Rina walked out into the night, her mind struggling to grasp what had happened behind the glass walls. Her feet led her to her car, parked directly in front of Joel’s door, but as her hands held onto the handle, William appeared out of nowhere, nodding slightly in acknowledgment before shaking his head subtly.“What?” Rina questioned, not wanting any more drama for the night. She was ready to go to bed immediately, uninterested in thinking about the implications of tonight until much later.“Mr. Graham.” He made an attempt at a whisper but his bass voice made that hard to achieve. “He is in the sports car behind. He wants you to ride with him, ma’am.”Rina sighed exasperatedly. “Can you please tell him that I have had a really stressful day and that I would really love to ride back to the villa alone? I don’t want him telling me how I should have known better than to come here all alone late at night.”“You might have to tell him that yourself, ma’am,” William answered without a chang
Joel tried reaching Rina a million times throughout the night, but she placed her phone on silent when it kept ringing for too long, tossing it on the floor before turning her head the other way to return to sleep. She wasn’t interested in his half-baked apology, because she knew that there was no way he’d had a change of heart in a few hours. Although Rina had no idea why he wanted to speak with her again, she wasn’t going to grant him an audience. She had done that once, and it hadn’t ended well.A few minutes past six am, her phone started vibrating again from the floor and Rina grumbled in frustration, wishing Joel would just stop. She tried to drown out the loud scrapping sound but it was practically impossible, keeping her far from the arms of sleep. Grunting in frustration, she got off her bed, and walked briskly to the door, picking up the phone and receiving the call.“Didn’t you get the message last night?” she snapped, not bothering to check the caller ID for confirmation.
“The commentator said that?” She couldn’t believe it, especially after all the hurdles she’d had to cross to get to that point. Still, Rina couldn’t let herself become relaxed. Not yet. It didn’t matter that doubts were beginning to snake through the hearts of the very persons who had tossed her out onto the streets. It could easily change in a heartbeat as long as Kayla still had her wits, powers, and Finn. Although Finn was a very disposable part of the drama, Rina was very conscious of the fact that the only reason Kayla was with him was because she wanted everything Rina owned. It was that very notion she wanted to annihilate.Zayn nodded, still seated on the edge of the bed, considerably far from Rina. “Now that the country is beginning to wonder if they were right, I think the possibility of you getting attacked by anti-fans has slimmed down considerably. Still, you must be extra careful. Your No. 1 enemy is still out there, and we don’t know what she’s going to do next. I presu
Zayn paused, and closed his eyes, thinking about all the pros and cons of the move he was about making. All the rationality in him laid it out bare, bringing his consciousness to the fact that there was a boundary he was about to cross. But at that moment, it was hard to consider it, not with her sweet scent teasing and taunting him all at the same time, not with the view he’d had for the past twenty minutes, the one he had been trying hard not to think about but was proving to be the most difficult thing.She wiggled underneath him, drawing his attention to her boobs under the nightwear as they moved with her. He screamed “Fuck” in his head, and tried to pull away. This was the same thing he’d warned himself about repeatedly. Rina was a lot of temptation enveloped in one body, and at first, it was easy to explain everything away. But right now, Zayn found control slipping away from his fingers and he wasn’t sure he wanted to do anything about it.Rina stopped moving, gazing into his
The living room was in a celebratory state as Rina stepped downstairs after having a bath and getting ready for the day. Susan had made a simmering pot of lasagna, her eyes bright with excitement and her feet light and swift. She smiled up at Rina the second she was at the foot of the stairs. “Isn’t it such a beautiful day?” Susan was over the moon with the announcement. She wasn’t even that happy with Regina’s public apology. But this? It was exactly what Rina needed.As Susan prepared the table, Rina looked around for Zayn. But even before her eyes gazed round the living area, she already knew he was not in the villa. She would have felt him around, the charge in the air pulling her attention to his presence. But she felt nothing now, just his lingering scent and the overwhelming memory of what had transpired between them.The door pushed open, halting Rina’s thoughts. Her head whipped in that direction just as George sauntered in with a grin. She angled her head at his arrival, won
Rina tried to stop herself, but with the villa empty once again, she was left with her thoughts. Reeling from them, she walked to her room and changed into a pair of baggy jeans and a white tank top, allowing her hair to flow in waves all around her. She grabbed a tote, applied nude gloss to her lips, and completed her outfit with a pair of platforms. Rina meant business, she meant to take back the control she’d lost hours ago. Although she had no idea how that was going to work, Rina knew that for Zayn and herself to continue a platonic arrangement, it was a sacrifice she was going to have to make, and hope for herself that nothing like that happened again. If it did, she doubted she would be able to deny her feelings anymore.Taking her keys off her nightstand, Rina walked out of the villa and into the garage, getting behind the wheel. This time, when Igor approached, she told him her destination so he didn’t have to worry. It would have been a futile effort calling Zayn since he wo
