LAPDOG HUSBAND IS A TRILLIONAIRE HEIR

Chapter 28

"Yemin, no!" Faye screamed, her voice piercing through the tense silence of the room. "What are you doing? Do you have a death wish?"

The cobra remained poised to strike, its hood fully expanded, black eyes fixed on Yemin who continued his careful approach.

"That's a striped V hood cobra—the most venomous snake in existence!" Faye continued, her hands trembling with fear. "One bite and you'll end up just like that foolish doctor! His pride cost him his life—don't make the same mistake!"

Dr. Pierce lay by the door, his colleagues frantically working to stabilize him as his face turned an alarming shade of blue. His labored breathing created a grim soundtrack to the unfolding drama.

Yemin turned slightly toward Faye, his expression serene despite the deadly predator before him. "Don't worry," he said with a warm smile that seemed entirely out of place given the circumstances. "Everything will be fine."

"Fine?" Chairman Hargrove's son sputtered from his position pressed against the far wall. "There's a deadly snake loose in my father's room, a doctor dying on the floor, and you think things will be fine? You're completely insane!"

"Please step back, all of you," Yemin commanded without taking his eyes off the cobra. "Your fear is agitating it further."

He's either supremely confident or utterly mad, Faye thought, frozen in place as she watched Yemin inch closer to the swaying reptile. Either way, I can't look away.

The medical monitors continued their steady beeping, each sound marking Chairman Hargrove's diminishing lifespan. The remaining doctors huddled near the exit, their expressions a mixture of horror and morbid fascination.

"Time is running out," one of them whispered. "Both the Chairman and Dr. Pierce will be dead within minutes if something isn't done."

Yemin stood perfectly still, his gaze locked with the cobra's. Something in his posture shifted—an almost imperceptible change that nonetheless seemed to command the entire room. The air grew heavy with tension as man and serpent engaged in their silent confrontation.

To everyone's astonishment, the cobra began to hesitate. Its aggressive swaying slowed, and though its hood remained expanded, something in its behavior changed.

"What's happening?" the right-hand man whispered. "Is it... backing down?"

Yemin slowly extended his hand, palm facing upward. "Come," he said, his voice barely audible but somehow carrying an undeniable authority.

The cobra seemed to consider this for a moment before recoiling slightly, as if recognizing something in Yemin that the humans in the room could not perceive.

"Impossible," one of the doctors murmured. "That species is known for its aggression. They don't back down from threats."

Yet before their disbelieving eyes, the deadly serpent began to move toward Yemin's outstretched hand, its movements cautious but deliberate. With graceful precision, it slithered onto his arm and wrapped itself around his forearm, its head resting calmly in his palm.

A collective gasp echoed through the room.

"He's a snake whisperer," someone whispered in awe. "He must have some kind of animal empathy."

"Or it's a trick," another voice suggested. "A trained snake, perhaps."

Chairman Hargrove's son stood speechless, his earlier mockery replaced by stunned disbelief.

This man is not what he appears to be, Faye realized, watching Yemin handle the deadly creature with the ease of someone picking up a household pet. Katherine's description doesn't match this person at all.

"Yemin, what are you going to do with it now?" Faye asked cautiously. "Dr. Pierce needs antivenin immediately."

"Dr. Pierce made his choice," Yemin replied calmly. "Chairman Hargrove is my priority."

With measured steps, Yemin approached the Chairman's bed, the snake still coiled around his arm.

"What are you doing?" Chairman Hargrove's son cried out, finally finding his voice. "Get that thing away from my father!"

"Sir, please!" The right-hand man restrained him. "Let's see what he intends. Nothing else has worked."

Yemin leaned over Chairman Hargrove's still form, examining his neck with careful precision. "As I suspected," he murmured, fingers tracing a nearly invisible mark on the Chairman's skin. "The injection site."

"Injection site?" the son repeated. "What are you talking about?"

"The mimic tree poison was administered here," Yemin explained, indicating a tiny puncture mark. "Recent enough that the poison is still concentrated in this area."

"That's merely a mosquito bite or skin imperfection," one of the remaining doctors objected. "You can't possibly—"

"Silence," Yemin commanded with such authority that the doctor's protest died in his throat.

With the room watching in horrified fascination, Yemin brought the cobra closer to Chairman Hargrove's neck.

"Stop him!" the son screamed. "He's going to kill my father!"

Two security guards moved forward, but halted when Faye unexpectedly stepped between them and Yemin.

"Wait," she said, though her own heart pounded with fear. "Let him finish."

I don't know why I trust him, she thought frantically, but somehow I do.

"What most people don't know about the striped V hood cobra," Yemin explained, his voice calm and didactic despite the dramatic scene, "is that its venom has unique properties. When introduced to a system already compromised by another poison or venom, it acts as a neutralizing agent—the perfect antidote."

Before anyone could process this information or intervene, Yemin positioned the snake directly over the injection mark on Chairman Hargrove's neck. With a gentle squeeze to the cobra's head, he encouraged it to strike.

The cobra's fangs sank into the Chairman's neck with precision.

"No!" screamed the son, breaking free from the right-hand man's grip and lunging forward.