She turned to search his face, looking for anything that might give away how the conversation had gone. There was nothing. Not even the regular residue of hatred he had for Joel, that he carried everywhere like a badge. He had an amused look instead, as he swirled his glass of wine in one hand. “Don’t tell me you went to see him yourself?” Rina asked, knowing that something beyond the ordinary must have occurred. “What did you tell him, Zayn?” “Nothing much, actually,” he answered, shrugging, still with that amused look. He seemed to be having a lot of fun with the situation and was making no attempt at hiding it. “I just had a business meeting with him. He seemed really okay with the conclusions we arrived at before we shook hands.” “Zayn,” Rina tried not to let the anxiety she felt seep through in her tone. “I’m sure one of the items for the meeting didn’t include informing Joel that he couldn’t go to see a movie with one of his models whose identity was supposed to stay anonym
Rina mulled about it all through the night, tossing and turning under the comfortable sheets. She had promised herself that the issue of being Zayn’s contract wife was only going to be a bother for her after the fashion show when she had the whole burden of getting the models ready for it out of her mind. But now that Zayn had brought it up, it was hard to shelf it back up in her mind.Rising from underneath the covers, Rina pranced barefoot through the room, then deciding she needed a glass of warm milk, walked down the stairs to get one from the kitchen. She walked into the darkness, forgoing the need to turn on the lights. The hum of the refrigerator was her anchor until she stopped in front of it, pulling the door open to get out the carton of milk.Grabbing a saucepan from its hook, Rina poured a healthy amount into it and turned on the stove, balancing the pan on it and leaning on the countertop, counting the seconds in her head. She tried to be as quiet as possible, not wanting
Zayn raised his head just as William knocked on his slightly opened door. Motioning him in, he turned off the screen to his tablet and gave him his full attention. “Is she awake?”“No,” William answered. “But she was up late last night. I ran into her in the kitchen.”“What was she doing?”“I think she couldn’t sleep so she came down for a glass of warm milk but she wanted to know if I had discovered the identity of the men who had tried tailing us down here. I didn’t tell her Kayla was responsible, of course, but it doesn’t take magic to figure that out.”William dropped onto the chair in front of Zayn. They were still in the villa, so he didn’t need to be on his feet to address him.“I will tell her myself,” Zayn sighed. “What do you think about taking her out of the country this weekend to get some rest? She’s going to get so busy with the fashion show coming up, and I just need her to have all the energy needed for that. There’s going to be a lot happening after that, and she migh
“Hey,” Zayn’s face didn’t give anything away as he watched Rina walk further into the room. “We were just waiting for you before we took our leave. Are you ready? I have to get into the office as soon as possible.”“Yeah,” she nodded. “I just need to grab my purse and my shoes.”“Great. Meet us downstairs.”William got up first, then stepped aside to let Zayn through. He ruffled Rina’s hair on his way out, not bothering to answer her questions, before heading downstairs.“Are you leaving already,” Susan asked in the living room when she saw them coming down the stairs. She only came to the villa when Zayn told her to, and now that he was leaving, she could return to the mansion, where she lived with Zayn.“Yes, Su,” Zayn replied. “Please lock up on your way out. You know the drill.”They waited for Rina outside, before pulling out onto the road in two separate cars, Rina and Zayn in one, with William coming behind them.“I had a relaxing weekend,” Rina smiled up at Zayn. “Thank you fo
Zayn got back to the office in a foul mood, and Mia recognized it at once. She backed out of his way as he walked briskly into his office, ordering that no one disturbed him until he gave her further instructions. By then, it was too late to tell him Nathan, his brother, was already inside his office.Mia imagined the million number of ways Zayn could possibly fire her as she dropped back into her seat, her pixie cut bouncing along with her. She should have mentioned it the minute he stepped in. Or maybe she should have sent William a quick message the instant Nathan appeared. Mia knew of the strained relationship between the brothers so why on earth had she allowed that to happen under her watch?Oblivious to the wreck his secretary was going through, Zayn walked into his office and closed the door behind him, intent on burying himself in work while thinking of how he could make Joel understand that no one dared take anything from him, without risking his identity in Rina’s life. He
He already confirmed that Rina was headed towards her parents’ home, but it did nothing to dispel Zayn’s anger. It wasn’t even directed at Rina, because Zayn couldn’t bear to be upset at her. Instead, he wanted to look Joel in the eyes and ask him what he was thinking when he conceived the notion that he had a chance with Rina. It didn’t matter if their relationship was fake. No one took what belonged to Zayn. The whole country knew that. The only reason Zayn wasn’t doing anything to Joel yet was because the poor lad had no way of knowing Zayn was going to get married to Rina.But once it was out there if Zayn noticed that Joel or any man as much as batted an eyelid in Rina’s direction, he would have to answer to him. Still, Zayn couldn’t let it go just like that. He asked Mia to set up a meeting with Joel about the international fashion show. He was going to do that anyway since Joel had to meet him with the reports of the other fashion brands he’d sent him to visit outside the count
Rina wished she could have coffee at the coffee place across the street from the fashion house, but it only took one appearance to get people talking, she had to make do with preparing her coffee from home. Today, because the weather was hotter than normal, she made a tall glass of ice cappuccino and went through the hassle of taking it along with her in a taxi, because she still didn’t think it was time to take her car to work.The taxi driver was warm today, even attempting to smile as she got in. She had a pair of dark shades on as well as her regular vintage scarf that never ceased to tag along each time she stepped out of the cottage. But sometimes, people recognized her through the camouflage and constant change in hair color. This time, Rina wasn’t sure if the driver knew she was the one.She alighted a stone's throw from the back door of the fashion house and managed a thank you when the driver wished her a beautiful day. She was still reeling from how politely she had been tr
She was out of the office only a few minutes after she’d walked in initially, taking the same route out. Rina was careful to keep her sunshades on, and her scarf lowered, almost covering the whole of her forehead and keeping her pink hair away from the view. Kayla texted her a location. Fortunately, it wasn’t such a distance from the fashion house.When Rina got there, she took a deep breath at the glass doors of the diner before stepping in. She remembered the place. Finn had taken her there for a celebratory dinner when she told him she was pregnant. Rina knew Kayla purposely chose that place to remind her of everything she’d lost, everything she wasn’t getting back.But Rina was determined not to crack. Especially not in the face of Kayla.Holding her head high, she breezed in, handing her jacket over to someone at the door. Kayla was seated at the spot closest to the window, and even if Rina didn’t think it was a good idea for her to be there, she couldn’t back out now.“I’m only