Chapter 594: Men with Money

Ian waited for Mina to return to his mansion, but after midnight, it became clear that she was going to spend the evening with her friends. Drax had called and told him that Mills was also staying at the apartment, which told Ian that the woman did not feel comfortable leaving without Mina.

Ian was aware that since Drax and Mills had gotten back together, she rarely stepped out of the Staton home for longer than she needed to; so, for her to sleep outside of the home was serious. He also knew from conversations with Mina that she often cooked for her friends, so he made the arrangements for breakfast to be sent to the apartment before he too went to bed.

In the morning, Ian's meal was interrupted by CEO Rue, who had shown up at his home looking for Mina. The man appeared distressed, and it was evident that he had not slept. In a way, seeing Cylus in an agitated state made Ian feel good because it meant that he did not know where Mina could be found, which in turn meant that their relationship was still fractured.

"I do not know where Mina is," Ian lied. "Also, stay away from my property. If she wanted you to know where she was, she would have called." Cylus was not even fazed by the warning, which irritated Ian.

"Do you really think I believe you don't know where she is when you are this calm?" The man paused before taking a step closer. "I know things, and I know that if Mina is truly missing, then you arranged it." Ian smirked at the man.

"What you think you know is irrelevant. Mina isn't home." Ian made sure to use the word 'home' because he knew it would irritate Cylus, who he still disliked as a rival for Mina's affection. In his mind, the man had come between him and Mina too many times.

"President Lee, we don't have to like one another, but please understand that my cousin is closely linked to Mina, if something goes wrong with one of the women, it will likely affect them both." Ian wished he could feel pity for the man, but he knew that it was Cylus who had made the move to push Olivia Kent out of the Rue family, so anything bad that happened to her was his fault and his alone.

"Is that not the woman your family officially disowned?" Cylus narrowed his eyes but seeing that President Lee was not going to give him the information he wanted, he settled for stating his piece and leaving.

"Can you at least have her call me when she returns?"

"No," Ian replied coldly. "Now leave before my patience with you ends." Cylus sighed as he left the Lee mansion.

There were many things that the Lee family were capable of, and Cylus had let himself forget how ruthless they could be because he was angered on behalf of Lisa, then he became smitten by the innocent Mina. However, after his father had pressed the woman financially, things had started to go wrong for the Rue family, and Cylus knew who was responsible.

Songs that had been guided by Mina either flopped or were pulled from the radio, the copyright for the song she had written with C. Lu had been held up in the courts since the application was submitted, and a cease-and-desist order had been sent to Rouge by Mina's 'attorneys.'

Although he did not have proof, Cylus knew it was the work of President Ian Lee, and he also knew it was a warning, not an actual show of power. The truth was that the man's fondness of Mina was all that was protecting Cylus and his family, and that was most likely because anything that happened to the Rue family would first hurt Olivia, and ultimately Mina's friends.

----

Mina awoke to Olivia's excited voice. The woman looked like a child who had just gotten exactly what they asked for, and it made Mina happy. It had been a long time since she had seen Olivia smile with genuine delight on her face, and she had forgotten how carefree the girl used to be.

"Is the baby moving?" Mina asked, reaching out to rub Olivia's bump that seemed to have grown slightly. "Wow, he's really growing isn't he?" Olivia pulled Mina up and forced the woman to follow her into the kitchen where Mills, Jay, Emma, and Dom were cheerfully sorting through a giant breakfast spread. "Who sent all of this?" Mina glanced at some of the dishes, noticing that they were all her favorite things to eat in the morning.

"Don't worry, it's fully vetted. President Lee sent it," Mills replied. Mina's shoulders relaxed as Olivia pushed a plate into her hands.

"I think he likes you," the woman said with excitement in her eyes, but Mina shook her head.

"It's nothing like that. President Lee does not do things without a reason. This is just his way of reminding me that we have two important meetings today." Olivia's smile faltered as she considered Mina's explanation.

"This seems like a lot of work for a reminder."

