Chapter 351: Get Out

President Lee made his way down the corridor leading to Dom's ward with Dr. Jeremy Witt close behind. The man was detailing the condition of the doctor he had fought, and the prognosis was grim. The man had several broken bones in his face, and slight swelling of the brain, and Doctor Witt wanted to use the man as a guinea pig to try out a calcium compound he believed could help the man's fractures heal.

After learning that the side effects were relatively low, President Lee dismissed Doctor Witt who gleefully walked away ready to experiment on one of his so-called friends. The action made Ian happy that he and Zane had conflicting personalities; if they had both been out for the same goals, it would be like Doctor Witt and his group; each man silently praying for the next to fail.

Ian did not find Mina in Dom's room; in fact, he did not find Dom in Dom's room. Where he found the pair was on the ground level, where Mina chewed the ear off of one of the men who had been previously assigned to her guard detail. She had put her hoodie back on and returned the hat and glasses to her face, likely to avoid being stared at as she walked through several groups of men, who were staring, nonetheless.

Ian did not care to figure out what the trio was discussing, he shouted out to Mina, whose shoulders slumped forward before she waved to both men. She sluggishly made her way to the person who had called her, and she turned to look at the men she was walking away from several times, as if it were the last time she was going to see them. Her actions triggered Ian into grabbing her upper arm and pulling her along like a spoiled child.

Mina did not fight or protest, she just let herself be pulled all the way to the parking level and when Ian opened the car door for her, she sat in the front seat and crossed her arms in discontent. Ian really found everything about Mina adorable, but he was too annoyed by her to smile and he wanted to show her that he was in control, not her.

Ian got into the driver side seat and drove to the car lift that would put him and Mina back in front of the facility. This time, Mina closed her eyes when the car was enveloped by darkness, but he could hear her breathing quicken as if she were uncomfortable. Most of the ride to follow was spent in silence and while Mina was probably relishing in it, Ian was stewing in it.

"Why do you always lie to me?" He asked and Mina pretended not to hear him. "I'm talking to you," he said through gritted teeth.

"President Lee, do I have to listen to you? As you have said, this is a business arrangement. I haven't forgotten that." Ian felt his temper flare as Mina shot his words back at him. He had said them carelessly, but she had said them deliberately.

In anger, President Lee stopped the car and ordered Mina out. She opened her mouth to ask where she was supposed to go, but before she could finish the sentence, Ian shouted for her to get out again. Mina opened the car door, letting out insulting words that Ian had never heard before, and he could only gather their meaning based on the way they were spoken.

Mina put one foot out the door and with her left arm she tried to use her forearm to smash President Lee's nose, but he caught the hand and while they were struggling, Mina used her right hand to snatch the key from the ignition. She tried to get out of the car, but Ian grabbed onto her hoodie, while he fumbled with his safety belt. His hands lost its grip and Mina bolted out of the car and down the road.

President Lee now understood how Dom had lost Mina back then. In the short amount of time it took him to unjam his seatbelt, which had jammed when he tried to reach for Mina, she had put a huge gap between them, and in her black tracksuit, she was almost invisible in the dark. Ian got out of the car and began chasing Mina, and when he caught up to her enough for her to notice, she stopped and launched his car keys as far as she could into the brush on the side of the freeway.

"Mina what the hell?" He asked.

"If I have to be stuck out here, so do you." Mina started to walk away from the man, who did not follow behind her. Instead, he pulled out his phone, opened an app, and pressed a button. Like magic, his car reversed to within a few feet of him, and Mina turned to scoff at the display.

Mina kept walking back toward where they had driven from, mentally calculating that the twenty minutes they had driven would translate into a roughly three-hour walk, which would be made more difficult in the cold, but it was not like she had not done it before, and at least this time, she had eaten.

The pair split ways, and President Lee drove off leaving Mina in near complete darkness on the road. She did not allow it to deter her, and kept mostly to the overgrowth, trying to stay out of the way of passing vehicles. The thought of being picked up by a stranger frightened Mina, so under the cover of the night, she turned her pants and hoodie inside out, masking the silver sequin embellishments.

Soon enough, Mina could hear the sound of a vehicle approaching from behind her, and to her dismay, the car slowed. She did not bother to turn around, she bolted into the darkness, hoping to dart into the overgrown grass as soon as she made it past the metal guardrails that were blocking her way.

As Mina ran, she could hear the footsteps of someone behind her, and adrenaline pushed her to run faster. The headlights from a different car soon appeared and Mina darted into the vehicle's path, hoping to be struck and hopefully killed, but the person behind her tackled her and the person driving had reacted in time to come to a complete stop before even coming close to her.

Mina fought hard against the person who she now knew was President Lee based on his scent alone. She tried to target his weak spots, but it was if the man had none. He ignored all of her slaps, kicks and even bites, as he pulled her back to her feet.

"Let go of me!" Mina shouted, but President Lee ignored her. At the same time, the person who had been driving the car Mina tried to run into got out and asked if everything was okay, but President Lee shot the woman a look so sinister, she literally backed up, got into her car and drove away, leaving Mina alone with the tyrant.

"What were you just trying to do?"