Chapter 574: Family Plans

Drax could only stare at Mina and Milo wrapped in each other's arms. He knew the man was behaving oddly after catching Cala and Cade together, but he had not expected the man and Mina to take comfort in one another. There was also the fact that his fiancé was trying hard to force a connection between the pair.

Drax felt like he should have guessed that something would eventually happen between the two. Every time Mina came to visit, she made it a point to drop in with Milo, and now, he was starting to think that it was because she had developed feelings for the man.

"Mills… wait."

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! Didn't I tell you Draxy? I told you they would eventually see how perfect they are for one another."

"Mills…"

"Oh, this is so great. I am going to be an aunty!"

"Mills!"

"What?! The woman shouted back at Milo.

"Mina is a pretty girl but-"

"Milo, it's okay. I don't mean to put pressure on you two, but can you imagine how beautiful your children will be? Will they have eyes like ours or Mina's? Will you have twins?" Mills was absolutely beside herself in glee and Mina was shocked into silence. She knew that Mills wanted her to date Milo, but she was already making family plans based on a misunderstanding.

"Who is having twins? Adir asked. He was coming toward the library with Ian, and Drax stiffened.

"Mina and Milo," Mills said excitedly. Adir could have sworn that he saw Ian nearly miss a step with the statement, but the man did not speak.

"Mina is pregnant?" Adir questioned. There was a hint of worry in his tone, mostly for the sake of Milo, who he was certain would not survive.

"No. Not yet anyway."

"Mills," Drax grunted out. "Stop it." The woman rolled her eyes.

"Are you ready to go Mina?" Ian asked, and the woman bolted to his side. She could not even make eye contact with anyone and Ian tried his best to suppress his jealousy. He really had no claim to her, and he did not mind if she dated, but not Milo.

Once in his car, Ian forced back his discomfort and asked Mina if she enjoyed seeing her friends, but she ignored his question and asked one of her own.

"President Lee, can I start working with Willow and Olivia?" Ian swerved on the road, but it was not noticeable to the woman, whose eyes were focused on her feet.

"Why? You want to go back to acting?"

"No, I actually want to use your family name to help them out a bit." Ian was caught off guard, but when he recovered, he denied Mina's request.

"If you want to work with them, I cannot stop you, but you cannot use my family name."

"Fair," Mina replied.

"Also, I have been thinking. We have been going about the embezzling at your company all wrong. I am crippled without the original spread, and it could literally be anyone with access to the forms, but my theory makes more sense."

"The truck theory? Mina, we have trackers installed on our trucks. When they stop, we know." Mina shook her head.

"You really need to hire a few people from my hometown, because I am telling you that does not matter. They need thirty seconds max for small items, and maybe two minutes for large ones."

"Mina, it would take at least six men to lift a convertor."

"Or four desperate men. Listen president Lee, I know it isn't the same, but I run faster when I am scared." Ian knew that Mina was talking about an adrenaline boost.

"So, what do you suggest? If I suddenly put cameras in my trucks, people will catch on."

"That wouldn't work anyway. Any half decent thief would use a signal jammer to scramble the camera's image output."

"Mina, who are you? Really?" The woman laughed and Ian found himself smiling. In the past, she would have been made nervous, but she was not as afraid of him anymore, and while she still did sneaky things behind his back, she was not exactly hiding it.

"Do you remember the children I was with in Bal?" Ian made a noise of confirmation. "They ran that little stand by themselves."

"What does that have to do with you?" Mina chuckled.

"I am saying that being poor can bring out the best and the worst in a person. For me, making money was always my end goal and I did many things to get it. I also learned many things from my experiences."

"Like?"

"The biggest lesson I learned is that if it seems too good to be true, it is." Mina shifted her body closer to the passenger door before leaning against it.

"She came back for you, you know?" Mina's head snapped in Ian's direction. "The Adley woman; she came back for you, but my men did not let her pass."

"Why are you only telling me this now?"

"I didn't think it would matter."

"Of course it matters. It means that she didn't set me up to be ra-" Mina stopped herself from continuing, something Ian was grateful for. "It means she didn't know what was going to happen in that room." Ian did not like how Mina phrased her response, because even though she had not used the word, she had implied it.

"What are your plans for the day?"

"Shower, change, and work. Why?"

"I need you to make a stop with me first."

----

Mina awkwardly waved at Dr. Bell. She had not seen the man in a long time, and she had never gotten to apologize for using his name to rile up Miss Luna.

"President Lee, Mina; what can I help you with?" Mina looked around Dr. Bell's office and found it irritatingly messy. "I don't spend much time here," the man said, reading Mina's expression.

"Dr. Bell, I want you to tell Mina what you are working on for me."

"Is this some sort of test?" The man asked, and Mina giggled. She too felt like she was being tested, but she had been trying hard to trust President Lee.

"No. You were given two blood samples when your research started. One from a man, and the other from a woman. I am the man, and..." Dr. Bell gasped. He did not need President Lee to finish his sentence. He pulled out a notepad and began rambling off questions that Mina felt uncomfortable answering.

"Can someone please explain to me what is going on?"

"Of course, sorry. I should have started there." Doctor Bell stood up and gestured for Mina to follow him. He showed her a screen that contained what looked like a chemical structure. "I can pretty much determine the effects this compound has on men from speaking with President Lee, but we haven't reached human trials, so..."

"What human trials?" Mina backed away from Doctor Bell. President Lee tried to reach out for her, but she pushed his hand away.

"You told me that you didn't have anything to do with drugging me." Tavin's worried expression turned into one of disgust. He had spoken to President Lee about what had occurred, with little information withheld. He had assumed the woman was Miss Lisa, so he believed she was complicit, but now that he knew it was Mina, and seeing the look on her face, he realized that she was unwilling.

"Mina, please listen to me. I did not bring you here to fight. I want you to tell Dr. Bell everything you remember from that night and anything else he needs to know. I should have done this sooner, but I wanted to respect your privacy."

"Then why did you bring me here without telling me what I was coming for? If you wanted to respect my privacy, I could have talked to him over the phone."

"Do you not remember?" Doctor Bell asked and Mina shook her head.

"I only remember feeling uncomfortable, almost as if I were in a dream, and then I remember waking up."