Chapter 607: Concern

Ian had gone to visit his nan while Ellie was still having her broken arm set in a cast. He stood beside the woman shaking in anger until Cam called telling him that the hospital had been secured. He told him that Dom had managed to subdue one of the people involved, and he had sent a helicopter to have the man brought to the Lee facility. He also told Ian that he instructed Dom to take Mina to the facility as well, and Ian for, not the first time since meeting Mina, was grateful to his cousin for remembering to make the woman a priority.

As soon as Ian arrived at the facility, he went straight to where he knew the person who attacked Mina was being held. The man was silent, and it was clear he had already taken a beating from someone, and Ian assumed that person was Dom. He approached the man calmly at first, but the continued silence drove him into a rage that, while at first controlled, spiraled into something else entirely. Ian's fist was raised high in the air when Mina's voice called out to him.

"President Lee?" He heard her question, and when he turned to look at her, she flinched as if he had seen a monster, but then again, she had always seen him as such.

"Why are you here?" He asked, barely able to contain the anger in his voice. Mina followed up with two additional questions and the quiver he heard in her voice made him react without really thinking. He held Mina's arms and walked her back toward Dom, hoping to make the woman understand his position. "I told you Mina. Not everyone is innocent. Not everyone is like you." She blinked forcefully with each word, and Ian felt like any progress he had made with the woman was gone. "Get her the f*ck out of here," he said to Dom, pushing Mina into the man as he turned to walk back to the person he was 'interrogating.'

As soon as the words left his lips Ian regretted saying them. He knew Mina hated foul language and he assumed that she was going to run away and hide from him, but the opposite was true. He felt a weak tug on his arm and without turning around he coldly instructed the woman to save her concern for someone who deserved it; someone like his nan, who was nothing but kind to her and to most other people.

"President Lee, I'm not concerned for that man. I'm worried about you." Ian's entire posture relaxed, and he allowed the woman to spin him. She was speaking to him in a calm tone, but Ian was focused mainly on her previous words, not the one she was speaking.

"Mina, I need you to leave this room now," he said calmly, expecting the woman to nod and leave with Dom, but instead she took his hand and started pulling him toward the exit with her. "Mina…" he called out and she literally shushed him before trying to talk him down, but he was already calmed by her unexpected actions.

"Please trust me," she said, making Ian clutch at his jaw. The look she was giving him was different from any other expression he had seen her wear, and he knew she was genuinely concerned.

"Dom, make sure he doesn't die before I come back." Ian watched Mina flash a tight smile, while Dom's expression went from fearful to surprised. He followed her out of the room before she stopped and gestured for him to lead the rest of the way.

Ian knew that Mina knew how to get to his office, but she was always afraid to walk around the facility because of the security measures in place. He rolled his eyes at the woman, a part of him upset that she was pulling him away from what he was doing, but another part of him knew that it was important for him to listen to her. She was right, the man in the chair was in no condition to say anything, and there were other things he could be doing with his time.

As soon as Ian sat behind his desk he sighed loudly, prompting the woman to start speaking again. She started with an apology, which immediately set the conversation in a negative tone, and Ian found himself struggling not to shout for the woman to say what she needed to say so he could stop worrying, but as soon as she told him what she had been hiding from him he nearly lost it. His leg bounced under his desk as he just stared at the teary-eyed woman. She had played him. She had used his feelings for her against him, and even when Mills suggested that Mina was not being fully honest about what had transpired the day that surveillance footage was released, he told the woman she was being paranoid.

Ian questioned Mina, wanting to know why she could not just tell him things as they happened so that he would not be caught off guard, and the woman's explanation, as true as it may have been, was one that hurt to hear.

Not wanting to risk lashing out at the woman for potentially putting him and his family in danger, Ian ordered for them to leave. She stood abruptly, and as much as he hated to see the fear on her face, right now it was warranted. His nan had yet to wake up, and Mina had potentially led to the situation that put her in that position.

Back in his mansion, Ian did not bother to wait for Mina, but she trailed him like a puppy, tears pouring from her eyes in a way that otherwise would have made him feel terrible, but at the moment, he felt that she should be crying. She needed to understand that her actions were wrong, and he was not going to placate her with kind words. He was angry with her and frustrated by her, and he would not apologize for it because this time it was warranted.

