Zayn smirked and leaned back into the black couch in her living area. That was the first thing that had him captivated the instant he walked in. Black wasn’t a color one would find a woman opting for in her living room theme, yet Rina had done it so exceptionally well that Zayn thought there had to be more beneath all that layer. He angled his head as he watched all the emotions flash through her eyes. She was fighting this as hard as she could, and Zayn understood her reasons. She had just come out of a marriage and a friendship where she was stabbed in the back. It was only natural for her to not want to depend on anyone other than herself. But Zayn didn’t have the patience for her to work around that. He needed to set his plans in motion as soon as possible. His family was forcing him to get married and he knew that the more he stalled, the higher the chances of his step-brother getting in the way. Zayn needed to have this sorted out fast enough so he could face other integral
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Rina couldn’t stop thinking about it, long after Zayn’s departure. She stood by the mirror, wondering why on earth she had held such a long conversation with him without remembering she had picked one of her most flimsy tops to put on earlier that day. “Urgh!” she groaned, throwing herself on top of her bed. She tried to create a balance in her head. She shouldn’t even have this reaction since she had had no clue that Zayn was going to stop by unannounced. She hadn’t even told him where she lived, but she had an inkling how he had gotten the address. She could imagine him dishing out orders to his private detective, paying him enough to snoop around her until he got information about the woman who was to be his contract wife. Rina knew she was becoming overly dramatic at that point, but she couldn’t stop herself as she jumped over to her window, parting the silky curtains and pressing her nose up on the glass. There was nothing in the near distance, other than a
“I…I didn’t know… She…” The more Zayn’s personal assistant stammered, the more he got so infuriated. Stifling the urge to wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze the life out of her, he closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. It did nothing to reduce the fury Zayn felt inside. “Forward the call to my office,” he instructed his expression back to its stoic and fierce nature. “Okay, Mr. Graham.” She sounded relieved, but Zayn was far from done. “And that’s going to be the last thing you’d be doing for me here. You are fired. Clear out your desk, and see HR on your way out for your official letter and your payment in lieu of notice.” “Sir?” She rushed out from behind her desk, stopping before him but with enough distance so as not to encroach on his personal space. Everyone who worked there knew how he felt about that. “I didn’t know that…Everyone in Country G knows her story and I was looking out for you.” “Looking out for me,” Zayn smirked darkly, his lips r
George called again, but this time with some great news. The higher-ups had personally called him to ask about Rina, and now, they were interested in speaking to her. Rina didn’t know how this had happened, or what caused the sudden shift in their perspective, but the moment she ended the call with George, she jumped out of bed in glee and rushed into the shower. Rina was done bathing in record time, and she walked briskly into her closet, eyeing her line of exotic dresses. She angled her head when she reached a red dress she had gotten a while ago at a vacation in Hawaii. It was a stunning corporate piece, and at the time, Rina had no idea why she had purchased it. She had already given up her career for her home, so the endless business meetings had all disappeared. But now, Rina was glad she had gotten it. If she had anything at all to show the higher-ups, this dress was going to do just that. Taking her time to put it on without getting any creases, Rina opted for minimalisti
Rina thought she was running late by the time she arrived at the building. She was so bothered about her planned impression getting ruined that she barely bothered to pay attention to the stares the taxi driver gave her. All that was on her mind was getting up to the third floor before she lost this chance. She raced through the glass doors, navigating through the sparse crowd of actresses, their teams, and producers. Some of them cast her dumbfounding looks as she glided by, and even though Rina was stung by them, she didn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing it on her face. Her heels clicked on the tiled ground as she hurried along, her head focused and her back straight, maintaining the little that was left of her dignity. When she got into the lift, she allowed the weight of everything that was tossed at her to bring her under. She used to walk through those same halls with respectful glances cast her way, and hushed whispers about how phenomenal she was. Now, the opposite wa
And it wasn’t. Rina paid rapt attention at first, nodding when the director went on reading the terms of the contract. But along the way, it dawned on her that she didn’t even know what the subject matter of the so-called contract was. “Sorry to interrupt,” Rina said suddenly. “But I still have no clue what I’m expected to do for you. With everything you’ve been saying, it doesn’t sound like a role in any movie. So what is it exactly? Modelling?” A mischievous glint appeared in the director’s eyes. “Not exactly,” he murmured. “You see, Rina Powers, we’ve already agreed on how impossible it would be to see you on our screens in that regard so this time, we’re doing something a tad different.” “How different?” Her voice was hesitant. “A lot of podcast owners have reached out to us concerning creating a story around you and since we do not deem it big enough for the agency to sponsor, or any other production team for that matter, we have decided to leave it to them to handle.” “Wh
She rested on the backrest of the back seat, bawling her eyes out while she dished out the address of the house a street before hers to the driver. But after a few minutes, when she tried placing her purse beside her, her hands touched the leather of the seat, and at once, her eyes sprang open. The first thing that came to her mind was that she was getting kidnapped. Rina had heard stories about other actors and actresses getting kidnapped on the way from the set, and not released until the ransom had been sent over. But for her, that would mean death. Rina was penniless. The only thing she had to her name was her cottage. She could imagine the kidnapper asking Finn for money and the response he would give him. Finn would probably even personally ask for her to be killed. It was one less problem he would have to deal with. Flight instinct settled in, and Rina placed her hands on the buttons on the door next to her. She swallowed slowly and tried to move the lock, realizing with d
Zayn watched Rina as he pulled herself up from the couch, clutched her heels in one hand, and mumbled something about needing a bath. He sighed as he let her go, accepting that he had lost the argument at that moment. Rina was probably right, he thought to himself. Their contract which was yet to even begin, was only meant to last for a short time. What happened the minute he left? Zayn hadn’t thought that far into the future, but the fact that he had almost made a damning promise never to let go snapped him back into the present, shoving the crude circumstance they were in into his face. He reached for the glass Rina had been using, filling it with more liquor and placing it against his lips. He took a sip and closed his eyes, relishing in the solitude of the cottage. Zayn couldn’t hear anything from beyond the hallway, but he knew Rina was in there, perhaps, bawling her eyes out again. It was the first time he had seen her cry, other than the forced tears that had graced his sc