Chapter 186: Carl Marsor
Ian was holding Mina's family registration card in his hand. He knew that it would probably be the only time he would hold it. Soon, there would be someone else's thumb print and photo etched onto the surface, and that card would serve as proof that Mina was a married woman. Hiding it from her would do him no good, Mina could always get a replacement, but Ian could tell from the date it was issued that it was the original card. The eighteen-year-old smiling face of Mina was just as captivatingly beautiful as the twenty-two-year-old one.
Mina looked so beautiful in her photo that Ian believed that if he were to frame it, and place it on his desk, he would never get any work done. He was obsessed with staring at it. Only when Zane entered his office, did Ian quickly hide the plastic under a stack of documents in his draw. His friend had come to brief him on what he had figured out about the missing resumes, and sadly, his investigation had not found a single culprit, but many.
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By the time Mina arrived back at the Lee building her feet were aching and she desperately wanted to soak them. She sat in the waiting area, and found herself missing the calming silhouette of Dom. He had been replaced by someone else, an unfriendly woman who refused to speak to Mina. Unable to get comfortable, Mina took the elevators up to the floor where President Lee's office was located.
Unfortunately, Mina found herself in the elevator with an old man who licked his lips at her several times. They were not alone, which made Mina even more disgusted by the man's actions. Everyone slowly exited the elevator, but the old man remained. He inched himself closer and closer to Mina who tried to back away. Eventually she bolted out of the doors but was caught by the old man, who had a surprisingly strong grip.
"Why haven't I seen you before?" he asked. His soft tone did not mask the lust in his eyes.
"I work directly with President Lee," Mina said, and the man instantly let her go. He had heard rumors of President Lee bringing a 'pet' to work, and he had thought they were just that, rumors, but seeing the gorgeous and voluptuous woman in front of him now, he had to tip his hat to the young man.
"My name is Carl Marsor. When you get tired of playing with children. You can come find me."
Mina suppressed a shudder as the old man stepped back into the elevator. As soon as he was gone, she pressed the call button and waited for the lift to return but today seemed to be her unlucky day. When the doors opened. Miss Lisa stared back at her with unmasked hatred.
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Both women alighted from the elevator one after another. Lisa stomped straight to Ian's office, while Mina greeted those around her. She thought that the men in the area had stopped fawning over her, but she was wrong. They were not disrespectful, but they were upfront about their wishes and Mina had to play dumb fifty percent of the time. Just as a very persistent man was about to spell it out for her Camille came to the rescue.
"Can't you see that she isn't interested?" the woman said as she pulled Mina to her feet. The girl winced and Camille thought the grip she had used was too tight. As if she could read the woman's mind, Mina replied first.
"It wasn't you. It's my feet," Mina said. Camille guided her to a chair and then went back to fetch report copies she had made.
Mina took the opportunity to remove her boots and have a look at the now scabbed over holes on the bottom of her soles. She was shocked by the blood that stained the light fabric of her socks. Worse was that some of the dried blood areas were stuck to the scabs and she knew that removing them would also remove the recovering skin.
Mina rubbed her brow and was startled by a manly gasp. The man did not even give Mina a chance to explain before he rudely burst into President Lee's office to report his findings. He, unlike the other men around them, had noticed that his boss had some sort of feelings for Mina, but when he tried to convince the others, they all dismissed him with a laugh. They told him that President Lee already had Miss Lisa and was not a loose man, but he remained unconvinced, and decided to pay close attention to Mina. He saw a promotion in looking out for her.
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Mina was mortified when President Lee came running out of his office to find her. She did not speak at all. She just covered her face in embarrassment, but somehow the men around her thought she was crying. President Lee went to lift her, but she gently pushed his hand away.
"It looks worse than it is," Mina said calmly. She was trying to indicate to the man that his girlfriend was currently imagining her death, but he did not catch on even a little.
Camille on the other hand, noticed immediately and she flew over to CEO Zane's office for help. She had not forgotten about Lisa's aggressive behavior toward Mina.
When Zane arrived, he was tickled by the scene. Ian was kneeling before Mina and Lisa was standing above them both in a posture that screamed 'I am going to kill you.' Zane calmly approached and Mina asked him to please help her back to the Lee mansion.
"Why can't you wait on Ian?" he asked and both Mina and Lisa answered 'no' at the same time.
"President Lee is busy, and he has company. If you can do me this favor, I will give you the money I made today," Mina said. Zane laughed.
"Where is Dom?"
"He hasn't come back since…" Mina trailed off and looked around. Zane already knew what she was referring to.
Annoyed, Zane waited for Mina to replace her shoes and half carried her toward the elevators. Whatever he was saying while he acted as Mina's crutch, caused the girl to giggle and laugh. The look of jealousy was visible on every male face and even some of the female faces as they passed by. They continued walking that way, all the way to Zane's car.
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Once her seatbelt had been fastened Mina settled herself in and told Zane what happened between herself and Mr. Carl Marsor. Zane was the only one she trusted enough to ask, and for self-preservation purposes, she needed to know exactly who the man was and how scared she needed to be.