. Is she trying to drive me to my grave?”

“Watch your mouth!” Dorian was about to respond when Cordelia scolded, “It was you guys who

drugged Vivienne with aphrodisiacs yesterday and it backfired. Now you’re trying to blame her.

Vivienne is only nineteen, how could you accuse her like this? What are you thinking?”

“Cordelia, shut up! This isn’t your place to speak! Don’t think just because you married my brother, you

can boss me around. The Hawthorn family doesn’t need you to call the shots!”

“You shut up!” Dorian suddenly shouted back, “She’s my wife! I won’t let anyone insult her!”

He didn’t want to make a big fuss with Joseph, after all, Joseph was his brother.

But he dared to bully his wife in front of him, that was not something he could stand.

“Bro! I already made it clear with mom yesterday. From now on, we live our lives, you live yours. No

interference. You better not stir up trouble for no reason, we don’t welcome you here!”

Dorian’s stand was never this firm before, he said rationally, “As for the aphrodisiac you took yesterday,

it has nothing to do with Vivienne. You should take it up with mom! If she hadn’t asked Arabella to drug

Vivienne, none of this would’ve happened! Moreover, don’t tell me you didn’t know anything about it.

Vivienne is the victim, so you have no right to give her a hard time!”

Joseph was left speechless by his words.

He knew about it all along.

It was him who cooperated with Beatrice to do this.

But he never thought that the drug would be used on him, let alone his affair with Emma being

exposed.

Emma was the nanny–from last night.

He had been keeping it a secret very carefully, nobody knew about it.

But after the incident last night, the whole thing was exposed by the media. He couldn’t cover it up

anymore, and the most embarrassing part was, Octavia had a paternity test done to confirm that they

were father and son, and then she asked for a divorce and demanded compensation.

Now, Octavia’s entire family had come to the Hawthorn family, demanding an explanation from him.

He was really stressed out. He had no choice but to sneak out and find Vivienne.

“Anyway, I don’t care. It’s all because of Vivienne, Octavia wants a divorce. Vivienne has to explain to

me, otherwise, if I’m not living a peaceful life, your family won’t be either.” Joseph looked fearless.

“You!” Dorian was shocked by his nonsense, not knowing what to say for a while.

Vivienne scoffed, “What do you want me to explain to you?”

“Of course it’s…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Vivienne cut him off, “You want me to say that you didn’t cheat on

your wife, didn’t have an illegitimate child, or didn’t bring your mistress into the Hawthorn family?”

“I…” Joseph was left red–faced and speechless by Vivienne’s words.

*Joseph! You planned everything so perfectly, wanting Octavia to maintain your dignity and your

mistress to enjoy the treatment of your wife, do you think Octavia is a fool?”

The trending topic about Joseph’s personal affairs wasn’t leaked by her, she wouldn’t stoop to do such

a thing.

“You bitch! I’m your elder, how dare you speak to me like that!” Joseph couldn’t refute Vivienne’s words

and was so embarrassed that he became angry.

“I don’t just dare to speak to you like this, I dare to give you aphrodisiacs again!” Vivienne looked at him

coldly, her voice icy, “Want to try again?”

“You!” Joseph pointed at Vivienne, “It was you! It was you who drugged me with aphrodisiacs, you

bitch!”

With that, he raised his hand to hit Vivienne, but suddenly, he fell to the ground.

He fell on his butt and tried to get up, but he had no strength.

He glared at Vivienne and gritted his teeth, “What have you done to me?”

Dorian and Cordelia were both stunned by the scene.

They never thought that Vivienne had really drugged him with aphrodisiacs.

What shocked them even more was that when Joseph was about to hit Vivienne, Dorian instinctively

wanted to protect Vivienne, but then he saw Joseph collapse without any warning.

Vivienne clearly didn’t do anything, she didn’t even move.

This was too strange!

Did Vivienne do it?

Vivienne didn’t say anything.

Of course she acted!

Otherwise, how could she have slipped the drug to Joseph?

It’s just that she was very quick, so others rarely saw it clearly.

Vivienne squatted down in front of Joseph, looking at him indifferently, “I don’t like repaying hatred with

kindness, I prefer immediate revenge. Joseph, when I was five, you tried to rape my mom in her room,

have you forgotten about that after just over a decade?”

“WHAT?!” Dorian was shocked and quickly went over to ask anxiously, “Vivienne, is that true? Bro…”

Joseph also looked shocked, he never expected Vivienne to know about that incident.

Vivienne snorted, looking down at Joseph, “If Octavia hadn’t shown up, you would’ve had your way,

right?”

Back in the day, her mother was living with the Hawthorn family for some reason. Her mom kept her

skills under wraps. She was handy and knew medical stuff, but the Hawthorns figured she was just

some country bumpkin who couldn’t do anything.

So when Joseph started getting fresh with her, she just tried to dodge him.

Truth be told, nobody knew that if Joseph hadn’t stopped, her mom would’ve made him die!

And, nobody knew who pulled this off.

Joseph should be most thankful that Octavia came along just then and saved his life. Of course,

Octavia didn’t see that scene.

“You!” Joseph’s mouth fell open, his face pale with shock, “How did you know?”

Vivienne graced him with a bright, dazzling smile, “I was just outside the door!”

Even though she was smiling, it still sent chills down your spine!