Mistaking a Magnate for a Male Escort

“I didn’t understand a word of that,” Francesca said impatiently. “My snake bit him while he was in the middle of drawing blood. As the poison did not enter into the bloodstream right away, I assume that it wouldn’t show up in his toxicology report.”

“That’s not important.” Zachary waved a hand impatiently. “Didn’t you say that the symptoms will appear tonight? Will he die?”

“No, he wouldn’t. As members of the medical profession, we have a code of conduct to save lives, not end them. Otherwise, I would have done away with him the day your house was set on fire. Eliminate loose ends, you know.”

“What will the symptoms be?” Zachary persisted.

“It’ll look like the flu at first, then as it gets worse, it’ll…” Francesca’s eyes narrowed with suspicion all of a sudden. “Why do you ask?”

a

“Pay me first!”

pressed the phone to her ear. “What? Chris took a

had him

to panic. “It was a ploy between me, Spencer, and Johann to falsify his report to see how he would react if he thought he had been poisoned. It’s the only way that Spencer would be able to see that he’s a fraud. I did that to drive a wedge between him and Jesse. Last night I had even left a smudge of green dye on his brow and made him think it was a symptom of his poisoning. He was frightened enough to head straight for the hospital in Fairlake to get tested, but Jesse stopped him. It didn’t take long for him to

“I had thought

tested. He must have let him go to let Chris

necessarily,” Raina said mysteriously. “What if he really

you mean?” Charlotte asked

Raina said carefully, “and had their snake give him a little nip,

be Francesco?”

coughed in

contacted you?”