Skyler threw up his hands in exasperation. "Maybe the real target wasn't you, but Leopold and Angel. The poisoner has tried to off
them a few times already, just never succeeded."
Fredric stroked his chin thoughtfully, then suddenly slammed his hand on the table.
"We've been together all day, eating the sfood, drinking the sdrinks. If he'd been poisoned, we'd all be sick. There was
only one exception, the fishing trip. The maid brought us hot chocolate, but there was one sugar-free cup meant for Leopold. But
Raines wanted that sugar-free one too, and Leopold let him have it. It must've been the sugar-free hot chocolate that was spiked.
The bastard meant to take out Leopold, but by sfreak accident, Raines drank it."
"Exactly, it has to be that!" Skyler was nodding like a bobblehead. "Geoffrey, a master of disguise, could've easily slipped in
dressed as one of the Mossy Rock Retreat's staff."
As they were hashing it out, Leopold and Aurelia walked in. "How's Raines doing?"
"Leopold, you're just in time. Raines has been poisoned, and we suspect an assassin disguised as one of the staff snuck in. They
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtwere gunning for you, but by a stroke of bad luck, Raines ended up drinking the spiked hot chocolate," Fredric shared his
suspicions with Leopold.
Leopold immediately called in his bodyguard and ordered him to question everyone who had cinto contact with the hot
chocolate.
"That darned snake sneaked into Mossy Rock Retreat. If | catch him, | swear I'll skin him alive."
Aurelia turned to Lisbeth, "Did you call an ambulance?"
Lisbeth nodded. "It's on the way, should be here any minute."
Leopold glanced at Skyler, asking, "Any idea what the poison is?"
Skyler explained, "It's a neurotoxin that paralyzes the nerves in the limbs. It's not lethal but can cause total paralysis. Only
Geoffrey has the antidote."
Raines was seething, his anger practically singeing the air around him.
"Skyler, you sure it was your brother who did this?"
His words were clenched, each one forced through gritted teeth.
Skyler nodded emphatically without a hint of doubt. "Positive. I've seen this poison with Geoffrey."
"Can you develop an antidote?" Leopold asked.
Skyler sighed, a picture of helplessness. "Only Geoffrey has it. There's nothing | can do. We have to find Geoffrey fast. If too much
tpasses, the nerves will be completely dead, and Raines will be paralyzed for good."
A chill ran down Raines' spine as he began to sweat. It was an ambush he never saw coming.
The medevac chopper cand whisked Raines off to the hospital.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
The doctors were stumped for a cure, merely managing the symptoms to ease the nerve paralysis.
Raines was on the brink of madness, trapped in his body, a conscious vegetable.
He summoned Lisbeth to his hospital room and told her, "No Geoffrey was poisoning me. It must have been Fredric and Leopold
plotting against me."
Lisbeth said, "Skyler seemed certain. He knows the poison well and he's Geoffrey's brother. It might really be connected to
Geoffrey."
Raines snarled in frustration. "Idiot, if | say it's not related, it's not. Do you think you know better?"
Lisbeth fell silent. She didn't know much about the fake Raines, only that he was known as Agent A, a high-ranking member around
the boss.
Aurelia had told Lisbeth that Geoffrey was their boss. Agent A sounded so sure of himself. It seemed he hadn't gotten any orders
from the boss about poisoning anyone.