Chapter 602: Heavy

Cam sat across from Mina and Ashlyn, completely convinced that neither one of them was who they claimed to be. He knew Ash had a suspicious background that was funded by an inheritance, but as for Mina, she was completely clean. He could not find anything other than what she had already told him, and even those who had nothing to gain by lying for her collaborated her stories.

Cam wanted to be angry with Ian for bringing the woman to his home, but he intuitively knew that, somehow, she would have shown up on her own regardless.

"This has nothing to do with you. Ashlyn and I have our own issues. She knows what I mean."

"I haven't a clue," Ash lied, seeing that President Cameron was being careful with his words. "I came here to ask you to help protect Mina's parents, but I was scared you wouldn't believe me, so I texted her." Cam narrowed his eyes at Ashlyn, who smirked with her eyes.

"What about my parents?" Mina asked frantically, her phone was already out, and Cam had to snatch it from her hands before she could warn the couple. "Why aren't you letting me call them? What is happening?"

"Mina, you know I wouldn't have shown up unless it were serious, but I caught word that someone was planning to poison your parents. I didn't want to worry you until I confirmed it," Ash said. Cam just stared at her, understanding that he had been played.

"President Cam?" Mina said the man's name in a pleading tone. "Can you help?"

"I don't think he can," Mills added. "It's a high-ranking political official who gave the order. Ask Ellie." Cam closed his eyes and sighed, knowing that Ash and Mills had walked him right into a trap, and he arrogantly invited them inside.

Ian knew something more was going on than what it appeared, and the scowl on Cam's face was proof enough. Ashlyn Tanner would never have gone to his cousin for help, Mills would never suggest for Mina to ask Ellie for anything, and Cam would not have kept him in the dark if he was given information involving the safety of Mina's parents.

"President Lee, can you call Ellie? Please?" Ian looked to his cousin, who subtly shook his head, and with much difficulty he denied Mina's request, but at the same time, he placated her by giving her his device so she could call her parents from a secure line.

Ian knew Mina was obsessed with the pair, and if he did not allow her to reach out to them, she would find a way to do it on her own, and if she did that, it could result in another blackmail situation. It was no secret to anyone how he felt about Mina, and seeing her name dragged through the mud was extremely frustrating to him, especially since the incident occurred just before he planned to tell his father about her.

Mina called her parents, putting the device on speaker phone. She had gotten used to President Lee wanting to hear the conversations between them, so it was not something out of the ordinary for her. Mina's father answered, but before she could even complete her greeting, the man started to shout at her.

Ian watched as Mina's shoulders slumped and she folded into herself further and further while her father accused her of embarrassing him. He accused her of driving her mother into stress induced sickness, but instead of Mina defending herself, she apologized, telling her father that she would send money for her mother to visit a doctor.

"There is no need. You haven't called us for weeks and she is already much better."

"I didn't mean to embarrass-"

"Mina, you and I both know you can afford to eat. I don't know what game you're playing, but if it's attention you're after, you've certainly got it." Ian watched tears well in Mina's eyes, but she said nothing to defend herself.

"I'm sorry daddy. It was a stupid game I was playing with my friends. I didn't think it would hurt any-"

"Do you ever think before you act?" Mina's mother said into the phone. Ian guessed the woman must have joined the conversation after hearing her husband's rant, and he wondered how and why she could say something that was the furthest thing from true, but then again, Mina did tend to behave rashly.

"Mommy, how do you feel-"

"Mina, you are slipping again. If you cannot handle living on your own, come home. Lennard is still willing to marry you. You don't have to put yourself out there like that." Mina nodded into the phone and promised her parents that she would clear up the misunderstanding. "Please do. People are starting to think we don't care about you."

"Okay, I will get things cleared up in a few days." Ian watched Mina pull out her phone and he did not even have to ask what she was doing because he already knew.

