Chapter 684: Ruined

Lisa sulked in her office chair as she stared out the large windows. When she had envisioned a life with Ian, it was happy thoughts. She would be well respected, she would not have to work unless she wanted to, and she would be loved by the man she had fixated on for most of her life. Sadly, that was not what she was experiencing. In public, Ian was perfect, he was not rude, and he did not ignore her, in fact, he made their 'loving' relationship obvious to people, which was worse. Everyone thought she was living a dream life, but she was competing with a ghost.

For as much as she disliked Mina, Lisa was not happy about the woman's death. Her intentions when she faked being violated was only to break the woman's heart, and everything Luna did afterward was of her own accord. Lisa had said a few drunken words, looking to stoke pity from her friend and make things between Mina and Ian a little more complicated, but she never imagined Luna would take her ramblings, put her own meaning toward them and use them as a weapon.

In any other circumstance, Lisa would have been happy about what occurred, but all she felt now was bitterness and self-loathing. Out of self-preservation, Shai had romantically pulled away from her, Kace did not allow her to hold her brand new nephew and the only person who was excited about the direction her life had gone was her father, who only saw dollar signs. She did not know why she had not noticed it before, and why she did not just listen to her brother and give up.

Then there was Natalie Reed who Lisa knew from past meetings with the woman and her late husband when she was trying to secretly sell a building. She remembered the woman as cold, and money hungry, but let Ian tell it, she was a saint who was widowed too young. Many times, she had tried to warn the man about the woman, telling him that everything about her was fake, but he did not listen.

Lisa knew what Natalie was doing because she too had tried to change her appearance to compete with Mina. She had even thought about wearing contacts in the past, but she was glad she did not. Her pride was already stretched thin by Ian, who she knew from tabloids went on many 'business dinners' with the woman he claimed was 'his friend,' but it was obvious to anyone with eyes that he saw her as more than a charity case. He saw Natalie as a second chance with the woman he lost, while Lisa was once again pushed to the side.

Abandoning any shred of dignity she had left, Lisa stood and entered Shai's office. He looked up at her with a frown as she shut the door behind her.

"Please hold me," she begged, but the man ignored her. "Shai I-"

"Lisa, I would have given you anything you wanted, but you made your decision. I won't risk my life to be with you, no matter how bad it hurts to see you with him." Lisa wished she could tell Shai the truth, but she was afraid he would stop caring for her completely if she did.

"We aren't together. He doesn't even look at me anymore."

"He never looked at you," Shai corrected. "Isn't that what you told me? You got what you wanted and I genuinely hope you get the happiness you deserve." Lisa knew Shai's words were meant to be endearing, but they sounded mocking to her. She had tried to call things off with Ian several times, but on each occasion he refused.

Backing away from Shai's desk with a look of pure hurt on her face, Lisa made her way out of the man's office, feeling her heart shatter into a million pieces as she did. She was suddenly filled with malice toward Ian, and instead of wanting him to love her the way she had once loved him, she wanted revenge. She wanted him to feel the sting of being forced with a person who…

Lisa's thoughts paused as she finally understood how she had made Ian feel when she was threatening to kill herself if he left. She had truly brought her heartache upon herself, but unlike what she wanted in the past, she had a new set of goals. She would marry into the Lee group at whatever the cost, and she would ruin it from the inside out.

----

Ian had invited Natalie to his home with the intention of celebrating her now debt-free company, but somehow, they ended up enjoying each other's company. It had been a long time since he laughed and joked with a person who was not Zane or Drax, and he felt like a part of his soul was being revitalized by the woman, who understood the pain of losing a person they loved before fully realizing how strongly they felt.

Natalie used to bring up fond memories of her late husband, and Ian found himself wishing he had been able to do some of the things she spoke about with Mina. The woman stopped talking about those things though, because she knew they made him sad, and that was another thing that drew him to her. She reminded him so much of Mina that he sometimes found himself looking at her as a replacement.

Lost in the feeling of being content, Ian leaned forward and captured Natalie's lips with his own. She was at first startled, but then she leaned into him, and he picked her up and moved her onto the couch in the next room. Every time he kissed her, he imagined she was Mina, something he knew was wrong, but he could not stop himself from doing it.

