Chapter 539: 'The Excess' Seller

Ian did not need to be put under to have his injury opened and re-stitched, but he was given a strong pain killer that had made him drowsy. He was resting in a room with Zane when a nurse came to tell him that Mina had woken. Zane was having an adverse reaction to something he was given at the public hospital and was barely able to move without becoming dizzy.

"Tell Mina I'll come see her when the room isn't spinning." Ian chuckled at his friend, feeling his head throb from the pressure of laughing. He started walking to the room that Mina had spent far too much time in for his liking and stilled when he neared the door.

"Doctor Witt, please be gentle."

"I am being gentle. It is just tight. It's going to hurt especially the first time."

"It's not the first time. President Lee- Ouch! I told you not to push so hard."

"Can you stop being dramatic? If you relax-" Doctor Witt was cut off by the door being pushed open. Mina jumped, taking in the gun in President Lee's hands before her eyes bulged.

"Did I do something wrong? Is someone here? Is something happening?" She shot her questions in rapid succession and Ian felt guilty for misinterpreting what he was hearing. He looked at Jeremy, whose face was contorting and shifting into various expressions, before settling on a cheeky grin. Caught, Ian was forced to lie.

"Nothing is wrong, I was just going to give you my gun to shoot him since he can't seem to listen." Mina winced, and Ian realized they had not spoken about the man she shot. He stepped into the room, pushing Jeremy aside asking for permission with his eyes to take over where the man had left off. Mina nodded and Ian began to slowly unwrap the bandage, making sure to pay attention to how tightly her fists were clenched as he did. "You didn't kill him."

"He's alive?"

"Barely." Mina was distracted by the conversation, but Doctor Witt brought her back to the present by clearing his throat loudly.

"I'll have a nurse come and give you a clean bandage. There is not much swelling, which is good considering the butchery that was done to you. No shower for two days. Later in the week I will reassess where you are in recovery. You aren't ready for PT, but I advise you to at least flex your ankle, but avoid anything that puts too much pressure on your stitches." Mina loved the way Doctor Witt spoke. There was no hidden meaning in his words. Everything was straightforward and she wished all people could be the same. She nodded at the man, who left with a wide grin.

President Lee was also about to leave, but Mina stopped him by asking if she could use his phone. Ian did not even question her as he handed her his device. He watched Mina dial her parents' number; like her, he had memorized it.

"Hello?"

"Daddy."

"Goodness Mina, what is going on? Your uncle called me a few days ago saying you had been shot while filming. Tell me it's a publicity stunt." Mina's mother must have heard her husband speaking because her voice was soon blaring through the speaker.

"Mommy, I am fine. There was an accident, but I cannot really talk about it until we know what went wrong. The movie has been cancelled, so you do not have to worry. Did you get the money I sent?"

"We did, half went to your uncle, and the other half toward household expenses, but Mina, where are you getting this money from? I hope you aren't doing illegal things again." Mina fumbled with the phone, trying to lower the volume, but President Lee's eyes were already narrowed at her.

"I am not."

"Okay young lady, but if another officer comes knocking at my door asking for you, I'm turning you in." Mina stared at President Lee, who shook his head indicating to her that he had nothing to do with police at her family home.

"Daddy, Mommy, I have to go back to work, but please call me sometime." Mina ended the call, once again singing 'I love you' to her parents, but Ian had only just realized it was not as loving as it had first appeared. It was an assurance, not a declaration.

"Want to tell me what your mother was talking about or should I give you time?" Mina's brow furrowed, but she could not even move her leg, so running was not an option.

"I kind of stole to support my hobby."

"From?"

"Your uncle." Ian made a disbelieving face, but Mina was just staring at him.

"How? And how are you still alive?"

"I didn't openly take things, but Dr. Sancho used to let me help with inventory and I would kind of skew the numbers then sell the excess." The healthy child initiative was not just focused on children. It was also aimed at pleasing poor parents by providing otherwise inaccessible medical treatment to the parents of the participants.

"You were a drug dealer?"

"No, nothing like that." Mina thought for a second, and realized, she absolutely was a drug dealer. A twelve-year-old drug dealer.

"Who did you sell it to?"

"A lot of the elderly people at the community center had arthritis. I mostly sold to their children, who were buying it to make their parents comfortable. I had to stop when I realized that one of the men who used to buy from me was not giving the medicine to his mother, he was taking it himself. When I refused to sell to him, he called the police on me."

"I am assuming they didn't believe that a little girl was a drug dealer." Mina nodded. "But your parents knew?"

"They didn't know, but they had their suspicions. Sadie was the contact-" Mina stopped speaking and sank into the bed.

"You just realized how bad what you are telling me sounds." She covered her face in shame and President Lee laughed at her. "Anything else I should know?"

"I'm not even sure I want to tell you." She heard the man snort before sighing and standing up to leave.

"I'll come back for my phone in an hour. If someone calls, have a nurse find me."

----

Mina had finished eating the blandest food she had ever tasted, but her diet was being regulated by Doctor Witt, who claimed it would aid in her recovery. She had called her friends to let them know she was okay and was relieved to hear that Olivia and Willow had work scheduled in the country and would be staying for a month. The apartment that President Cameron bought on her behalf had five bedrooms, so the women had a safe place to stay.

Olivia was the most concerned, because she believed her uncle was the only person who would sabotage a film set by switching out props for real guns, but Mina was quick to calm her suspicions by telling her that they had already caught the person. It helped to relieve Olivia, but the woman was still uncharacteristically emotional, which made Mina worry about her mental state.

Mina was not the only one who felt that way because when Olivia handed over the phone, Willow apologized and told her that Olivia had been under a lot of work-related stress. Having a nearly completed project moved to Pan at the last minute had made Olivia an emotional wreck as she struggled to regroup.

Mina was no fool, and she knew that if whatever Olivia was working on had been spontaneously moved across the country, it was likely Cylus' doing, but thinking about it, Cylus did not have the ability to change filming locations of a production in which he was not involved. That could only mean that someone from the Lee family had done it, which in turn meant they had a reason.