Chapter 610: Slip

Mills awoke to an empty bed, she scanned the room and found Mina sitting on the sofa in her room, furiously working on something. The woman's hand was moving so quickly that Mills wondered if she was actually writing or if she was scribbling on paper. She stood up and walked over to where Mina was, saying good morning with no answer. The woman was so into what she was doing that she did not hear Mills at all, and in fear Mills pushed the woman's shoulders back screaming her name loudly.

The bedroom door had been intentionally left open for Drax, so when Mills shouted, she alerted everyone who was in the home. Mina looked shocked, scared almost, and Mills could tell something was wrong, she just could not understand what. Mills watched her friend study her face before casting her eyes back down to the book she was writing in and back up again. She heard Drax call out with a groggy voice from behind her, while President Lee entered from a door connected to Mina's room.

"Did something happen?" the woman asked innocently. Mills turned to look at Drax knowing that something was wrong, but she was unable to explain what. She then looked at President Lee who wore an expression as confused as her own. "Mills?" Mina said, making the woman feel like she had overreacted, but she was certain that she had not.

"Babe, you need sleep," Drax said, coming close and guiding her out of Mina's room, but Mills was reluctant. She knew she had not imagined what she had seen, but looking at how confused and innocent Mina looked, it appeared to everyone as if she had overreacted. Mills cast a glance toward President Lee that was pleading.

"Drax, wait. Let her tell us what happened." Mills went into detail, telling the men that she had woken up and started to talk to Mina who did not respond to her. She kept talking, but Mina just kept working without a sound. She told them that she eventually had to shout the woman's name. Ian glanced at Mina, whose brow was furrowed, but she did not dispute the woman's claims.

"I'm sorry Mills, I didn't hear you," Mina said in a tone that was so distant that even Drax had to look at her strangely.

"Mina, did you not sleep?" Drax asked, finally noticing the woman's red eyes. She looked down at her notebook, and instead of answering, she made a slight gasping sound and started to write again.

"See Draxy, something is wrong." Mills said.

Ian walked to where Mina was sitting and kneeled to meet her eyes, but she did not look at him. He knew something was wrong, and he could vaguely remember her telling someone that she was once obsessed with numbers. He rested his hand over the book, and she looked up at him as if she had only just noticed he was in the room.

"President Lee?" she questioned.

"Mina, you are tired, and you need to rest. Do you remember why you told me that you stopped writing in your books?" Mina's eyes squinted and Ian hoped she would not call him out by telling him that she had never spoken to him about what was written in her books.

"I'm not obsessed, I'm just really close, I can feel it." She did not break eye contact and Ian found himself gently pulling the book away.

"You look like Terrence," he said, and the woman gasped. She stood and rubbed at her face before looking over at Mills who still wore a worried expression.

"I'm sorry. I did not mean to scare you. I will sleep now."

"Did you not sleep last night?" Drax asked and Mina shook her head, once again admitting that she was scared.

"Mina, you have nothing to worry about. Get some rest, when you wake up, I will take you to visit my nan."

When Mina awoke, she sat up looking for her notebook. She had dreamed of the problem, and she wanted to write it down, but not just the new notebook, but all her books were missing. She wanted to be sad about it, but the truth was that she appreciated President Lee for removing the notebooks from her room. She was not foolish enough to believe that she could not slip, and she did not want to go back to the place of sleepless nights and constant headaches.

Mina crawled out of bed and went to get ready for the day, but when she checked her phone, she was shocked. She had slept through to the next morning, and it was too early for anyone to be awake. Feeling guilty, Mina quickly changed into lounge clothes, and made her way into the kitchen. She wanted to make it up to everyone she had scared by preparing breakfast. As usual, she sent a text to chef Tan before going into the smaller kitchen. For some reason, she hated to cook in the staff kitchen although she was not entirely sure why.

After deciding on a menu, Mina made quick work of breakfast, shoveled everything into serving dishes, and used one of the giant meal trollies to get it up stairs. She walked into president Lee's study, not surprised to see the man, Zane and Drax working again, but she was surprised to see President Cam in the room.

