Dr. Monroe gave a cold laugh. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Mrs. Salisbury, are you sure you’ve got the right person?” he said, feigning confusion. “I’m just here to give you a vitamin shot. Why would you bring Molly and some stranger to ambush me? Aren’t you worried what the mentor and madam will say if they find out?”
He shot a glare at Mason, trying to paint him as some illicit lover, hoping to shift suspicion and buy himself some time.
Mason didn’t bother with small talk. He was tall, and those gold-rimmed glasses gave him a gentle, scholarly look, but there was nothing soft about his actions. He grabbed Dr. Monroe by the collar and landed a sharp slap across his face.
The sound cracked through the room. Blood appeared at the corner of Dr. Monroe’s mouth. He yelped in pain, his face twisted and red.
“Watch your mouth,” Mason warned, his voice steady and low.
Dr. Monroe winced and fell silent, but it was clear he wasn’t about to confess to anything.
Wiona didn’t rush him. Instead, she gave Molly a meaningful look. “You’ve picked up quite a few skills from Mason lately,” she said, a hint of pride in her tone. “How about learning how to give an injection from Dr. Monroe himself?”
She nodded toward the syringe on the floor. “Go on, pick it up. If he says it’s just a vitamin shot, let’s give him a little boost.”
“On it,” Molly replied, her voice light but her eyes sharp.
She moved quickly, scooping up the syringe. Mason, reading Wiona’s intent without a word, grabbed Dr. Monroe’s head and tilted it to expose his pale neck.
“You can inject here too,” Mason pointed out, almost casually.
Dr. Monroe’s eyes went wide as Molly approached with the needle. “Wait, stop, please! I’m sorry, Mrs. Salisbury, I swear I won’t do it again! I never meant to hurt you! I only did this because you came back and started investigating that painting. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have done anything—”
“So the drug in that syringe isn’t as harmless as you claimed?” Wiona interrupted, cool and focused.
She leaned in. “Are you going to tell me what it is, or should I send it to a lab and find out myself?”
Dr. Monroe stammered, “It’s… it’s just something to make people lose their voice, that’s all… it’s not even that serious…”
Wiona raised an eyebrow. “Not serious, huh? Since you’re still lying, why don’t you show me what it does. Molly, go ahead.”
Her words hit hard. Dr. Monroe blanched.
“No, it wasn’t me…”
Wiona was just bluffing, but his reaction told her everything she needed to know. She didn’t push it further. Instead, she turned to Mason.
“Tell him,” she said.
Mason nodded, crouched down in front of Dr. Monroe, and rolled up his sleeves slowly. He grabbed Dr. Monroe’s hair and spoke quietly. “Ms. Morgan has been investigating you for over a month. Turns out, she was right—you’re far from innocent. You were the one who tipped Ms. Morgan off, telling her that Bianca wanted to poison her. To protect herself, Ms. Morgan agreed to your deal. You asked for a million dollars. If you hadn’t been so greedy, maybe nobody would have noticed.”
He paused, making sure Dr. Monroe was listening.
“But that’s not all. You were the one who persuaded Bianca to buy drugs from you in the first place. You wanted them at each other’s throats, because the more they fought, the more money you could make. You took money from both sides, selling drugs and information, thinking nobody would catch on.”
He leaned in closer. “You know why Ms. Morgan started looking into you? Because you lost twenty million at Seabrook Bay’s underground casino in a single night, set up by your own so-called friends. You were desperate, drowning in debt, and you started scrambling for cash wherever you could.”

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