Chapter 195: She Is Pregnant

Mina made herself comfortable in a chair and began to catch both men up on all that had happened during the time they were gone. Dom was a little put off by some of the things he heard. The punishments Mina described seemed too petty to have come as a direct order from President Lee, but he was watchful of his boss' odd behavior as of late and could not be sure.

Neither of the three men had heard about a missing maid, but Dom assured Mina that he would investigate whether the girl was actually dead or in retraining. It was more likely that she had simply been fired. Relief was plainly visible on the girls face as he spoke.

After a while, Doctor Witt cautioned Dom about the facility lockdown hours, so he and Mina said hasty goodbyes, but not before Dom warned the men about their boss's possessiveness toward Mina. He sent Mina outside of the room and basically advised the men against repeating anything that Mina had said or they could risk another 'vacation.' The two men knew Dom was not one to exaggerate, so they agreed without protest.

Leaving the Lee training facility was just as precarious as entering. Dom made sure to remind Mina that any number sequence he used to get through the exit checkpoints was rendered useless and would result in her instant death if she or anyone else tried to repeat them. Mina did not plan on ever returning to the place without due cause; she assured Dom that his warnings had been heeded.

----

Dom took Mina to a twenty-four-hour convenience store where he allowed her to pick up a few snacks. He could not get her story of mistreatment off his mind and he wanted to make sure she had a few things stored away, that way she could fall back on them. If ever things got really bad between Mina and President Lee, Dom took comfort in knowing Mina would at least have something to eat.

When Dom pressed Mina about what had caused his boss to suddenly decide she needed to start doing her own chores, she recalled her slap to him. Likewise, the strenuous activity of dusting such a large room without the proper equipment was likely the resulting punishment of yet another slap. Dom could not help but to stare at Mina with his mouth open. Either she was becoming too bold or she was sick.

----

President Lee sat across from Dom, he hadn't instructed the man to take Mina to visit Samuel or Bressaw, but he could tell when she arrived at his mansion that she had less weight on her shoulders. Ian had hoped to surprise her with visiting the men once their physical condition improved. He thought it would help her trust him a little more, but he was unintentionally snubbed by his subordinate. Now he could only be briefed on the situation.

Dom was wise enough to leave out the stories Mina told them about the petty forms of punishment she was subjected to. He was aware that his boss had a thing for Mina, and he did not want to enrage the man by letting him know that she was bad mouthing him to others.

----

As Mina expected, there was no dinner waiting for her upon her return. Fortunately, Dom had taken her to a store, and she had carefully hidden the giant bag of instant foods under her jacket. President Lee only said a few words to her before he and Dom disappeared into his study, but she could tell by his expression that the man had a lot to say.

Unwilling to go to bed only to be woken by a raging tyrant, Mina snuck into the personal kitchen where she prepared a bowl of microwaveable chicken and rice. She ate quickly not wanting to be caught, and she was not sure if it were the taste or quality of the meal, but she felt sick almost instantly.

In the past Mina had no problem stomaching that type of food, and she was almost positive that her new diet played a huge role in her condition. She tried sneaking back into her room, but she was stopped by Carmen.

"You're finally back," the woman said. There was something about her tone that suggested that she was not thrilled about Mina's return.

"Unfortunately," Mina replied.

"You say it as if you don't want to be here," Carmen quipped, but Mina just scoffed. It was obvious that Carmen had no idea of Mina's actual standing within the household.

"I'm here as a guest of Miss Luna, but if I had my way, I wouldn't be here causing you so much trouble," Mina said. She had mistaken Carmen's irritation as a reaction to her increased workload.

"Then why don't you just leave?" Carmen did not bother to hide the ire in her voice.

Mina's stomach spasmed and she promptly lost her patience with the presumptuous maid.

"If there is nothing else; I'll be going to bed now," she said and she hastily made her way into the guest room.

Mina was not aware, but Carmen had noticed her clutching at her stomach, and she had secretly followed her into the guest room. She heard the unmistakable sounds of Mina retching in the restroom and she immediately reported everything to her secondary employer.

----

Lisa was in the middle of preparing her outfit for the unofficial grand opening of her facility. Almost everything needed to start operating was in place and the event was just something she had decided to do in order to force an interaction between Mina and Shai. She knew that Ian was unlikely to attend the actual opening ceremony due to their family rivalry, but she wanted him to see what she was capable of with the right resources at her disposal.

The facility had yet to open and already, numerous pop stars were lining up to take advantage of the proximity of the film site, to their recording studios, which were almost always located in the main building of whatever entertainment agency they belonged to. Even Cylus had arranged for one of the girl groups under Rouge Entertainment to shoot the music video for their latest single there. There was no way Ian would not be impressed. Lisa's phone rang; it was Carmen.

"Hello,"

"Miss Lisa, I have good news," said the maid.

"Is Mina moving out?"

"Better," the woman replied.

"I think she is pregnant," Carmen blurted out. Lisa did not reply, this was not good news to her. What if the reason Ian had been rejecting her was because he was already being satisfied by Mina?

"By whom?" Lisa asked nervously.

"By one of the Lee guards."