Chapter 78: Coming Clean

Ian felt as if he could read Mina's mind. He had given people that dark, gloomy, and venomous stare before, but seldom had he been on the receiving end. The two stared at each other in silence before Mina's gaze fell to her feet. Yes, she hated him, but she still had to uphold her end of the bargain and he could tell that the shift in her sight, was her way of telling him that she would be cooperative, so that her family would be okay.

As if no one was watching her, Mina sat down and waited for Luna to return. She did not know if there would be additional questions, or if she were breathing her last breaths, but she was oddly at ease knowing she had told the truth and she had told the truth all along.

Ian did not blame Mina for hating him, he only hoped that he could somehow make it up to her. His sister had told him that if a person loves you, they will forgive you. If that were the case, he would just have to make Mina love him. What was love anyway? Wasn't it just needing a person? He could easily make her rely on him and he would willingly take care of her if he had to.

Thinking about this, Ian watched Mina fiddle with her fingers for a while before he heard his sister coming toward the study. She called out to Mina who looked up at her and smiled sweetly. For some reason, she did not seem to hate his sister and Ian could not understand why. In his opinion, Luna was just as responsible for her being locked up, but he alone bore the brunt of her ire.

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The polygraph test was complete, and Mina followed Luna back to that dark room she had lived in for weeks, but she did not want to go inside. Luna, feeling bad for trying to embarrass Mina earlier, decided to lead her into a different room. Mina knew that she still needed to behave but she was unwilling to be locked in the dark again. She was relieved by Luna's kind gesture. Mina stepped into a luxury guest room that was bright and full of life. The décor was too perfect and if the situation were a happy one, Mina would have broken out into a toothy smile, but when the doors were shut behind her, a sense of uneasiness engulfed her entire being.

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When Zane arrived at the Lee mansion, Ian was waiting for him at the door. Zane ignored Ian like a spoiled child and greeted Luna by ruffling the hair on top of her head. He asked her why she called him, and Luna could not help but to laugh. Zane was obviously pissed at her brother about something. Luna told Zane that he should speak to her brother about the situation and she left the foyer. Without words Ian started toward his study and Zane followed suit. Once inside the room, he shut the door and began to come clean about everything.

Armed with knowledge no one else was privy to; Ian's version of events was extremely one sided. He told Zane about a girl sneaking into his room. He told him that he originally believed she was a spy, and he planned to torture the truth out of her, but before he could really do anything, they were both drugged.

While they were drugged, Ian did not care whether she was a spy or not, he was only interested in getting to know her and somehow, they ended up sleeping together. He told Zane that under the influence of the drug, they did not feel pain and he was a little too rough which led to the girl's hospitalization. He told Zane that he originally did not remember what happened that night, but recently he regained his memories, and he had yet to tell his sister that everything that happened between himself and the woman was, in a way, consensual.

Ian told Zane that during his memory lapse he was less than kind to the girl and even starved her for a few days. He had believed that she was the one who drugged him, so he was acting out on his anger. Zane, who was at first feigning indifference, listened with his eyes wide open. He could not contain his questions.

"Stop!" Zane said. "Ian, for the last three weeks, you've been all over the place. Is it because of the girl you slept with?" Ian nodded. It was true that his mind had been elsewhere, it was filled with thoughts of Mina, but no matter how fond he was of her in the beginning, Ian really did not like the idea of sleeping with a stranger, even now it was gross to him. Fortunately, Mina was a clean person and so was he.

"Why couldn't you have told me this sooner?" Zane asked, and Ian told him the truth.

Without his memories to ease his conscience, all Ian knew was that the girl's injuries were consistent with a violent crime, and he was embarrassed. He did not want to involve anyone else without figuring out more details about the situation. He also told Zane that he had not released the girl yet. Zane was not an idiot, and he immediately put two and two together.

"Ian, someone tried to set you up, didn't they?" he asked, and Ian nodded. Zane had also taken part in that huge scale event where eight of the vilest men in his company were ousted. Zane's father happened to be the first one to go.

"Do you know who it is yet?" Zane asked. Then he realized it was a dumb question. If Ian knew who it was, that person would have been dead already. Originally Zane came to the Lee mansion only caring about figuring out who Mina Harlow was to Ian, but now, he was worried about his friend.

"Ian, weren't you supposed to go on a date with Lisa that night?" Ian followed Zane's line of thought. If it had been Lisa in the room with him that night, the situation could have been much worse. He would have been forced to marry Lisa and it would only be right. This was not so much the case with Mina. Even if her parents insisted on marriage, they were not powerful enough to make it happen. The Anders family held some weight within the country, and while they were not on par with the Lee family, they were very influential. Besides her family, Ian knew that Lisa would have demanded nothing less. It took Zane a minute to process, and he remembered Ian telling him that the girl was still in the mansion.

"Ian, can I ask her a few questions?" Zane asked. "I want to ask if she knows my father."