Chapter 687: Lost Parts

***𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈***

Leal stared at the crestfallen Ami who genuinely believed she was going to walk into the slums and make everyone fall in love with her. She needed more than food and clothing to earn their trust, but for a week she had been giving all she had, and she was not seeing any result.

"What if they don't want to change?" Nael said, hating to see Ami anything but happy.

"That's ridiculous. When you were at your lowest did you ever wish that it would stay that way?"

"No, but I didn't want it to change either."

"Change can be bad, Ami."

"Worse than living in a wooden box?" She retorted and both men burst into laughter. "It's not funny," she replied.

"Sweety, you need to relax. Let's go to bed and revisit this in the morning." Mina raised a brow at Nael. She could not tell if he was joking, but she soon got her answer when the man started to carry her to his room.

"W-what are you doing?" She questioned, slightly panicked, and when Leal started to laugh loudly, she slapped the man on the back. "That's not the same," Mina said. "That was creepy." Nael chuckled, not at all offended by her mocking his display of affection.

"No, it isn't the same, but you are coming on a little strong." Mina nodded, understanding what the man was trying to tell her, but she was still unhappy.

Mina had invested a lot of money into the slums, and every day she returned without progress was more money wasted. She was rich, but that did not mean she wanted to throw her earnings away. The only good part about what was happening was that her loss was Nael and Leal's gain, which she still received a percentage of, so it was not a complete waste.

Pushing aside her thoughts of profit margins, Mina tried to think of a more human approach. She believed she had liberated the people from a vile man who trafficked them, extorted them and even stole the little they had, but instead of being grateful, they resented her for it.

----

After a very fitful night's sleep, Mina headed out to the slums again, this time bringing Ivy with her. The woman admitted that she would not be of much help because her brother was not one of the nicest people, but Mina was desperate. If she could not turn the slums into a mini town that acted independently from the country, she would not be able to funnel arms into the country, whose militia she was funding.

Mina planned to overthrow the Sani government, which was already struggling to remain in power, and insert people of her choice into positions of authority. From there, she would have them revoke the Lee groups rights to resources within the country, and she would use her own Sani based business to bid on taking over the properties. The plan was not perfect, but the Lee group was hated by enough people to find willing sacrifices without coercion.

When they arrived, Mina was swarmed by many children who called her 'the gift woman.' Unlike the adults, they were more trusting of her, and she found herself spending more time with them than with any adult. Some of the people she brought with her were also parents, so they too were nice to the children, and despite having a language barrier, one of the men took a keen interest in teaching them how to fight off attackers. The man was there when she was told what the group they had taken out was capable of, and having experienced a similar loss in life, he took the crimes personally.

"Why do you keep coming back here?" Mina heard, and she looked up to see a woman who was probably younger than she appeared. She dusted her hands free of the sand she had been showing the children how to play with, and stood to meet the woman's eyes.

"I've already explained it, but I don't want to force anyone to step into uncertainty. If I have to come back here every day, I will; ask Ivy, she can vouch for me." The young woman nodded vigorously, but the older one was unconvinced.

"Do you plan to kill everyone who does something you don't like?"

"Only the ones who deserve it," Mina admitted, and the old woman's eyes lit up like diamonds.

"There is a man who killed my son. What do you plan to do about it?" Mina raised a brow, and in keeping in line with her 'judge' claim, she asked for the man to be brought to her.

It was not long before Mina was standing face to face with an older gentleman who looked about as nonviolent as they come, and it was clear in his submissive gesture that something was wrong. Mina asked the man why he had killed the son of the old woman, and he told the truth. The man attacked his wife, he caught him, they fought, and the man died of his injuries as a result. The old woman shouted in protest, but for some reason, Mina believed the man on the ground, not the woman who was shouting that he was a liar.

Caught in an awkward position, Mina suggested for both people involved to take a lie detector test to prove who was innocent. The old woman became slightly concerned, but she agreed after the man she accused did.

"Fair warning," Mina added. "The liar won't like what happens to them."

----

Choosing to leave Ivy in Bal, Mina returned to the slums with Linus, a man who she knew was more than qualified to administer the test. He was not given details, and so far, he had not recognized her beneath the veil she wore over her mask, so she was not worried about possible consequences. He was being paid well for his services, not forced, so he was more than cooperative the entire trip into the slums.