"Did he cook these things himself?" Jay asked, she too did not find the gesture romantic. To her, it was just a rich person showing off how rich he was. "President Lee has money; this is nothing for him." Mina nodded as she stabbed a sausage with her fork.

"Exactly."

"I don't know Jay," Emma said. "I don't think he would do this for just anyone."

"I think he would. I read in a gossip column that he took a prostitute to a luxury hotel and let her order as much as she wanted. Men with money do odd things." Emma shrugged, accepting defeat while Mills and Dom remained silent. They both knew that their boss liked Mina in a romantic way, but they had been asked not to tell the woman.

For reasons unknown, President Lee did not want anyone to tell Mina that he liked her. He claimed to want her to figure it out on her own, saying that she would have a negative reaction if the information was revealed in the wrong way. Mills did not at first understand why, but the more she got to know Mina, the more she realized that the woman was romantically dense on top of having an overall negative opinion of men.

"That doesn't stop the food from being good," Mina said with a smile. "Dom, can you send a thank you text for me?"

"Where is your phone?" The man asked.

"I lost it somewhere in my old neighborhood. I'll get another one today." Mills flicked a piece of bread at Mina, who made a confused face. "What?" she asked, looking innocent although Mills knew she was lying.

"You lost your phone?" Mina nodded and Mills threw another piece of bread at her.

"Stop wasting," Olivia said as she took the bread bowl away from Mills and put it in the fridge. "Bread is one of the few things I can eat when you and Mina aren't around." Mills was not even paying attention to Olivia. She stared down Mina who was doing her best to maintain her confused expression.

"Cut the sh*t Mina. Saying you lost your phone will work with everyone in this room except me and Mills."

"What now?" Jay said, her mouth full of a little of everything. "She said she lost her phone. What's the problem with that?" Surprisingly, it was Emma who answered.

"Because anyone who found the phone would by now know who it belonged to or at least have an idea based solely on the screen saver. They would have already sold it and all of Mina's personal photos would already be available online." Jay tilted her head in confusion.

"Why lie?" she asked, and Mina's shoulders slumped.

"Because someone took it from her, and she doesn't want us to know who."

"Mina?" Olivia asked, worry creeping into her voice. "Was it Cylus or my uncle?" Mina shook her head, searching for a lie close enough to the truth.

"A taxi driver took it before forcing me out of his car."

----

Ian did not expect a thank you from Mina to come from Dom's number, and as soon as it did, he knew that he needed to get the woman alone. He wanted to question her about how and why she ended up in a part of town that he knew she would only visit out of desperation.

Already having received the background information regarding Brayden Thomas, Ian knew that the man likely had nothing to do with Mina's predicament, and other men in Mina's life were equally as clean. He had even investigated Lisa, who had dropped from the radar by leaving the country. Luna was also in the clear, and although he knew that his sister was against the idea of him and Mina being anything more than friends, Ian also knew that she had learned her lesson about jumping to conclusions.

Jacqueline Euro, who owned the restaurant from which Mina 'stole' food from, was Ian's prime suspect, but she was, as Ellie had said, conducting interviews in her restaurant during the time Mina was being accosted, and unless the woman was more capable than she was letting on, she was not the person Ian was looking for. That left Cylus Rue's father, the person who had tried to have Mina killed or the person who tried to blackmail her parents.

Ian found it difficult to settle behind his desk; he hated how empty his study felt. Usually, he and Mina shared breakfast or at least coffee over work, and while they barely spoke to one another, he found that he enjoyed having her nearby. Ian found himself growing more upset with whoever had taken the small piece of happiness from him, even though he knew it was an emotion shared by him alone.

Picking up his phone, Ian called Ellie, who was in the process of making Mrs. Euro a very miserable person. With Cam's help, they were able to gain access to the woman's tax information from around the time Mina 'stole' from her. She paid practically nothing by writing off her husband's gambling losses and earnings, a very vague practice that people generally did not do unless they knew how to avoid an audit.