Marcus would never stoop so low as to hurt others with dirty tricks, but in the circle he was in, anything and anyone were capable of using tricks.
His buddy Zavier ended up marrying Skyler after being drugged and accidentally sleeping in bed with her.
Cornelia's life was way simpler. When she wasn't working, she'd mostly stay at home painting, clueless about all that shady stuff. "Drugged? What kind of drug?" She asked.
"Aphrodisiac..." Marcus gritted his teeth to say it, his eyes dark and terrifying behind his silver glasses.
Whoever dared to use such low means on him would pay the price.
"Aphrodisiac?" Cornelia was so shocked she almost bit her tongue and could hardly speak.
Now she understood why her body was reacting so strangely.
It wasn't just the heat; it felt like countless bugs were crawling inside her, itching her so much she wanted to scratch her entire body with her nails.
"President Hartley, who drugged us? When? Why would someone target you and me specifically?" Cornelia had no clue, with so many questions in her head.
"Did you smell something strange in the room?" Marcus guessed that the weird scent might be the issue.
"I smelled it when I entered the room. I thought it was air freshener." Before she finished, Cornelia suddenly realized something. "President Hartley, if that's the case, the scent was there before we entered the room. Could it be that the person who drugged us wasn't aiming for you and me?"
The scent had been placed in the room beforehand, which originally belonged to her and Leonardo.
If Leonardo hadn't swapped roles with Marcus before the game started, he would have been the one to enter the room.
If she had lost control to Leonardo due to the drug, someone would have "accidentally" witnessed it, spread the news, and ruined her reputation. It would force her to leave Riverton in the most humiliating way.
Cornelia quickly concluded that Courtney, the terrifying woman, must be the mastermind behind all this!
Thinking of Courtney, Cornelia hurriedly backed away from Marcus, even looking at him with a touch of fear in her eyes.
"You suspect me?" Her fearful eyes were like a sharp blade piercing Marcus's heart, making his voice colder. "Do you think I'm so desperate for a woman that I'd use such dirty tricks on you?"
"I'm not suspecting you; I'm suspecting your mother." Cornelia explained. "President Hartley, I suspect she wants to frame me, and Leonardo is just her pawn. But no one could have predicted that you would switch roles with him before the game started."
"It's no coincidence!" Marcus knew his mother well; if Courtney had planned this, it couldn't have been random.
There were ten people playing the murder mystery game tonight, five men and five women.
Cameron was the current head of the Reese family, and the Reeses had always been close to the Kamps, so naturally, Courtney wouldn't target him.
The other two were too timid and wouldn't dare do anything to Marcus's assistant.
Leonardo was a member of the Wilson family but had no inheritance rights. He had a bad reputation over the years, and everyone thought he was a typical playboy who'd sleep with any woman, so Courtney chose him.
If Leonardo hadn't swapped roles with Marcus, he would have been the one to enter the room, and by now...
Marcus didn't even dare to think about it any further.
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