Zayn’s expression turned into a scowl immediately his eyes fell on her. A smile played on her lips as she peered at Rina with the most condescending look ever. “Rina Powers in Zayn Graham’s office,” she mused without any intention of giving it up. “Now, that’s something to get the whole country talking about. But I doubt it would get to you since you are already so used to making the front page of the papers.”“Jada…”“But then again, I don’t think it would feel the same if the subject changes. What are you here for, Rina? Begging for aid? You already got Claire on your side by some miracle, and I’m certain she would see right through you before your contractual year is over and you would be back to ground zero. But you see, Zayn over here isn’t that gullible. If you’re here to seduce him, you better think twice about it because he wouldn’t bat an eyelid when he makes you a public nuisance.”Zayn got up on his feet, his eyes red with anger. “That is the last time I will hear you speak
The sterile white walls of the Medical Hospital seemed to close in on Rina as she sat in the cold, sterile room. The doctor's words echoed in her mind, a relentless refrain of despair. "I'm sorry, Ms. Powers, but you've lost the baby."Her vision blurred as tears welled up, blinding her to the world around her. Rina had been so full of hope, she had been so certain that this pregnancy would be the new beginning she desperately needed in her marriage. She had clung to that hope, nurtured it with dreams of a family reunion, of a second chance at happiness.But now, all those dreams were shattered like fragile glass, leaving nothing but a painful ache in her chest. She clutched the edge of the hospital bed, her knuckles white, her heart heavy. "No," she sobbed, weakly denying the harsh reality.As she left the hospital, her steps were slow and heavy, as if the weight of the world was pressing down on her shoulders. The taxi ride home was a blur of city lights and rain-slicked streets. Ri
Zayn’s expression turned into a scowl immediately his eyes fell on her. A smile played on her lips as she peered at Rina with the most condescending look ever. “Rina Powers in Zayn Graham’s office,” she mused without any intention of giving it up. “Now, that’s something to get the whole country talking about. But I doubt it would get to you since you are already so used to making the front page of the papers.”“Jada…”“But then again, I don’t think it would feel the same if the subject changes. What are you here for, Rina? Begging for aid? You already got Claire on your side by some miracle, and I’m certain she would see right through you before your contractual year is over and you would be back to ground zero. But you see, Zayn over here isn’t that gullible. If you’re here to seduce him, you better think twice about it because he wouldn’t bat an eyelid when he makes you a public nuisance.”Zayn got up on his feet, his eyes red with anger. “That is the last time I will hear you speak
Rina tried to stop herself, but with the villa empty once again, she was left with her thoughts. Reeling from them, she walked to her room and changed into a pair of baggy jeans and a white tank top, allowing her hair to flow in waves all around her. She grabbed a tote, applied nude gloss to her lips, and completed her outfit with a pair of platforms. Rina meant business, she meant to take back the control she’d lost hours ago. Although she had no idea how that was going to work, Rina knew that for Zayn and herself to continue a platonic arrangement, it was a sacrifice she was going to have to make, and hope for herself that nothing like that happened again. If it did, she doubted she would be able to deny her feelings anymore.Taking her keys off her nightstand, Rina walked out of the villa and into the garage, getting behind the wheel. This time, when Igor approached, she told him her destination so he didn’t have to worry. It would have been a futile effort calling Zayn since he wo
The living room was in a celebratory state as Rina stepped downstairs after having a bath and getting ready for the day. Susan had made a simmering pot of lasagna, her eyes bright with excitement and her feet light and swift. She smiled up at Rina the second she was at the foot of the stairs. “Isn’t it such a beautiful day?” Susan was over the moon with the announcement. She wasn’t even that happy with Regina’s public apology. But this? It was exactly what Rina needed.As Susan prepared the table, Rina looked around for Zayn. But even before her eyes gazed round the living area, she already knew he was not in the villa. She would have felt him around, the charge in the air pulling her attention to his presence. But she felt nothing now, just his lingering scent and the overwhelming memory of what had transpired between them.The door pushed open, halting Rina’s thoughts. Her head whipped in that direction just as George sauntered in with a grin. She angled her head at his arrival, won