"I had some extra money, and I just sent it. Make sure you do not accept any gifts from anyone for now, and only eat food from the house. I don't want people thinking you need charity."

"That's the girl I know," her father said. "Just remember who you are sweetheart. You don't have to push yourself to extremes to impress anyone." Ian glanced over at Cam who was also staring at Mina, and as his eyes travelled around the room, he noticed that everyone wore the same expression.

Mina's parents were at her throat about being embarrassed by her actions, never once asking how she felt about the situation, and when she sent them money, they immediately changed their tune, becoming gentle. It was a kind of conditioning that Ian could tell they had used on the girl from an early age, and she was still suffering from the effects of it.

David and Anne Harlow had turned their daughter into a woman who ignored her own needs to address the needs of others because it produced the response she wanted from her parents. Her loyalty toward them had nothing to do with the fact that they were loving toward her. Mina felt obligated to take care of them, and everyone in the room could see it except her.

"Is it too late for me to disappear again?" Ash asked President Cam. She hated the way her friend was being talked to by the couple, and she regretted not allowing them to just be killed.

"Has it always been like that?" Cam replied. He did not want to entertain Ash's line of questioning because he could see how emotionally attached to the people Mina was, and he still held onto a shred of hope that Ian could get the girl to marry him.

Unlike everyone who saw her parents as cruel, Cam saw them as a tool. If Ian could impress them, then he could impress Mina. All Cam had to do was set up the opportunity for his cousin to do so, he also had to make sure that Mina stayed hidden from the eyes of the rest of the Lee family. If the money kept flowing there was little that would catch their attention, but whatever game Ian had been playing with his father's company had made some of their family members start stirring again.

When Mina handed President Lee back his phone, she simply wiped her face and walked out of the room. Only Mills followed her because Ash claimed to have seen Mina in a devastated state over her parents' words far too many times. She recalled a past incident when Mina had stayed awake all night waiting on a call from the couple that never came.

As part of the requirements of the school they graduated from, all female students had to pick up an instrument or join the choir, and Mina was chosen as one of the women who would be showcased in the school live performance. It was held yearly, and featured the best students. Family members were notified by mail in advance, so Mina knew her parents had been told. She also knew they would not be able to make the performance, so she had Willow record and she sent it to them.

The night came and went without a word from the pair, and eventually Mina gave in and called them. The first words to come out of her mother's mouth were not congratulatory or proud, and Ash remembered her own heart seizing when she heard Mina's mother ask her if she had to call out of work to make time for the performance.

At the time, Mina was working at a factory, and her hours had been cut, so she did not call out of work, but she was never as excited about playing the piano after that incident. Even when she was chosen to be featured on the album the school produced yearly, she did not tell anyone; she did not even request a copy of the CD.

"If they are so bad, why does she love them so much?" Ash shrugged, she knew little about Mina's past, only that her sister died, and things changed drastically after that.

"I think Mina believes that she has to love them."

----

Mills followed Mina out of The White House and into the car that she presumed she had arrived in. The woman just sat in the backseat waiting, and Mills found herself worried for her friend. She had heard stories of the girl's parents, but it was the first time she witnessed anything so absurd in her life.

"You know that you aren't an embarrassment, right?" Mina smiled and nodded.

"My parents didn't mean it that way. They just know that certain things don't bother me the way that they should, and I should have taken into consideration how it would reflect on them when the videos surfaced." Mills' brow creased as she tried to figure out how Mina could have pulled that interpretation out of the conversation she had, because it certainly was a reach.

"Mina, sometimes family can be-"

"I know," Mina said, cutting Mills off. "And I know what everyone thinks, but they are wrong. My parents just know how to make me understand." Mills could see that there was going to be no convincing Mina other than what she believed of her parents, so she questioned her, wanting to know why she felt the way she did.

"Because, without me they would have been happier." Mina paused, taking a deep breath as if she were about to reveal the biggest secret she had, and in fact, it was a heavy one.