"Where is Mills?" Mina asked, trying to ignore the stare she was getting from the president.

"She slept in, but I better go wake her. If she knew you made breakfast and I did not call her to eat, she would probably leave me again." Mina flashed a half smile that Zane commented on.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked, briefly pointing to President Cam who was still boring holes into her with his eyes.

"He is just in a bad mood," President Lee responded, and Mina nodded.

"Did you cook?" Cam asked, choosing to ignore the conversation about him. He was in terrible spirits, and he blamed Mina. Camille had ghosted him, not for the first time, but she neglected to show up for work, and had it not been for the surveillance he had on the woman, he would have been worried.

"I didn't know you would be here, but there is more than enough." Cam cast a glance at his cousin, who was staring at Mina, who had yet to look up.

"Does she cook for you often?" he asked, and Ian shook his head.

"It's usually when she wants something," the man revealed, and Mina looked up in shock.

"No, no, she said. Not this time. This is a peace offering. I just wanted to say thank you for last night." Both Zane and Cam looked to Ian who saw no need to correct where their minds had gone. "How is your nan?" Mina asked, and Ian told her that she was still in a coma, but the swelling in her brain was no longer life-threatening, and was beginning to reduce.

Mina absentmindedly started to prepare a plate for President Lee, nodding as he spoke, and asking him follow-up questions about both sisters, even though everyone in the room knew she was not particularly fond of either woman. She handed the plate to the man and went back to the cart to pour him a cup of coffee, adding one cube of sugar and stirring it before placing it before the still speaking man. It was not until Mills arrived that Mina realized she was being stared at.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asked, still feeling guilty about everything.

"No, I just didn't know you cooked." Cam snatched the plate from his cousin's hands and Mina giggled as the man's fork swiped at the air.

"Cam," Ian said in a warning tone.

"What?" Mina can fix you another plate. Right?" The woman nodded and did exactly as Cam had suggested. She handed the plate to President Lee, and started to make another plate for Mills, who was staring at her in concern.

Mills did not like how Mina was behaving and when she looked over to Zane, she could tell that he too was put off by her behavior. She was being unusually obedient, overly helpful, and while the behavior was certainly not being forced, it was worrying.

----

Cylus walked into his parent's office, slamming the door behind him in a way that was meant to gain their full attention. His mother shot to her feet, asking him if he were okay, and he plastered on a smile, before sitting in front of her desk.

"Mom, you said you knew David Harlow, right?" Celeste nodded at her son, who had on several occasions asked her about the man she had once been secretly friendly with. She looked to her husband, who wore a bitter expression.

"Why are you barging into our office to ask about this?" Cylus' father boomed. The man tossed a folder on his mother's desk, and she looked up at her husband in concern.

"Please tell me this is not true," she said, staring at her husband with wide eyes.

"That man's daughter poisoned my niece's mind. I was only trying to get her to do the right thing and come home." Celeste's eyes scanned the documents in front of her, and she felt her heart twitch. Everyone believed that she had started dating Vincent to make David jealous, but that had always been a lie. She was nice to David because he reminded her of someone, but he had always been in love with a girl named Anne.

"Are you sure this is for Olivia?" Celeste asked, making her husband flinch. He had not forgotten about David Harlow. He hated the man, but so much of his happiness was due to his lack of judgement. In Vincent's mind, Celeste would have been a Harlow if he had not chosen an orphan over her.

"Do you want to know why the company is suddenly failing?" Cylus added. "It's because President Ian Lee knows that you are the person blackmailing Mina's family. Cylus stood, and glared at his father, who he still believed had given his sister up for adoption and told his mother that she had been still born. He even had doubts of his own paternity; doubts he was sure his father shared, but the men said nothing about the matter, letting it be silently communicated between their eyes. "Dad, I love you. I always have and want nothing more than to be a son you can be proud of, but if you do not stop what you are doing, you will lose much more than Olivia.

"Are you threatening me?" Vincent asked.