Betrayal

Chapter 17

Zain's POV

Zain was confused by Valerie's reaction at first but when he looked into her eyes, he knew that she did not know who he was. How was that even possible? Everyone knew who he was but then again, he never had enough focus when she was around for them to talk about his family or his life as a Burhan. "Valerie, did you honestly not know who I am?", he asked looking at her in the eyes hoping to see a lie but she looked lost instead. It was as if she was calculating things in her head. With the way her body was trembling, he knew it was bad thoughts. "I can't do this...not again", she said pushing him away. "What do you mean?", he asked watching her go back to the lift. "Valerie wait!", he tried to stop her but she didn't even turn to look at him and by the time he reached the elevator doors, she was long gone. 

When he finally reached the party he tried looking for her, but no one had seen her. He saw Liam and his assistant. He approached them, "Hello Liam", he said trying to calm himself. "Oh hello Zain, what can I do you for?", he replied cheerfully, he was already on the tipsy side. "Am looking for Valerie, have you seen her?", Zain asked hoping that they didn't catch on the way he looked nervous. Liam was suddenly speechless that the assistant had to answer instead. "Hi, Mr. Burhan. My name is Mia, I work with Valerie as well. The last time we saw her, she was heading to your office", she explained making Zain massage his temple. He left them and went to look for Yolanda. He found her with Tariq. "Yolanda, I need your help", she was about to protest but when she saw his panicked face she stood up fast and followed him to the parking lot. "What's wrong?", she asked. Zain was struggling to focus so he remembered what his shrink told him and started counting from ten to one. It worked. "It's Valerie, she didn't know that I was the president of the company and when she discovered it, she just stormed out of my office while saying 'i can't do this' i mean, I don't get it, what should I do?", he rambled hoping that his friend will give him the answers he was looking for but she remained quiet. "Zain. Listen to me. Go to the apartment and talk to her. All I know is, she dated some hotshot once and it ended badly so she has trust issues. The only way you can fix that is if she knows that you have her back no matter what", Yolanda said and it seemed to make sense. "Cover for me", he said and she nod in agreement. 

He reached the apartment an hour later. And knocked at the door a couple of times with no luck. He was about to leave when he heard the door being unlocked but not opened. When he twisted the door knob, it budged, and he said a silent thank you to his god while opening the door slowly. There she was, wearing an oversized t-shirt with puffy eyes that only meant, she had been crying, something that made his heart hurt even more. "Val, I don't know what he did to you but am not like him. Please believe me", he said with so much feelings that she looked up to meet his eyes. He saw so much hurt in her eyes that made him pull her to his chest hoping that she would feel safe and it worked. She cried like she was pulling everything out of her and all he could do was hold her. They stood in the same spot, with him holding her and Valerie crying on his shirt, he felt his shirt being soaked and he didn't even care as long as Valerie did not push him away. When he started hearing sniffs, he pulled away to inspect her face. He kissed her forehead and smiled at her, she smiled back making him less worried. "Let's go to bed", he said pulling her to the bedroom. He placed her on the bed and then removed his suit joining her afterwards. He was about to fall asleep when he heard her whisper, "Please don't let it happen again". He pretended not to hear her but made a promise to always protect her, even if his life depended on it.

"Zain? you in there?", he heard Yolanda calling him from the hallway. He looked down to see Valerie still asleep. He didn't want to wake her so he slipped out of bed carefully, walking out of the room. Yolanda was sitting in the living room looking worried. He couldn't blame her, they were close to one another and that was to be expected. "How is she?", Yolanda asked. Zain was conflicted, he wanted to say she was ok but that was not the case and even if she was not none of them knew enough to do anything about it. "I don't know Landa. You should have seen her, it was like she was traumatized. Whatever that son of a bitch did must have cut her deep. I don't even know how to help her. I feel useless", he said sitting on the couch with his hands holding his face. "Bro... all we can do is be there for her, she will decide the rest", Rayan said patting his brother on the shoulder. "Yeah, I guess you are right", he said releasing a breath. "She is the one, isn't she?", Rayan asked making Zain lift his head to meet his young brother's eyes. He did not have to answer because it was that obvious. "Go to her, she needs to feel safe and right now, only you can assure her of that", Yolanda said as they went to their room leaving him behind to process Rayan's words. He was deeply in love with her, and he was ready to move mountains for her, she was definitely the one and he was going to make her see it. He stood up and returned to bed. Valerie immediately snuggled to his side the moment he got in the sheets like she found comfort in him. It made him smile and kiss the top of her head as he circled his arms around her allowing sleep to take over.