Chapter 13: Chemistry

Ian had already stopped listening to his sister and was angrily walking toward Mina's bed. He was livid, and he planned to get the truth out of her without delay. However, when he pulled back the curtain, Mina's eyes met his for just a second. He could see that she was crying but she quickly turned her face away from his and crossed her arms over her chest.

Mina was clearly afraid of him, and Ian remembered when her shirt had been torn after he threw her to the ground of the hotel room. It took her time to notice, but when she did, her arms involuntarily crossed her chest in the same way. Ian stared at her for a while, and it felt like a long time had gone by before he finally spoke.

"Did you hear our conversation?" Mina nodded. Of course, she had heard.

'Didn't you want her to hear? Didn't you want her to know how stupid she was? Don't you still want to torture me? Aren't you reminding me that I have been so violently touched because of my own mistake?' Mina thought. She opened her mouth to speak, and her voice took on a glum tone.

"This job was never for me. Was it?" She asked this aloud, but she did not expect an answer. Mina now knew that from the moment Adley reentered her life, she and that Mike person were already planning to use her to get to President Lee. Adley knew she had gone for an interview at one of the Lee holdings and she must have seen it as an opportunity to blackmail the company at Mina's expense.

How bad would it have looked if President Lee were photographed taking advantage of one of his potential employees? She had seen the blood on her legs and knew that if a photo like that had ever gotten out; the Lee Group would be finished. The man was about to walk away when from her when she called out to him.

"President Lee, did anyone come to the room while we were… alone?" Ian froze. He immediately thought of Lisa and believed that Mina was trying to threaten him.

"Speak clearly," he said. "If you have something to say to me, just say it. There is no reason to beat around the bush." Mina nodded and pressed forward.

"My guess is that someone came to the room," Mina answered her own question. "President Lee, I am in no position to ask for a favor and I know you cannot risk keeping me alive, but I still have to try. When you find Adley and Mr. Mike, please kill them on my behalf." Mina shifted her body away from the man and did not say another word. There was silence in the room as he left.

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Ian and Luna walked into a small hospital lab. There was a handsome man dressed in a white lab coat. He was excitedly taking notes when he noticed Luna walk in. His eyes lit up and he rushed toward her.

"Miss Luna, Miss Luna. How can I ever thank you?" Luna was confused.

"Doctor Bell, you want to thank me?" she asked. But he did not give Luna a chance to ask him why before he started to ramble off.

"I don't know if I had gotten bored with my current research, but this sample you have given me is just... something else. It's incredibly crude but it's extremely effective." The man pointed toward a computer screen that showed some sort of chart and Ian broke into the man's speech.

"Explain this to me in terms I can understand. I am not too familiar with brain chemistry," Ian said.

"Sure, sure," Doctor Bell replied.

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Over the course of minutes, Doctor Bell explained the composition of the agent found in the mint chocolate. It was a stimulant, as Luna has guessed, but it also had inebriating and suggestive properties. It worked by flooding the body with endorphins that basically made a person feel good all over. The drug was not specifically designed for men, but it had a component that acted similarly to drugs made to treat erectile disfunction.

"Basically, a person who had taken the drug would be easily aroused. The person would still be able to act with restraint but the dopamine levels in the person's body would continuously rise until he or she was completely overcome with pleasure. Even wind blowing on their skin would feel extremely good."

The nature of the drug also had many possible side effects, such as, brain swelling, seizures, memory loss, dehydration, body aches, temporary depression, confusion and could even cause a heart attack. Doctor Bell's eyes darted around excitedly as he spoke. He had clearly never seen anything like it.

Before Doctor Bell could run off on another tangent, Luna quickly cut in.

"What would happen if a woman were given the drug?" Doctor Bell smiled while answering.

"Based on analytics alone I cannot tell whether this drug would affect men and women differently. It is likely the amount of drug in the chocolate would have overwhelmed an average sized woman with desire. Even if she were in severe pain, she would not be able to stop herself because her body would be telling her that it all felt good. It would be the same for men but with a lesser intensity since a man is likely to be bigger than a woman. Basically, the amount of this compound in one piece of chocolate could be fatal for women." As Doctor Bell was speaking, Luna's phone rang, and she walked away to take the call.

While his sister was gone, Ian took the chance to ask Doctor Bell if the drug could cause a man to be aggressive. The man answered candidly; since Luna was gone, he did not feel the need to curb his words.

"President Lee, any man under the influence of something like this, with this specific concentration, would be extremely aggressive, and the more attracted he is to the person, the more aggressive he would be." Ian nodded in understanding, but Doctor Bell continued to speak. "To put it simply, if you were to touch your lover, and see that she liked being touched by you, it would please you, but if you had this drug in your system; touching your lover and seeing that she liked being touched by you would not only please you, but it would also physically pleasure you. It would cause you to want to touch more, and the more force you use in your touch, the better it would feel. Understand?"

Ian understood what the doctor was trying to convey but since he did not have experience with women, he could not relate to the doctor's analogy, so he switched topics.