Ian sat behind the desk of his study, not expecting Mina to follow him, but she did. She watched him intently as he poured himself a drink, then another and another. He was struggling not to lash out at Mina, who he kept telling himself would not have intentionally kept information from him that would have led to anyone in his family being hurt. She was not that type of person, and she genuinely believed that Harvey Walsh was targeting her alone.

Ian understood that she had no idea of the relationship between himself and the man he once called uncle, and for that he could not fault her, but she had to know that something bad had occurred for Zane, his own son, to not associate with the man as well. The more he thought about it the more he realized that Mina was an innocent victim too. First victimized by Ren Loam, then her university, and again by him. She probably thought that Nancy was the reason Zane and his father did not get along. Ian had to remind himself that she had placed a value on family that may have clouded her judgement.

Starting to feel sick with the amount of alcohol he had taken in a short period, Ian held a full glass in his hand, surprised when Mina approached and gently removed the alcohol and the bottle from his desk and placed them on a nearby surface.

"She isn't waking up," he nearly whimpered, not entirely sure if he was telling Mina what was bothering him the most or why he was so upset. The woman asked him to stop drinking and overwhelmed by the urge to cry Ian pulled her into a hug, resting his face against her abdomen, while tightly wrapping his arms behind her back. He felt her stiffen, but she did not pull away, and the drunker side of him planted a kiss near her navel. The woman bolted, and Ian gave chase.

"Wait. I am drunk. I'm sorry," he called out from behind her, wondering how the tables had turned. She had been the one chasing behind him and apologizing just a few hours before, and now he had taken her place. Realizing that he had lost, Ian stopped and sat on the floor, resting against the wall as his stomach churned.

"I'll go make us some coffee," he heard, and he looked up to see Mina looking down at him with red rimmed eyes. He could tell she was terrified, but she was fighting against her own instincts out of guilt. He nodded and she disappeared.

A few minutes later, Ian and Mina sat in his study, sipping the hot liquid that Mina had prepared for them, as she calmly listened to him explain why Zane's father was a bigger threat than she realized. She seemed put off by the information, but not surprised by it, and Ian took it as a sign she was growing more used to the new life she was living.

As they spoke, Ian received a call from Cam, traffic footage from where Ellie's car was forced off the road had been recovered, and the man driving the vehicle was someone who he had sent the girl to investigate. To him, it appeared that the situation with Ellie was unrelated to the incident with Mina, which relaxed Ian's mind, but there was still the situation with his sister, who had been shot at in one of her own labs. The men who had attacked were identified as janitorial staff that had worked in the building. He was still on the phone with his cousin when Zane came into his study. The man did not even spare a glance at Mina who recoiled into herself when she noticed that he was ignoring her.

"There has been a leak," Zane said, handing Ian a file that Mina desperately wanted to read.

"Who else knew of this?" Ian asked.

"As far as we can tell, no one from within Luna's lab has said anything. That means that the person who targeted the location already knew what was being researched." Mina tried hard not to get into the conversation, but she could not help but to have a reaction. If the person knew what was being researched, that very well could mean that they were also responsible for her being drugged.

"But how? The probability that three different people would go for an attack at or around the same time is astronomical," Mina said, unable to keep quiet.

"Which means they are working together."

"Or they had access to the same information," Ian added. He dug into one of his draws and pulled out a phone that Mina knew meant he did not want the call he was placing to exist. "Status," the man said into the phone, and Mina could hear the unmistakable voice of Drax respond.

"What?" Mina asked, feeling jittery. She got no answer from the man who sent her to her bedroom like a child.

More than an hour later, Mina heard the screaming voice of a man who was making threats against the entire Lee family. When she peeked outside of the door, she saw the physician scientist that had offered to live in a separate home if she had chosen to marry him. Mina could not understand why the man was being dragged the way that he was, and she stepped forward in concern, only to be spotted by President Lee. The man shot her a glance that was so intimidating that she stepped back into her room and shut the door, but he opened it shortly after.

"Let me show you how I interrogate people," Ian said, hoping to use the opportunity to prove many things to the woman.