With the test concluded, Mina poured over the results and frowned. She lifted her veil, staring dagger into the old woman, who was proven a liar.

"You tried to get me to kill an innocent man," she whispered in a sinister tone, which caused the old woman to make a slow retreat.

"That test is a lie. You just want to make me look bad."

"You've done that to yourself," Mina retorted, making a slight gesture that signaled for her men to grab the woman. "I told you that you wouldn't like the consequences," she said, but instead of killing the old woman, Mina allowed the accused to cast his own judgment.

"Lady Judge," the man said, making Mina cringe at the name. "This doesn't feel right." She knew what the man meant; no physical harm had been done, but it could have been. She had the woman released, but Mina could see from the stares the old woman received as she ran that she would never be treated kindly again.

"Will you do that for everyone?" A woman holding a small child questioned, and Mina shrugged.

"It would depend on the situation," she replied truthfully, and the woman nodded in dejection. "What is it?" Mina asked, and the woman looked around before moving in closer. Some of Mina's guards became on edge, but she waved her hand at them. If she were to die now, it would only be fitting for the indiscretions she had made to get where she stood.

"This child wasn't born of love," the woman whispered, careful not to let the little one she was carrying here her words, which Mina did not fail to notice.

"Who?" she asked, and with her eyes, the woman pointed out a huge man, who was glaring at them as if he could already guess what was being said.

"There are others," the woman added. Mina held her hands out to the child, who stared at her face for a long time before deciding that her desire to touch the mask was greater than her fear of it.

"Will they come forward?" She questioned, walking back into the back of the truck as the woman followed, clearly a little afraid for herself and her baby, but Mina held no ill will toward them, she just wanted to feed the child, who felt light in her arms.

"The man you killed was bad, but in a lot of ways, there are some who are worse. They aren't looking to make money off others; they just want to hurt people." Huck was nearby, and after explaining the situation to him, he left to relay instructions to the others.

It was not long before the accused man was dragged in front of Mina, and based on the look Linus wore, he was uncomfortable with the situation. She explained what she was trying to do, laying her Sani accent on thick in her speech, and when the man nodded in agreement, a wave of relief filled her. She did not want to force him into doing anything the way President Lee had done. She remembered the fearful and remorseful expression on his face all that time ago, and it only served to remind her of how foolish she had been.

As expected, the man denied his crimes, and when he was taking the lie detector test, he kept doing things like coughing, forcing out gas, and all manner of ridiculous actions that people believed would help them fool a polygraph, but he still failed, and seeing the man detained, several other women decided to make their voices heard.

In keeping with the same pattern, Mina offered the accuser the right to end her assailant's life, but the woman was much crueler than she had expected. She did not want the man dead, she wanted him maimed. Understanding where the woman was coming from, Mina tried to reason with her, telling her, from experience, that what she was suggesting would not make her feel better, but the woman shocked Mina with her response.

"I don't want to feel better. I want him to suffer." In the woman, Mina saw herself and so, she handed her a gun with a single bullet, telling her that if her shot missed, she would not get a second chance.

Without hesitation, the woman approached the man who had been made to kneel on the ground, and instead of being remorseful, he mocked her cries from the many times he violated her, and Mina knew that those words would harden the woman's decision to maim, which she had intentionally whispered so that her attacker would not hear. The sound of the gun was louder than expected, and the blood curdling screams of the man made people shut their eyes tightly. Mina had once wanted to do that to President Lee, but she had gotten past it.

"Now you will live with a reminder of the scars you have given so many of us." Mina could see many people turning away from the scene in disgust, and some of the men she had come with were extremely put off by her decision to allow the woman her wish, but Mina was not there to redeem anyone. She simply wanted to help them help her. "How do we sign up for one of your homes?" the woman asked, peeking behind Mina where Huck was feeding her daughter. The child was so hungry that she had not even reacted to the screams outside of the truck, and that was something Mina found more intolerable than a lost body part.

"Starting from now, I will protect those who want my help, but this…" Mina pointed to the man who was either passed out from pain or dying of blood loss. "Cannot continue. We have all done things we regret, and death isn't always the best punishment."

"But you'll continue to be fair?"

"Always," Mina replied.