Chapter 706: Desperate

Mills knew she was caught, yet she also knew that her husband had no idea where she was going, so she decided to lie by telling him that she was planning to follow him. She claimed that she just wanted to catch a glimpse of Mina; Drax however, was not convinced. He knew that his wife was lying, so he snatched her device and dialed the last number she called. Unfortunately for Mills, Ash answered this time around.

"Meet me at our place," Ash said before ending the call. Mills gritted her teeth because she knew there was no avoiding suspicion now.

Drax could guess she was going to meet Ash, so swallowing her pride, Mills turned over the engine and started to drive while her passenger wore a victorious smile. On the plus side, Mina would not be at the place Mills was planning to meet with Ash, and because she did not send a confirmation text, she knew that Ash would not show up.

That was part of the safety measures that the women put in place when they determined between themselves that Mina would never have killed herself over President Lee and would eventually reach out. She cared too deeply about her parents to do something so selfish. That aside, Mina worried too much about her friends to leave them behind.

"I can't believe you still don't trust me," Mills said in a bitter tone.

"I trust you Mills; that's why I haven't debugged my phone. I knew that you would follow me.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mills questioned.

"I know you so well that the minute Mina being alive was mentioned in my conversation with Cam, I knew you were going to insert yourself in my job."

"Are you saying that you set me up?" Drax just smiled and leaned over to kiss Mills' cheek.

"Don't play dumb my beautiful wife. There is no way that you could have thought that I was allowing you to listen to my conversation and not know about it."

"Then why didn't you confront me?"

"Because like I said, I trust you. You love me too much to take anything you heard back to anybody else."

"So then why are you following me now?"

"Because I also know that like Ian, you always believed that Mina was alive. I know how much that girl means to you both, and I don't want either of you to get hurt."

"Mina would never hurt me."

"According to Cam, she isn't Mina anymore." Mills ignored her husband's words and decided that she would take him on a long trip to nowhere.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to her, right?"

"I'm not certain, but if she doesn't reveal herself, I can't say the same thing for her friends."

"What do you mean?'' Mills questioned in fear, and Drax pointed to her device.

"Mina's vocals were flagged on Ash's secure line. I don't know what she was thinking, she works for Cam, and you know how he has always felt about Mina."

"I don't understand what's going on. It's just Mina, why do I feel like this situation is being blown out of proportion?"

"Well, that may be because 'just Mina' successfully shut down the Lee group operations with ransomware."

----

Although they were able to restore power to the building, Ian could not get into his computers, and no matter who he put on the task, they only managed to make things worse as the ransomware Mina installed had triggers that helped it bury itself deeper into the system. Without much of a choice, Ian called in the last person he would have ever thought he needed: Terrence. Like Magic, the man pressed a few keys and the ransomware deactivated itself, leaving everyone speechless.

"How did you do that?" Ian questioned, and Terrence looked at him with an odd expression.

"I made this for Mina."

"You what?"

"She asked me to make this for her."

"When?"

"I don't remember," Terrence replied, standing up to look out of Ian's office window. "It's dark at night," the man said.

"Terrence," Ian said as he stood beside the man. "Have you been in contact with Mina all this time?"

"I made it when you were mean to her." Ian felt a slight bit of relief, but he felt as though there was more to the conversation.

"Did she ever talk to you about leaving?"

"She promised to take me with her. She couldn't though. Please tell her that I'm upset." With those words, Terrence walked out of the office, and the men who had brought him followed him out.

"Are you okay?" Zane questioned, seeing that his friend was wearing a dreary expression.

"Zane, what if Mina drugged me and Lisa so she could have an excuse to get away."

"Ian. that is a far reach. Not even Cam would go there, and you know Mina would never." Ian nodded and Zane cursed loudly before tossing him his phone.

"We've been so focused on the computers that we weren't paying attention to the outside world. They have security footage." Ian's eyes went wide as a fully concealed individual poured some sort of liquid all around the daycare and set it ablaze. Witnesses from the day before attributed the fire to the 'abduction' of a student by the Lee group, and just as Ian was about to call Cam, his phone rang.

"If I get to her before you do; she's dead," Cam warned.

----

Mina knew it was just a matter of time before President Lee broke down her door, so she sent Sadie, Troy, Lady and Miss Claire away as she sat in the apartment, and enacted petty forms of revenge against the man who had ruined her life. When her bell rang, she intuitively knew who it was, so she flung open the door, and gestured for the man to enter before sitting on her sofa to hear what he had to say.

