Chapter 316: Value
Ian made his way back to Lisa, who was set to be discharged the moment her brother arrived. Unlike Mina, who had Cylus, Zane, and probably any other man who ever talked to her willing to look after her; Lisa only had himself and Luna. As much as Ian wanted to stay by Mina's side he could not, and it was like torture to him; made worse by the fact that she did not even care or realize it.
When Ian got back to where Lisa was recovering, the woman was quietly staring at nothing. He stood beside her and rubbed her shoulder, trying to give her comfort without meaning. Lisa did not look up when she spoke to him, and Ian knew it was because she did not want to.
"When we were missing, were you looking for me or were you looking for Mina?" Lisa did not want to argue with Ian, and she did not want to be petty, but every time he left her room she knew where he was going, and she knew why.
Lisa and Mina were the only ones aware of the truth. Only they knew that the men who had snatched them were looking for the woman who lived with Ian. It was merely because the men did not know which one was which, that they took both women. In Lisa's mind, although she knew it was warped logic, that meant that Mina held more value than she did. Lisa needed to hear from Ian that it was not true.
"I know what you must think, but I promise that finding you was also a top priority." Lisa was not comforted by Ian's words, but she knew he meant them to be neutral.
"Then why did Kace find me first? All the resources of the Lee group and you couldn't find us?" Ian had been wondering that himself, but Kace had told him that he did not 'find' Lisa; he was contacted by the abductors.
"Your brother was contacted directly; my people had only just gotten traffic in the area halted by the time we were able to locate the van on CCTV footage. One of my witnesses was struck by a car in pursuit, and the van you were in was equipped with shifting plates." Ian paused, allowing Lisa to take in his explanation before he questioned her. "Why did they contact Kace and not me?" Lisa froze at the question. The truth was that she planned to have her brother ransom her and leave Mina behind, but her brother had decided to play hero and save Mina as well.
"I told you, they didn't know which one of us was which." Ian accepted the answer, but he knew it made no sense. If they did not know who was who, then how did they know to contact Kace Anders?
----
When Luna snuck into Mina's ward, she had been expecting to find the girl no worse for wear, the same as she had found Lisa, but she was shocked by the reality. Mina's face looked as though it had been targeted, and it made no sense to Luna.
Lisa had told her that the men who had taken them planned to sell Mina, and as grim as it may have sounded, no merchant would damage their goods before selling them. If that story were true, then the women had either been snatched by amateurs, or lied to.
Luna felt a strong sense of guilt for what happened to either woman. She had distracted Dom, and even prevented him from running, and she understood that the short ten seconds she had cost him was enough time for the man to bulldoze his way through the crowd and at least jump onto the van.
However, the worst part of everything was the slap in the face that Luna had received in Mina's room. Not only had Mina been innocent of what she and Lisa had accused her of, but she had also set her differences aside to save a woman who had been nothing but rude and condescending toward her.
Luna had seen Mina double back to grab Lisa, who was either too stunned to run, or too inexperienced to know when she should run. Although she had grown to dislike Mina, Luna had to respect her for saving her brother's girlfriend and she had to acknowledge the fact that Mina may have been able to get away if she had not stopped to pull Lisa along.
Swallowing her pride, Luna walked back into Mina's ward wanting to apologize, but she had a strong feeling that Mina would not forgive her.
----
Cylus and Zane stood outside Mina's hospital room. After getting to know each other a little better, the men had come to a cease fire. In their personal lives they had always been compared, and the comparisons triggered bad blood between them, but the men had put their issues aside for the sake of Olivia and Mina.
Zane told Cylus what he could about what happened to Mina, and then filled the man in on how he had been handling Olivia's problem. The rumor Zane had planted had slowly begun to spread and it was only a matter of time before the person who started the rumors would be flushed out. There was something motivating about embarrassment, and already several men had backtracked their stories, claiming they had only been joking.
Cylus, although unhappy with his cousin's decision to ruin her name further while trying to fix it, was so far satisfied with how serious Zane was taking his task. He told Cylus that Olivia reminded him of the sister he never had and never wanted. Although funny, Cylus was a bit offended by Zane's words, but having a close female relative as outgoing as Olivia was hard work.
----
Mina laid back with her eyes closed. She could hear Luna speaking to her, but the words were going in one ear and out the other. Mina had picked up the skill of tuning people out in high school and had developed it to perfection as an adult. The only thing was that she needed outside stimuli to aid her, and in the bland and near empty hospital room, there was nothing to help her. She caught every other word of the poorly phrased apology.
"Miss Luna, I'm tired. Can you please let me sleep?" Mina said. Her voice carried a hint of pity, a trace of sadness and a whole lot of hurt. Luna knew what she had done to Mina was over the top, and that she would have to wait for Mina to want to forgive her. She just hoped it was still possible.
Not wanting to push Mina into a fake acceptance of an apology, Luna left the room and met with Zane outside. Cylus had already left as to not cause Mina any more trouble, and to update his cousin who had been calling him nonstop since he left her behind.
"Satisfied?" Zane asked. His voice was bitter and there was disappointment in his tone.
"Disgusted with myself," Luna said honestly. "Why didn't she just tell me?"
"Has Mina just told anyone anything?" Zane questioned. The girl was an open book, but when it came to certain things she was as quiet as a mouse.