Chapter 468: More Liked

As Mina spoke, she only made eye contact with Mills, who held her hand the entire time. The first names she was using in the story meant nothing, and they could tell she was not giving them the complete information on purpose. Not wanting to push her too much, Ian asked Mills to take Mina back to her room, but Mina had one last thing to say before she left.

"Please President Lee, don't resurface the issue. I am telling you this in confidence, because I don't want to see Lisa get in trouble, but I also do not believe that Ren had anything to do with what happened that night."

"I agree, if he wanted you for himself, he would have never given you something that could have potentially worked against him. I won't pursue the matter," 'for now' Ian thought. "but the problem is that Lisa is still the prime suspect."

"What if I talk to your cousin on Lisa's behalf?" Mina was shut down in a way that made her feel like President Lee was belittling her.

"It was just a suggestion," she replied with her head down.

"A dumb one. If Cameron cared about your opinion, he would ask you himself." Mina glared at President Lee, who she was once again reminded was a vicious person. She stormed out of his study, and Mills shook her head, repeating the caged bird phrase that she had said to him the night before.

"What the hell was that about?" Drax asked.

"It's been this way from the beginning with them. He still doesn't know how to talk to her, and it's been months."

"What should I have said? 'Mina I would rather you not talk to my cousin because I am jealous?' Would that have been better?" Drax and Zane looked at each other before simultaneously shouting 'yes!' "I think you guys are forgetting how Mina and I met."

"I have been meaning to ask about that, because I have always been under the impression that Lisa was your girlfriend, but what I have been reading about you in the last few weeks, suggests that she nor Mina mean anything." Ian tilted his head to the side, as if only for the first time realizing what Mina must think of him. He decided to skip the topic and tell Drax what he was waiting to know.

"This stays between us, Cameron knows a little, but I would prefer if Mills did not." Drax promised because he could see how serious Ian was. Zane shut the door and Ian went into detail, though not graphic. "Mina was set up by someone. They sent her into my hotel room with no clear aim. She was desperate at the time, and she thought all she had to do was take my photo."

"In the shower," Zane added. Drax looked at Ian perplexed.

"So, you took her home?" Ian shot Drax a glare, but he did not have to speak because Zane did.

"Didn't Mills try to kill you both?"

"That is true. Anyway continue."

"To make a long story short, we were drugged, I told a few romantic lies, and I took her virginity." Drax made a face.

"Is that all?" he asked, but once again Zane cut in.

"Oh no, Ian is leaving out crucial details. He didn't just take that from her, he hospitalized her, kept her in an interrogation room for weeks, starved her while simultaneously poisoning her, and made her believe he was going to kill her and her family if she didn't just allow him to treat her like trash."

"Are you finished?" Ian asked, but Zane shook his head.

"Not quite."

"Ian humiliated her on multiple occasions, made sure she had no form of communication with the outside world, accused her many times of sleeping around, almost caused her to be violated; again, and before you and Mills showed up, he had her locked in this house for days." Ian shot to his feet and screamed in Zane's direction.

"What is your point in bringing all of that up?" Ian was so angry with his friend that he was struggling not to hit the man.

"Because I can tell that Drax and Mills have been trying to push you and Mina together, and I don't want to see her hurt again."

"She isn't yours to protect," Ian shouted.

"Nor is she yours." Drax did not know where to interrupt, because it seemed like the argument he was witnessing had been a long time coming, and it was obvious that Zane had some feelings involved.

"So is Lisa your girlfriend or not?" Drax asked. That was all he wanted to know in the first place, but he was grateful for the added details. He was almost positive that Mills was trying to play matchmaker, and he would have to find a way to stop her.

"She thinks she is, and when I tried to break things off with her, she threatened to kill herself. I don't want to see anything bad happen to Lisa because of me."

"Then it's settled," Drax said. "You like Lisa more. It's obvious from your speech."

"What are you talking about?"

"You just said you don't want to see Lisa hurt because of you, but from what Zane told me, and from what I just witnessed; you don't mind hurting Mina at all. Your decision is clear even if you don't see it."

"That does not mean anything," Ian added, a little annoyed by the two men.

"Why don't we ask the women what they think?"

"Let's do that," Zane replied, already opening the door, and shouting for Mina and Mills to come back, completely ignoring the menacing glances that Ian was casting.

"Ladies, now that we finished handling your issue. I was wondering if you could help us with something."

"Like what?" She replied fearfully.

"Relax, I just need your opinion on a debate we were having with an old friend, and since you have a lot of men who like you, I thought you would be the best person to ask." Mina's face turned red, but she could not dispute Zane's words.

"What do you want to know?"

"Imagine there are two women. One I have known for years and the other I just met. I really like the one I just met, and if she would give me a chance, I would be with her, but I cannot because I do not want to hurt my old friend. Which friend do I like more?" Mina wore a blank expression, but Mills answered exactly the way Drax had done.

"Not necessarily," Mina said. "There is not enough information in that story." Zane was shocked by Mina, but thinking about it he should not have been.

"What information do you need?"

"Well what sort of people are these women?"

"The one I have known for years is spiteful, jealous, and manipulative, while the newer friend is kind, friendly, but also slightly manipulative." Zane used real descriptions of how he saw Mina and Lisa, because he knew Mina would never make the correlation of herself as manipulative.

"Then I will say that you like the friend that you had for longer, more. If you could look past all those personality flaws, and still care about her, then she must be special to you."

"But what if she threatened to hurt herself?" Ian blurted out, almost scaring Mina with his sudden interjection.

"Then she does not really like Zane and it will only get worse. One day it is 'if you leave, I will hurt myself,' then it will be, 'if you talk to that person,' and so on. In my opinion, it is like saying 'I don't care about my life, but because I know you do, I will use it against you.'" Mina then looked at Drax. "Could you see yourself doing that to Mills?"

"Never," Drax said, moving to stand beside Mills and scooping her into a hug.

"See." Mina pointed to the couple, and although she did not look at them, her face was already red.