Even with the whole chaos outside her cottage, Rina refused to step out of her house when she had done nothing wrong. So when Zayn’s man insisted they had to leave, she wrapped her hands around her frame and looked up at him defiantly, still seated on the couch.
“No.” Her voice was strong and assertive, even though a mixture of egg white and yolk dripped from her hair and face down to her body, staining her robe and skin. “Why should I run away from my own home? That’s a cowardly act.”
The man tried to be patient, seeing as he didn’t have any other option. Zayn had left strict instructions to be gentle with her, unless he wanted that day to be his last.
“Ma’am,” he started, trying again. “The window in your kitchen has been broken. That means it is only a matter of time before the angry fans out there gains total access into your home. You cannot be in here when that happens, because whoever leaked your address meant war. So, you need to leave here now.”
Rina shook her head. It made no sense to scurry out of a home she had purchased with her money, leaving it to the hands of people who had gotten the wrong idea. She tried to imagine her cottage in ruins by the time she returned, and the thought made her shudder.
“They are not going to hurt me, are they?” Rina questioned, even though she knew the answer to that. It just felt like a lot of sacrifice she was about making. Too much even.
Another glass broke in the near distance, and Zayn’s man walked back to the kitchen to shut the door, twisting the knob to buy them a few more minutes. In that second, Rina was grateful she hadn’t gone for an open-plan kitchen like she’d first suggested. She would have been at the mercy of the men out there already.
Zayn’s man didn’t return to the living room. Instead, he stood there by the door and retrieved his phone, calling a number on his speed dial. An imposing voice picked up.
“Miss Powers doesn’t want to leave her home,” he said, his thumb tucked into the weapon holder he had on. “Mr. Graham said we shouldn’t use any form of force on her but we don’t know what else to do.”
“Give me a minute,” the voice said. Silence took over for a couple of seconds, before the man heard Zayn’s unmistakable voice. From force of habit, he became more at alert.
“Hand the phone over to her,” Zayn said, not bothering with any formality.
The man returned into the living room, and stood in front of Rina, nodding slightly before stretching his hands, with the phone in his palm. She peered at him, before grabbing the phone, taking a look at the caller ID, which didn’t even give her any clue as to the identity of the person on the other end of the call, before placing it against her ears.
But Rina knew who it was even before he spoke.
“Go with him, Rina.”
She swam with butterflies the moment she heard his voice, arching like he was right in front of her. Even if he was with her just the previous night, and despite the fact that a part of her had wanted him gone at the time, needing her space to go over what had happened, Rina realized with a start how much she missed him. There was a huge difference to the way she felt when he spoke to her in the same room, and when he did over the phone. Right then, she wanted him to be with her.
“Rina?”
“Yeah,” she sighed and got off the couch, rolling her eyes when she realized it was stained with the eggs that had been tossed on her. “I can’t leave my home, Zayn.”
“Yes, you can,” Zayn murmured. “Rina, I don’t want anything to happen to you, but you’re making it really difficult for me to protect you from miles away. Nothing will happen to your cottage. And even if something does happen, I will purchase another one for you.”
“Zayn, you can’t just do something like that in the blink of an eye. This is the only home I’ve known since my career went to ruins. I can’t just let go if it like that without a fight.”
“You are going to fight, Rina,” Zayn sighed. “I’m certain you’re going to because there’s nothing I can do or say that will stop you. But for now, can you just keep yourself safe? You need to be fine to fight back, don’t you?”
Rina knew he was right, and even if she wanted to argue it out, she knew there was no point. If she stayed there, she would only be toast. And that was no way to get back at the entertainment industry for tossing her out into the streets.
“Okay,” she muttered. “I will go with him.”
Zayn let out an audible sigh of relief before asking the phone to get returned to his man. He instructed him to take Rina to his mansion, because no one apart from William and Susan knew about the villa. He knew Susan would know what to do if Rina went to her.
“What is your name?” Rina questioned the moment the call clicked dead.
The man blinked so fast.
“Your name,” she repeated. “I need to know who you are before following you.”
“I’m Oleg.”
“Russian?”
He nodded.
“Okay. Give me a few minutes. I can’t go out looking like this.”
The kitchen door pushed from behind, alerting them to the fact that the people outside had finally gained access into the kitchen.
“I’m afraid we don’t have minutes,” he said, grabbing her hands. “We have to leave now.”
“But my stuff…”
“We can come back for them after getting you to safety. Besides, our men are out there. They just can’t act until you are out of the house.”