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 might break down if she doesn’t get enough rest.”
William angled his head as he listened to Zayn, a smile playing on his lips. He nodded where appropriate and kept a laser focus, even though his head reeled with a lot of questions and reservations. And Zayn noticed that.
“What do you want to say?” He sighed again. “Just get it out of your system. It’s going to choke you if it stays in there any longer.”
“I was just wondering,” Zayn started, chuckling. “I thought you said it was just going to be a strictly formal relationship? Mr. Graham has been asking for your wife and I thought you would have gotten this sorted out since you entered into this arrangement with Ms. Powers, or is there something else happening that I don’t understand?”
Zayn stuck a tongue into his cheek and tried to rack his brain for an appropriate response. But that was quite the task since he didn’t understand what he wanted as well. Zayn was only certain about two things. One, he hated it with every fiber of his being when anyone else looked at Rina the way he did, and second, he didn’t want any feelings attached to this contract. He wanted to be able to part ways with Rina without feeling indebted to her or she to him.
“I’m just doing everything a regular man would do for the woman he’s courting,” Zayn replied, going for the easiest explanation. William had known him long enough to see through those words, but as always, he took Zayn’s words for it. “I want to take as much time as I can to ease into the marriage. Getting married to a stranger isn’t an easy thing, you know?” He added, burying a line from Rina’s most said words when it came to the subject of their getting married.
“Okay,” William said curtly. “Then, I don’t think you should take her out of the country for the weekend. She said she didn’t want you to meddle in her private business, and even though this wouldn’t count as…”
“Hold on a sec,” Zayn stopped him, holding out a hand. “I never told you that.”
“I figured. You held back while so many things happened and that is so unlike you. There could only be one reason why you would have done that, and it had to be that Ms. Powers didn’t want you to.”
“You’re smart.”
“It’s why you love me.”
Zayn chuckled, his deep baritone reverberating around the office. “Anything from town? Did Mia reach out to you?”
“Nathaniel came to the office this morning.”
“It’s a weekend!” Zayn muttered exasperatedly. “Why can’t he just let me be?”
“He stopped by at the mansion first, then went to the office when the housekeepers told him you weren’t home. I believe he is going through your fake schedule now to find out what you are up to.”
“And what’s on there?”
“An auction sale in Lesotho. He can’t go there now.”
“Yeah,” Zayn murmured. Nathaniel had been let out of prison on parole so that meant he couldn’t travel out of the country. So, there was no way he could personally confirm if Zayn had really left for Lesotho. But he could send other people on his behalf. He still had access to their father’s wealth, and Nathaniel had never been one who held on to any restrictions while spending money that didn’t belong to him.
“Tell the pilot to fly the jet to the other landing,” he ordered. “And on the pass, he should indicate that the trip was to Lesotho.”
William sent the message as Zayn spoke.
“Also, I need you to send a little something to the young Ms. of the Reese family. Rina doesn’t want her to know I’m with her yet, but I just can’t let this go easily. A parcel should suffice. Make it dramatic, just like her occupation.”
“She recently embarked on a mission to purchase a parcel of land in a district. Rumor has it that it is going to undergo a large transformation in the next couple of months and the Reese heiress wants to be part of the few people that get to benefit from that.”
“Make that impossible. Purchase the land. Triple whatever she was going to pay in the first place.”
William nodded.
“And she has to get the message clear so send her a note to her office. Scan it for prints before making the delivery. Tell her not to mess with Rina Powers again if she doesn’t want to lose more than a land. I’m taking it easy on everyone because we’re yet to get married. But the minute we get past that, I would have no reason to hold back anymore. They need to get ready for me.”
“Who needs to get ready for you?” Rina questioned as she sauntered into the office, her eyes moving from William to Zayn.