Zayn paused, and closed his eyes, thinking about all the pros and cons of the move he was about making. All the rationality in him laid it out bare, bringing his consciousness to the fact that there was a boundary he was about to cross. But at that moment, it was hard to consider it, not with her sweet scent teasing and taunting him all at the same time, not with the view he’d had for the past twenty minutes, the one he had been trying hard not to think about but was proving to be the most difficult thing.She wiggled underneath him, drawing his attention to her boobs under the nightwear as they moved with her. He screamed “Fuck” in his head, and tried to pull away. This was the same thing he’d warned himself about repeatedly. Rina was a lot of temptation enveloped in one body, and at first, it was easy to explain everything away. But right now, Zayn found control slipping away from his fingers and he wasn’t sure he wanted to do anything about it.Rina stopped moving, gazing into his
“The commentator said that?” She couldn’t believe it, especially after all the hurdles she’d had to cross to get to that point. Still, Rina couldn’t let herself become relaxed. Not yet. It didn’t matter that doubts were beginning to snake through the hearts of the very persons who had tossed her out onto the streets. It could easily change in a heartbeat as long as Kayla still had her wits, powers, and Finn. Although Finn was a very disposable part of the drama, Rina was very conscious of the fact that the only reason Kayla was with him was because she wanted everything Rina owned. It was that very notion she wanted to annihilate.Zayn nodded, still seated on the edge of the bed, considerably far from Rina. “Now that the country is beginning to wonder if they were right, I think the possibility of you getting attacked by anti-fans has slimmed down considerably. Still, you must be extra careful. Your No. 1 enemy is still out there, and we don’t know what she’s going to do next. I presu
Joel tried reaching Rina a million times throughout the night, but she placed her phone on silent when it kept ringing for too long, tossing it on the floor before turning her head the other way to return to sleep. She wasn’t interested in his half-baked apology, because she knew that there was no way he’d had a change of heart in a few hours. Although Rina had no idea why he wanted to speak with her again, she wasn’t going to grant him an audience. She had done that once, and it hadn’t ended well.A few minutes past six am, her phone started vibrating again from the floor and Rina grumbled in frustration, wishing Joel would just stop. She tried to drown out the loud scrapping sound but it was practically impossible, keeping her far from the arms of sleep. Grunting in frustration, she got off her bed, and walked briskly to the door, picking up the phone and receiving the call.“Didn’t you get the message last night?” she snapped, not bothering to check the caller ID for confirmation.
Rina walked out into the night, her mind struggling to grasp what had happened behind the glass walls. Her feet led her to her car, parked directly in front of Joel’s door, but as her hands held onto the handle, William appeared out of nowhere, nodding slightly in acknowledgment before shaking his head subtly.“What?” Rina questioned, not wanting any more drama for the night. She was ready to go to bed immediately, uninterested in thinking about the implications of tonight until much later.“Mr. Graham.” He made an attempt at a whisper but his bass voice made that hard to achieve. “He is in the sports car behind. He wants you to ride with him, ma’am.”Rina sighed exasperatedly. “Can you please tell him that I have had a really stressful day and that I would really love to ride back to the villa alone? I don’t want him telling me how I should have known better than to come here all alone late at night.”“You might have to tell him that yourself, ma’am,” William answered without a chang
“What?” His voice was tainted with disbelief as he pushed off the couch as well. “Selfish? If anything, I have put your needs over and beyond mine countless number of times.”“Because every one of those times, my presence in your life favored you,” Rina retorted. “You loved having me around so you went out of your way to make sure that never changed. And the one time you realize you can’t have me around as you want, you make it your mission to hate me.”“Hate you?”“At the interview, when you were asked if you had finally been freed from my clutches, you laughed Joel! You laughed! You had the chance to tell my anti-fans that I am not who they think I am, yet you let that slide. You let the whole world believe they were right, that I seduced you to get into O.S.N.”“What would you have had me do?” he asked exasperatedly. “You told me you wanted my sales to return to normal. That was me doing what you wanted.”Rina’s head jutted back in surprise. “And now, you turn around and use my own
Rina moved out of the kitchen into the living area with the glass of wine, settling onto one of the white couches arranged in a circular form. At the head was a fireplace, surprisingly working despite the existence of a modern heating system. The fire crackled and roared softly, with the small embers of its flame flickering as far up as they could go. She tried to wrap her head around everything that had happened, from the call leading up to that very moment, and it all seemed planned – only that it was practically impossible for Joel to have planned something like that.Only if he wasn’t the same person she thought he was.After waiting for a few minutes, Rina wished she had gone in with her phone. With practically nothing to do, she got off the couch and roamed the living room, looking at the art lining the wall. She realized what she hadn’t the first time she’d been in there, that Joel loved the middle line between modernization and archaic. Everything he owned seemed to be stuck i