Rina got off the floor in the blink of an eye, her lips parting in astonishment. “Are you sure?” Her voice came out in a whisper, and she made no attempt to correct it. There were more pressing issues, like the presence of Zayn in the apartment where her manager lived. Was he trying to blow out their cover?
“I don’t get it,” George muttered, trying to wrap his head around the sudden presence of the most powerful person in the country. He knew that as a result of the nature of his job, he interacted with influential people in the country, but Zayn was just on another level. George knew where he belonged, but the Graham family, and Zayn in particular, were way out of his reach.
Yet, he was there at the door, ringing the doorbell again.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Isaiah asked, staying rooted to the spot. “We can’t know what he wants if we leave him out there now, can we? Maybe he needs you to do something important for him.”
George took a deep breath, and cleaned his hands on his crisp black t-shirt, before pulling the door open. He swallowed as he looked up at the towering figure of Zayn, then pulled his gaze away almost immediately, staring at his dark shoes.
“Hi George,” Zayn muttered flatly, not even bothering to keep away the fact that he wasn’t really interested in anything else other than Rina. “I’m here to pick up Rina.”
“Rina?”
Zayn nodded. “Rina Powers.”
Her feet moved on their own accord, pulling her to the door. She stopped beside her manager and looked up at Zayn, feeling a burden she’d had no idea was on her shoulders all that while, suddenly easing. There was just something about him that made Rina feel so peaceful, yet, at the same time, made her experience too many different wild emotions than she knew what to do with. Her heart seemed to take a leap as she stood there, watching the man who’d only been gone for the last twenty-four hours, the same man who had told her he had no idea when he would be back.
“You’re here.” The words fell out of Rina’s lips before her brain could process them and halt them from spilling out. But a cocky smile spread through Zayn’s lips as he looked from George to Rina.
“You didn’t think I was going to just stay put knowing you were so close to harm, did you?”
“But you said you had no idea when you were coming back. I spoke to you…”
“I was already on the flight back when you called the second time,” he explained, then looked at George. “Thank you for having her over for dinner. That was really thoughtful of you. But Rina wouldn’t be spending the night here as she’d earlier planned.”
“But…” George looked like he was too frightened to speak. “Where would she be staying then? Her cottage was destroyed and we have more than enough rooms here.”
“Not totally destroyed.” Zayn barely engaged in conversations as long as these unless it was with people he cared about or a topic on business. He was only doing that for Rina. It scared him how many new things he had done just because he wanted to keep her safe. “My men were able to handle it in time. The cottage should be ready in a few weeks, but in the meantime, she would be with me.”
George and Rina didn’t know when Isaiah crossed the distance and planted himself beside them until he spoke. “Rina didn’t tell us she knows you.” Isaiah had always been blunt. It was one of his many talents the inability to mince words.
Zayn regarded Rina sweetly. “That’s because I was supposed to stay away until we figured this out. But I was hours away on a business trip, and I couldn’t concentrate because my woman was in danger and wouldn’t listen to me when I said she needed to go straight home. I hope this was productive.”
Isaiah nodded. “We were about to send mails out to some agencies before you rang the bell.”
“Well done.” Zayn meant it. He could have easily handled it himself, but if Rina wanted to do things her way, he was just going to let her have that. “Rina,” he called softly. “Come up. You must be so tired with all of that dried egg white and yolk on your hair and bathrobe. Let’s get you a warm bath.”
They had all totally forgotten about that because of their quest to find a new agency, but when Zayn mentioned it, Rina began to smell the raw eggs and it made her nearly gag. She walked back inside the living room to grab her phone before returning to the door.
“Thank you, George and Isaiah,” she gushed. “You’ve been such nice hosts and have made this a million times easier for me. Don’t forget to send out the emails we have drafted to the agencies. I’ll send you a follow-up message tomorrow.”
“I don’t mean to intrude or anything,” Isaiah cut in, his eyes bright with inquisitiveness. “But I still have one tiny question, if you both don’t mind. I know I’m not supposed to be doing this as anyone in my shoes would know better than to question Zayn Graham, but let’s assume I’m a little high on sugar right now.”
“Shoot,” Zayn replied.
“Are you both like a secret thing?”
“Yes,” Zayn said, surprising everyone in the room, including Rina. “We were going to keep it a secret until all of this dies down, but I had to blow the cover because I couldn’t stay put knowing she was in danger. I hope you keep this a secret as well. No one can find out about it.”
They both nodded, dumbfounded.
“If I hear the rumor on the lips of anyone out there, I would know it came from one of you.” It was a threat wrapped up in easy language, yet the idea was communicated effectively. George and Isaiah knew not to cross Zayn.