Chapter 373: Tampered Medicine

Mina sat across from Willow at a local eatery and unlike the many other times in her life, it felt good that she was able to afford anything she wanted. Not that she planned to buy the most expensive dish, but she did not feel pressed to scan the side options looking for anything that was less than five dollars.

At first, the women made small talk, each one running through their schedule for the day, then rounding the conversation up when they realized they were both too busy to meet until the weekend. Mina managed to invite Willow to Connor Boyd's birthday party without specifically saying it was Connor's birthday party. She described it as Olivia had done.

"It's an overnight retreat for people in the entertainment field. You'll need three days' worth of camping clothing." Mina was sure to leave out the parts where Olivia mocked the event as a yearly contest for whose surgeon is the best.

"Mina I've been meaning to ask you about that. I saw your commercial, I did not like it, it is not you. How did you get into acting?" Mina knew this was going to come up, but she did not know Willow would have been worried about it. It felt good to have someone near her that knew how out of character that advertisement was.

"I had been unemployed for two years; my savings were nearly depleted, and the opportunity arose. I took it because I had to, I didn't expect the job I have now to follow." Mina was careful not to tell Willow that she was signed with Rouge Entertainment; she knew it would raise her friend's suspicion.

"Why do I feel like you've become more secretive?" Willow asked. Sensing that Mina was giving her vague answers. "And why haven't you been keeping our phone appointments?"

"I was unable to break from my restraints," Mina said with a sarcastic chuckle. She meant that figuratively and literally. Even after she got her phone back, she had been afraid to call anyone close to her, and that included her parents.

"Working for the Lee group must be hard." Willow was trying to subtly bring up President Lee. She had promised the man that she would drop a few good words for him, and that was only because after talking to him for over an hour, he did not lose interest once.

"President Lee is a difficult man to understand. I don't even think his girlfriend knows who he really is." Willow put her teacup down with a loud clunk.

"His what?" She asked, the man had failed to mention a girlfriend during their lengthy discussion.

"Oh gosh, did he try anything with you?" Mina asked, seeing her friend's perplexed expression. Willow shook her head; she had really put her foot in her mouth thinking President Lee was single. Now she felt as though she knew why Mina was distant from the man.

"I guess I'm not surprised. Men who are that rich have a high turnover rate."

"Not him. He has been with her for ten years, but I don't think he respects the relationship," Mina said. 'or any other woman,' she thought.

"Is that why you are so uncomfortable around him? I wish I would have known sooner. I wouldn't have told him all those cute stories." Mina glared at her friend.

"You and Ash are the only ones who think my embarrassing stories are cute."

"Mina, you really changed. You seem so much more…" Willow didn't complete the sentence because she knew that her friend was teased using that word while in Wayvair.

"Human?" Mina asked. "This is who I have always been. I'm just more comfortable with it." Willow stared at her friend, who let just a touch of unhappiness show through her smile. Mina had always been that way, hiding away her emotions as if they could hurt the people around her.

----

Kace gently knocked at his sister's door, she had been avoiding him since her ordeal, and then she shut herself in after what he could only assume was a bad meeting at the Lee group. He found his sister reading a book in her bed, not at all depressed like he thought she was.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Why did you do it?" Lisa retorted. Kace was taken aback. He believed that his sister had found him out about the kidnapping.

"Lisa, you need to let go of that man. He doesn't-"

"So, you poison me?" Lisa shouted. She had been waiting for her brother to come clean about his deed, but she did not expect him to wait so long before reaching out.

"What poison? Are you okay?" Kace asked while grabbing his sister's shoulders. She was startled by his reaction.

"Are you going to tell me you didn't replace my supplements with birth control?" Lisa reached into her top draw and pulled out the pills she had gotten from her doctor. Kace snatched the bottle out of her hands.

"Where did you get this? Who prescribed it to you?" He asked, and Lisa became worried. She was sure it had been her brother who tampered with her belongings.

"It was mom's doctor-"

"Decadic?" Lisa nodded. "Dr. Decadic died of a heart attack last year. There is no way you saw her."

"I saw her daught-"

"Lisa, she had no children. Do you not pay attention to things unless they have to do with that man who's been running around f*cking everyone then crawling back into bed with you?" Lisa lifted her hand and slapped her brother's face. He took a deep breath and calmed himself.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped, but regardless of if you acknowledge it or not, you are still my sister, and as the head of household I am responsible for you."

"Why would anyone want to feed me birth control?" Lisa asked, seeing that her brother was no longer worked up and feeling guilty for having slapped a man who was more than five years her Senior.

"If I tell you who I think it might be, you will slap me again," he replied. Still sitting at the edge of his sister's bed.

"It's not him," Lisa said. "And I am not just saying this for his benefit.

"Lisa, I understand that you love-"

"No. It is not that I do not think he would, but he would not do it secretly. Ian has never been a patient person."

"And why were you taking a fertility supplement?" Kace was familiar with the plastic bottle because after his wife suffered a miscarriage, she had been prescribed the same one. Only Lisa claimed that hers had been tampered with. Lisa looked up at her brother with guilt in her eyes.

"I know it was stupid, but I'm telling you it wasn't him."

"That woman who lives with him, could it have been her?" Lisa shook her head.

"It's not her. I was already taking these before we even laid eyes on one another." Kace was surprised to have his sister tell the truth about Mina.

"I will leave you to think about it, in the meantime I want you to see the doctor with me immediately."

"No need, Ian already took me. If it were not for him, I would never have known. I have another appointment in a months' time." Silently, Kace stood up and left Lisa's room. Without telling anyone where he was going, he made his way straight to the Lee building.