Chapter 56: Something About Mina

Filling in where Zane was lost, Ellie explained that Mina was a rumored top tier college grad turned laborer. She had been blacklisted by the Arden family and thus could not keep steady employment. Without giving away too much information, she told Zane that the girl had gone missing a few weeks ago but no one reported her disappearance.

Ellie had even gone to Mina's apartment and posed as a relative. The landlady cared deeply for Mina and she would often hire Mina to do odd jobs around the building to help her cover her monthly rent. She had not seen Mina in a long time, and the rent was due, but she could not bear to evict the girl, so she planned to hold the apartment for a few more weeks. Ellie paid the woman two months' rent upfront and asked the woman to keep Mina's belongings safe. At the time, she thought she may need to come back to the place if she hit a dead end.

While asking around, Ellie found a few people who recognized Mina as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. She approached the kitchen staff as Mina's cousin who was worried because Mina had not come home for a long time. As she expected, the restaurant staff had a good impression of Mina and were eager to help. Even Miss Maree: the restaurant's owner, lent her services. She told Ellie that she had personally dropped Mina off in front of the Grand Eloise Hotel a few weeks back but had not heard from her since. She assumed that Mina got the job she was applying for and was too busy to come back and visit.

Over the last few days, Miss Maree had worried about Mina, but because she was also afraid of the possibility that the Arden family had finally 'dealt' with Mina permanently, she was reluctant to look for the girl. She also told Ellie that two men had already come by asking about Mina, but they did not tell them much because they were afraid to get Mina in trouble.

Still keeping up the façade of a concerned relative, Ellie begged Miss Maree for a ride to the place she last saw Mina. Tears dropped down her face as she clutched at the woman's sleeves. Miss Maree could not say no, and she drove Ellie to the hotel. Ellie thanked her profusely and the woman, while holding back tears of her own, asked Ellie to keep her informed before driving away.

Ellie ended her side of the story there. If she continued to speak, she would be betraying her brother, who obviously had not told his best friend about Mina. If she continued, she would have told him that she hacked into the security footage of the hotel and was able to restore several deleted files that showed Mina entering the building early in the morning. The footage showed her nervously walking into an elevator and exiting on the fifth floor. The security footage from the 5th floor showed Mina using a key card to enter a room, but there was no activity after several hours. Ellie would have told Zane that just as she was about to close the footage, a group of men entered the frame. It was Ian and two guards.

After a few minutes, the guards exited her brother's hotel room and stood watch outside. A few hours passed and then a person who Ellie recognized as Lisa, came to the hotel room, but was stopped by security. There was no audio, but she could tell the woman was throwing a tantrum about not being allowed to enter the room. Eventually, the woman stomped away. Another couple of hours went by and a hotel employee pushing a giant linen cart attempted to enter the room, but she too was turned away. The woman looked nervous as she left, and she did not stop to clean any other room. Ellie found the woman's actions suspicious and made a mental note to personally find that woman as well.

Ellie would have told Zane that the footage from the next day starts with Ian opening his hotel room door and instructing one of his guards to do something. When the guard next appears, he is holding an empty black bag in his hands. The three men enter the room and exit a short time later with a full bag. Mina is never seen exiting the room, but any idiot could tell she was placed inside of a bag. This led Ellie to the Lee Mansion, and as expected her brother had a 'Guest'.

Ellie was thinking about these things, but she did not voice them out loud. She pretended to have hit a dead end, deciding that if Ian did not want Zane to know, then something must be serious. Zane on the other hand let his imagination run completely wild. He believed that Ian was secretly dating the woman and he told Ellie how he came to this conclusion. Ellie reminded Zane that her brother had a girlfriend but Zane who was not fond of Lisa shrugged it off. They were both very adverse to the idea of Ian and Lisa being together, but they held their tongues for the sake of Ian.

During this conversation Zane was his old self. He was friendly and lively. His animated features expressed delight as he thought of the possibility of Ian not being in a relationship with Lisa and it caused Ellie to involuntarily smile. When Zane saw the smile on Ellie's face, he checked his watch for the time and told her he needed to rest early. He did not bother to see her out, he just walked past her while saying good night and made his way to his bedroom. Ellie could sense some tension between them, but she could not understand why.

Yes, she had not seen him in years, but Ellie kept in contact with everyone important to her, including Zane, by text. She did not know how she had offended him, but she knew he was uncomfortable with something. Maybe she should not have tried to show off by coming in through the window. She knew he had motions sensors in his office and she intentionally did not disable them as to alert him to her presence. Ellie suddenly regretted not ringing the doorbell, maybe then Zane would have been happy to see her. Protecting her own pride, Ellie left the way she came.