Chapter 256: Stop With the Games

Ian did not know how much time passed. Neither he nor Mina spoke, they just stared at each other; both experiencing different emotions surrounding the same cause. He truly believed that if he let Mina listen to the audio from the night they were drugged, her memories would return to her. He did not care if she knew that he lied and duped her out of her clothes, he just needed her to know the truth; but Ian did not expect for Mina to react so violently.

In fact, Ian did not expect her to react at all. He thought Mina would numbly follow his request and like him, she would regain her memories or at least a portion of them. He only wanted to prove to her that she was not broken, he was.

"Mina…" President Lee started to explain, but Mina did not give him a chance to finish his sentence.

"President Lee, can you please stop this now? What more do you want from me?" Mina asked. Her eyes had become filled with water, but no tears fell. "Is it that you want this dress too? Would that make you feel better?" Mina stopped speaking as she struggled to peel the dress off her body.

Ian could not believe what he was witnessing. He rushed forward to stop Mina before she could remove her clothing.

"Mina, please stop. I'm sorry. Okay?" Ian could not help but to feel stupid as he apologized. He knew it meant nothing to Mina. He would have to prove himself another way. "I don't want your dress. Can you please stop?" President Lee begged. In that moment, his mind drifted to Lisa, and he understood that she was not wearing a replica.

"I cannot take it anymore," Mina complained. She did not even bother to push President Lee away as she screamed.

"Okay, you don't have to. I was wrong earlier. Okay?" Ian's hands were cupping Mina's face. He managed to wipe a stray tear before she pushed him away.

"Just stop with the games. That is all I ask," Mina said, and Ian nodded. He was not sure what Mina was referring to, but his mind immediately went to Lisa's dress, his sister's actions at the charity event, and his own actions when he taunted Cylus Rue.

Ian swallowed back his pride and decided to start from where he knew he was wrong.

"CEO Rue, he only said those things because I…" Mina chuckled, cutting the man off as she wiped her face.

"You don't have to explain it to me," Mina said. "Cylus said those things because he wanted to. You may have goaded him, but he took the bait." Ian could not help but to feel relieved by Mina's statement. He didn't think she would be so rational, and he wondered why her rationality didn't extend to him.

"Mina, tonight…" Mina cut President Lee off again.

"I don't care," Mina said. Whether it was the dress, or the auction, it was all the same to her. All of it happened because she was so desperate for money that she snuck into the wrong man's room. "The sooner you figure out who set me up, the sooner it will all be over," Mina said.

"Mina I…" Ian was cut off again, and Mina looked to be losing her patience.

"President Lee, please leave. If your sister finds you in my room, she won't go easy on me." Ian just nodded. There was so much he wanted to say, but Mina would not let him get a word in.

In the end, Ian did as Mina asked and left her room closing the door behind him. He made his way into his study and fished out a sheet of paper with his sister's handwritten notes on it. He pulled the small auction card from his breast pocket and compared the writing, and as he had guessed, it matched.

Ian wanted nothing more than to throttle his sister, but for Mina's sake he would not. He knew that Luna had a sickening sense of loyalty toward Lisa, and her actions were likely due to his obvious affections toward Mina.

Ian resolved to try to do as Mina asked and stay far away, even if it meant sending her to go live with Zane and Miss Meagan. All he knew was that he never wanted her to feel the way she felt tonight ever again.

----

Luna did not feel any better after humiliating Mina. She was numb all over, but Lisa was grinning ear to ear. She knew her 'friend' was never concerned about her when she pointed out Mina and Tavin. All Lisa cared about was ruining Mina in the eyes of Ian, and Luna had played right into it.

Luna could now say she disliked Mina, not because of Lisa, but for herself. There was no way that she and Tavin could have gotten to that level without at least exchanging names. That meant Mina knew who Tavin was, yet she still went after him.

Lisa was right about Mina, and it filled Luna with rage. To think that she had even protected Mina, and she called the girl a friend. Luna decided to sabotage Mina a little further.

"You know your boyfriend gave you another woman's dress, right?" Luna said.

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked.

"The dress you are wearing; it was a gift to Mina from CEO Rue." Lisa's face darkened. She knew she had taken the dress from Mina, but she didn't expect it to have come from Cylus.

"Why are you telling me this?" Lisa asked, but Luna did not have an answer. She gave Lisa a once over with her eyes and shook her head at the woman.

"Figure it out yourself," Luna snarled as she walked away. If Lisa was too dumb to figure out that Ian was using her to taunt Mina, she wouldn't be the one to tell her.

----

Lisa was worried. She knew the dress was Mina's, but she had not guessed its origin and now, she understood why Cylus reacted the way he did when he saw her. She wanted to find him and explain, but what could she say other than what she had already said?

Lisa wondered if Ian knew she had taken the dress, and if he did, why didn't he say anything? She stormed around the hall looking for Ian or Cylus, but she ran into her brother instead.

"You won't find him. He is already gone," Kace said.

Earlier in the evening Kace had sent a drink laced with sedatives to Mina's table in an attempt to have his sister publicly humiliated when her 'boyfriend' carried an unconscious woman, who was not her, out of the venue without regard for who was watching.

Sadly, Mina was wise enough not to touch the drink, but the man she was with, was not so lucky. Kace thought his efforts would go to waste, but his sister stuck her own foot in her mouth by putting Mina up for auction.

It was obvious to anyone watching that Mina had not signed herself up, and it was even more obvious that she was someone special when President Lee spent Two million dollars to help the woman salvage her image. Now, the two most talked about individuals were gone at the same time, and everyone was gossiping behind Lisa's back.

Kace wondered how much time it would take before all fingers pointed to his sister being the one who tried to drug Mina. He had meticulously laid out the evidence in such a way that Lisa would be the only believable culprit.