Chapter 391: Actress-1

Mina went to bed that night completely content in the fact that she was no longer as poor as she was the day before, and she would not die the way she was born. Anything that happened after she passed the plane of the living, would not be her problem, because by then it would truly be out of her control. Her mind was so busy working on the hundreds of scenarios that could occur over the next few weeks, that she found herself tossing and turning.

Unable to sleep, Mina texted Cylus, who responded to her text by calling her. She was unaware, but an 'are you awake?' text meant something completely different for men and women and she had nearly given Cylus a heart attack. The man was already putting on his shoes when Mina answered his call, but his excitement dulled when he realized, she just wanted to talk.

Mina and Cylus spoke openly, and she apologized for ignoring him when he came to visit. Likewise, Cylus apologized for not making her a priority, but Mina once again told him that he made the right call. She was not lying when she said those things to Cylus. There was no person in the world that she would place before her family, and Mina believed that everyone should hold the same values.

At the end of the conversation, Mina had agreed to meet Cylus for a photoshoot. She told the man that she wanted to get them out of the way to avoid feeling weighed down by the commitment. Cylus understood her words as her wanting to end contact between the two of them, which he was more than willing to do if that was what she chose, but not without at least trying to win her over one last time.

With a yawn, Mina bid goodnight to Cylus, but before he hung up, she once again thanked him for looking out for her despite owing her nothing. The statement confused the man, who had at first felt as though Mina was trying to place distance between them. He wondered if the events of the day were too much for the woman, who thanks to a friend in the Lee Group Cyber Academy, was once again a trending topic as footage of her kicking off her shoes and running was leaked.

The person who leaked the footage intended to embarrass Mina, but that person had been unaware that they were once again thrusting the woman into the spotlight. This time as some sort of sexy crime fighter.

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Mina awoke to almost fifty text messages and twenty missed calls. She had even been called by AccuVision, who she promptly called back, hoping they were not cancelling on her. The new quarter was just a week away and she was certain she would be able to shoot whatever commercial they wanted and get paid for it before President Lee got rid of her.

As Mina tried to scroll through the messages that had amassed while she slept, a call came in from the devil himself. She answered it, not wanting the man to suspect her, and he shot her what seemed like a million questions as greeting but only one statement stood out to her.

"If you are planning to extend the time on your contract with Director Porter, don't. You will not be able to meet your commitments." Mina wrongly assumed the man was referring to the timeline in which he planned to kill her, so she asked him for a date.

"How much time do I have to tie up loose ends?"

"Maybe two months. I will allow you to reap the benefits from the role you played in that web series, but after that you are finished." Mina felt relieved with an actual time frame in mind.

"Can I see my parents before then?" Mina asked, only to be met with silence. After a long pause she gave up the idea. "Never mind, I can always write them a letter. Thank you for giving me a heads up." Mina ended the call and continued to scroll through her phone, giggling at the nonsense people could dream up when they were bored.

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Lisa felt nothing but shock seeing how her plan to devalue Mina had resulted in the woman once again going viral. She could not understand how Cylus had found out in time to save Mina, but she knew it was him, because he had added Antonio Sylvan to his list of VVIPs for the event's opening ceremony.

Lisa found herself afraid that Cylus would find out about her part in what happened to Mina, even though she had made sure to cover her tracks well. She had not spoken to the man herself, instead she let the greedy behavior of the entertainment industry do its magic by wagging her tongue in the ladies room, fully aware that the word would spread rapidly.

What Lisa did not know was that an aspiring mistress of Mr. Sylvan was in the restroom while she was speaking, and that woman took the information straight to the man, with Lisa's name included.

Lisa was tempted to throw her phone, but she had learned her lesson the last time, as it took her weeks to finally get Ian's number back. Instead, she refocused herself into the organization of the ceremony. With her sister-in-law's due date approaching, it left most of the leg work up to Lisa, while Charlotte did what she could from the comfort of her bed, and Cylus and Shai worked on the guest list.

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Mina had only just finished calling all the people who she had missed calls from, and almost everyone had a positive reaction. After she explained the situation to them, AccuVision thought that the video of her kicking off her heels and running fit the theme for their next commercial, and to anyone who was not at the gala, it would appear as though the incident was planned.

With two months left to prepare, Mina did not mind the commercial hero-spy theme, and the money she would earn from it would be a significant help toward her end goal. Once the contract details were settled, Mina signed an electronic copy and sent it back to the company who agreed to pay her upfront, no later than three days before the shoot.

The agreement gave Mina time to sink the money into a retirement for her parents before President Lee could try and take it from her. She was well aware that the man was trying to limit the amount of income she received, and she believed it was why he had tried to sabotage her name. He, like Miss Maggie, did not want to see her succeed, which was petty coming from a man powerful enough to feel comfortable with keeping her held hostage for weeks.

Using the device that Emma had bought for her instead of the phone that president Lee gave her, Mina called her parents back. She knew that they never called unless something was wrong, and she prepared herself for the worst. Mina's mother answered the phone, and her father was busy getting ready for work. The woman skipped any sort of greeting and went straight to the point.

"I saw you on television at the community center. Are you an actress now? I hope that is what you want to be doing."