Ian's hands trailed down Natalie's body, and he lifted her skirt before using his free hand to work at the buckle of his pants. He wanted to enjoy her, not as herself, but as the woman he was pretending she was. However, another part of his mind was fighting him for control. She was not the woman he wanted.

Just before he could free himself from his trousers, Natalie placed her hand above his, shaking her head at him.

"Wait; this is wrong. What about your fiancé?" She whispered, and once again, Ian was overwhelmed by her similarities with Mina. "Please, I have enough regrets in life." With those words, Ian made a decision he did not think his heart could make. When he was done with Lisa, he was going to give Natalie back the happiness she lost when her husband died, and while he knew she could never replace Mina, he hoped that she could at least continue to take the sting away.

"Sorry," Ian replied, gently pushing a strand of the woman's brown hair behind her ear. "I'll explain things to you clearly soon." He pressed a gentle kiss on her lips before fixing her skirt. "I hope this doesn't ruin anything between us."

"I'm just... I don't want to be your mistress." Ian stroked the woman's cheek with a slight smile.

"Never," he replied.

----

If pity were a person, Cylus felt like he would be stealing their job. He was the worst 'maybe brother' in the world, and he wore that feeling everywhere he went. The five months since Mina had died felt like they were moving slower than others, and every time he saw Lisa, he was reminded of the woman. He did not have many details, but what Willow knew of the situation, Lisa and President Lee had rekindled their relationship on the man's birthday and decided they could not wait until after his party to be together.

Mina caught them, fled the Lee Mansion, and then the man sent his cousin and sister to tell her that he was drugged and could no longer be with her. It must have been heartbreaking to Mina, who had abandoned her plans to run away from the man because she believed the lies he was telling her. If Cylus had known, he would have intervened, he would have reminded her of all the things the man had done to her, and he would have risked everything to take her away. At least that was what he told himself.

Cylus knew that President Lee was weirdly obsessed with Mina in a way that made no sense, and it was likely because she did not want him. He knew men like that, men who were only attracted to women who were not interested in them. They considered the behavior a challenge, and once they got what they wanted and the game was no longer fun for them, they left. Conner was like that, which was why Cylus was against the man being anywhere near Mina, but his friend had changed with Mina's death. He was no longer out seeking pleasure, and instead, he was more focused and driven than ever, his goal; reveal the Lee Group's involvement in Mina's death.

Connor did not believe that Mina killed herself, and no matter how many witnesses were there to see her drive off the bridge, he did not believe it. Her body was never recovered, but the windshield of the car had been shattered, and her remains could have been pulled away by the current. Still, the man convinced himself that Mina's death was orchestrated. It was as though she were trying to be seen by people, making random stops where she knew she would be captured on CCTV footage.

The more Cylus thought about Connor's obsession with proving that Mina loved herself too much to throw her life away, the more he was swayed by his friend's opinion, and both men found themselves wanting to increase their influence to prove it. Even Oric and Willow had joined them, and together, they were putting pressure on the Lee group with the help of smaller unknown entities that had no ties to anything they did.

It was the sole reason Cylus had not sold off his portion of the production company he owned with Lisa. He needed to keep the woman close to figure out if she had any involvement in Mina's death. She was such a vain and arrogant person that she was bound to give herself away. However, so far, the only thing Cylus had seen from her was depression. She seldom spoke unless spoken to, and whenever they were in meetings, she had a faraway look in her eye that could not be faked.

Lisa was miserable, and Cylus did not know if it were the universe turning its back on her, or the works of the demented President Lee who seemed to enjoy using a breaking woman. He remembered when Lisa used to smile all the time, when she was a happy girl with a lot going for her, and he remembered when she changed. It was when President Lee re-entered her life after unceremoniously kicking her out of his.

"Look who's visiting." Cylus heard, and he looked up to see Olivia walking into his office carrying Ollie. She handed the baby over to him and Cylus kissed the boy's forehead. Ollie would never know, but his existence was made possible by a woman who he would never meet, a woman who had planned for his future before he was born, and made sure that no matter what, the child whose life she advocated for, would be taken care of.

"What brings you two here today?" Cylus asked, happy for the distraction from his depressing thoughts.

"We have a favor to ask."

"I'm listening," Cylus said while removing Ollie's outerwear.

"Mills is freaking out. She still hasn't found a wedding dress and-"

"She wants me to make it," Cylus interjected. He guessed what his cousin was going to say. "Tell her we can meet tomorrow."