“Ma’am,” Igor started the minute Rina ended the call. “I couldn’t help but overhear you telling someone you were going to spend the night at their place. I’m sorry, but that might be impossible. Mr. Graham left strict instructions for us to take you to his mansion. Susan is already expecting you.”
Rina regarded him through the rearview mirror, mulling over what he’d just told her in her head. Although she knew it would be a great opportunity to see Susan again after so long, Rina also needed to talk to George. They were time-stretched already, and if she was going to come right back at the public, Rina was going to need a concrete plan. She couldn’t do that from the comfort of Zayn’s mansion, especially given the fact that he wasn’t home.
“I will call him,” Rina said, retrieving her phone again. It felt like Zayn was hanging around his, waiting for the call to come through, because he picked up the minute her call went through.
“Rina,” he breathed. “Are you settled in? I didn’t think you would be home by now.”
“I’m not,” Rina replied. “I just wanted to discuss something with you quickly seeing as Igor wouldn’t let me go until you give your consent. I need to go over to my manager to talk about something tonight over dinner and it just might run into the night. I might have to sleep there.”
The silence was loud and uncomfortable, a contrast to the usual peace Rina felt each time she was with Zayn, even when he said nothing. She shifted in the car seat and looked at Igor again. His eyes were back on the road, and Rina knew he wasn’t listening in anymore.
“Where does George live?” Zayn asked after what felt like forever.
“Zayn…”
“I need to know you are safe, Rina. We have talked about this before. It’s not only about the contract and what might fly if someone sees you in the house of a man late at night. I also need to be sure that the media won’t arrange themselves to hurt you again. I need to be able to control the situation, Rina.”
“You can’t control everything,” she whispered, feeling her resolve gradually weaken. It was hard fighting against Zayn, as most of the time, his arguments were always logical. If he didn’t allow her to go, she was either going to have to do it either way or go over to his mansion, like he wanted.
“I can,” Zayn answered without skipping a beat. “Igor will take you there. I know how much your career means to you and I’m not going to be a hindrance to your comeback, so do whatever you have to do. Just ensure you are safe.”
“Okay.”
“And my men are going to be outside George’s house as well. You can’t tell me not to do that,” he said quickly, sensing her protest coming up. “Let’s call it a compromise. I let you go over there, and you agree to my men staying out the window. They would barely be noticeable so you have nothing to worry about. Just have a lovely dinner.”
Rina sighed and nodded. Realizing he couldn’t see her, she said, “Okay.”
Delivering Zayn’s message to Igor, he turned the car around and followed the directions Rina gave him. George lived in a high-rise building in the middle of town, so he could easily get to wherever he wanted, due to the nature of his job. Igor pulled out in front of the building in a few minutes, and Rina thanked him before stepping out of the car. He got down as well, walking her to the entrance while scanning the area, looking for any strange person or the faintest semblance of a threat.
Although Rina didn’t really fancy it, she understood that Zayn was only doing that for her own safety, but of course, there was always what he stood to gain from it. Refusing to think about it just yet, Rina called George to inform him that she was there, and in five minutes, he appeared, buzzing Rina into the pristine-looking lobby. Igor nodded in acknowledgment to George before disappearing away from view.
“What was that about?” George asked. “Did you get a bodyguard? Of course, that would be totally necessary due to the recent events. The news covered what was done to your cottage, and I was going to suggest getting you a security detail during dinner.”
Rina didn’t know what to tell George, since she couldn’t easily announce that Igor wasn’t exactly her bodyguard, but was instead one of Zayn Graham’s men. She could already imagine George asking why she had Zayn’s man walking around with her, and Rina didn’t want to be tongue-tied at that moment.
So she ignored the question, commenting on how she had never been to his home since he moved there. They had always met either on-site or in Scottsdale Entertainment’s headquarters.
“That’s true,” George muttered as they got into the elevator and he hit the button with the number five. “When I finally moved here with Isaiah, you had already retired so we weren’t exactly keeping in touch only when there was a mail I needed to forward to you.”
“Yeah,” Rina nodded. It felt like ages ago.
The elevator door opened to a long hallway, with flowers lining the floor. George led her to the last apartment on the floor, and the door opened the minute George brought out his card from his pocket, almost like Isaiah had been waiting at the other end.
He rushed out into the hallway, his dark skin shining under the glow of the white lights, fussing about Rina. Although, they only had a cordial relationship when he worked sets that Rina starred in, they became closer when he started going out with her manager.
“It’s been a minute,” he gushed, standing in front of her. “I’m so excited you are here.”
“Can we just let her get in and catch her breath for a minute?” George asked, pulling Isaiah to himself and throwing an apologetic look at Rina. But she didn’t mind it at all. For the first time since Kayla, she felt like she was making new friends with the ones she already knew.