"You need to stop what you're doing."

"What have I done?"

"Mina, you burned down a school and framed my cousin."

"I had nothing to do with that," Mina admitted. That was all Sadie, she was just capitalizing off it.

"He's going to kill you."

"I'm already dead."

"Mina this is serious. What happened to you?" Ian questioned, moving to sit near the woman who did not move. "I don't want to see you get hurt, but Mina, what you're doing has gone beyond my ability to control."

"President Lee, I have a proposition for you… Leave me alone and I will leave your company alone." Ian considered it for a long time before he repeated the phrase with a key difference.

"I will leave your company alone and you will leave my company alone, but only if you answer three questions."

"That depends on the questions."

"When did you plan to leave?"

"The night you sent your sister to break up with me." Ian did not like that Mina held those beliefs, so he immediately corrected them.

"Mina you know I was drugged. I almost died and I was in the hospital for a week; Luna acted on her own." Mina's eyes narrowed and Ian knew she was trying to determine if he was lying.

"Then why did she tell me that you sent her?"

"Because my mother asked her to. Now, tell me. Is Lady mine?"

"No," Mina replied flatly, and Ian breathed deeply.

"You know I can get that information on my own, but if I have to go that route, I won't make things easy for you." Mina shrugged, and Ian rubbed his temples.

"Mina, did you ever think about me at all?" Ian questioned, hating that he was stooping so low.

"Is that your final question?" She asked while patting his shoulder mockingly, and Ian sprang to his feet.

"I tried to be cordial, but you are making this difficult." Ian pressed a button on his phone, but nothing happened. He pressed it repeatedly until his eyes started to feel heavy. "You poisoned me?" Ian could not believe it, Drax was right, he should not have entered the woman's apartment alone, and now he was paying the price for it. He scrambled to the door, but his feet betrayed him, making him fall flat on his face. With President Lee finally unconscious, Mina called for her men to come out of hiding and they shoved his body into a large duffle bag before gently lowering them down a laundry chute.

"Are you sure about this?" Sunhari questioned, covering the pair with large bags as he pushed the trolley out of the building.

"Positive," Mina whispered.

----

Ian awoke in a dimly lit room, and he instinctively tried to escape through the doors, but they were locked. He banged on them until his throat went dry, and then he started to chuckle at himself when he realized where he was. He had once put Mina in a similar room, and while he could tell he was in a replica, the woman was showing him exactly how she felt.

"Don't worry President Lee," Ian heard. He looked around and spotted a single speaker built into the wall. "If you survive this, I will let you go. I still owe you one question."

"My family will find me before then, and they will kill you."

"Then I guess we will die together, because if I don't implement my personal code every fifteen minutes, this whole building will explode." Ian chuckled and laid flat on the mattress.

"Just talk to me; tell me what you want." Mina stared at President Lee who was sprawled on the bed with a smile on his face. She hated how calm he was, but then again, she should have expected it. Without answering his question, the woman walked away, and when she returned, it was a day later. She opened the door to the room the man was locked in and personally brought him a glass of water and food.

"Why?"

"Because my friends are missing, and I want to trade you for them." Mina extended the bowl to President Lee, but the man knocked it out of her hands and pinned her down to the bed instead.

"Just let me hold you for a little while. It's okay if you hate me, but just let me pretend you don't."

"President Lee," Mina said in a warning tone. "Please let me go. I don't want to have to hurt you."

"And I do not want to hurt you, so let's walk out of this place together. If my family thinks I was here voluntarily, they won't retaliate."

"Why would you do that for me?" Mina asked, staring up at the man whose body weight kept her immobile.

"Because I want to be with you."

"They are here," Ian heard, and he glanced over to see one of Mina's friends from Bal.

"You were with them the whole time?" Mina pushed the man away, surprised when he actually moved.

"I went to a lot of places President Lee, but right now, I want assurances." She tried to walk away but the man grabbed her arm.

"The only way I can do that is by holding your hand."

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"No, but I'm desperate, and it's clear that you are too."

----

Cam could not believe it when he saw Ian smiling as he walked out of the warehouse where it was believed Mina had him held hostage. The man was holding a frowning Mina's hand, and it was clear that he was satisfied while she was just annoyed.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Mina and I made up," Ian lied, and Cam narrowed his eyes at his cousin.

"Well, that's good, because your father wants to meet her." Both Ian and Mina looked shocked by the revelation, and Mina suddenly felt foolish.

"This was not part of the deal," Mina whined.