Betrayal

Chapter 32

Zain's POV

He was finally getting used to sharing his space with Valerie, allowing her to roam the place of her free will. Zoya was always at his house but she knew her boundaries and it was not like she cared about anything more than his amazing swimming pool and alcohol stash which was all in the backyard. Being close to Valerie also helped him with the nightmares. He felt more in control with her being at arms reach. She also warmed up to the idea of living with him. He noticed how distant she was being so he reached out to Daniella who advised him to open up to her. 

"Good morning", he heard her soft voice from their bedroom door. He turned to see her dressed in black jeans and a light pink t-shirt. The jeans fit her properly exposing her curved hips that always made him lose control, the pink t-shirt was on the right side making her extra fat show. At the beginning of their relationship, she was shy when it came to her nudity, he had to put some sense into her but now she was more open to the idea of wearing tight clothes and bras that were her size, which made her look sexy. She cleared her throat making his eyes return to her face. "Good morning. Are you ready?", he asked putting on his cufflinks, then grabbed the car keys. "Yes. I made coffee for you", she said handing him coffee in a travel mug. "Thank you", he said then kissed her cheek, she blushed making him smile. They went to his car as usual. When they reached the Burhan and Sons building he parked at his private lot. "Have a good day", she said nervously and he replied with a nod. The last time he was intimate with her was almost a week ago when he asked her to move in with him. He knew that she wanted to come clean with her past and was proud of her for thinking about it. He didn't want to involve his family in it, especially Rayan, he was impulsive and he did not want him involved in the situation considering he had met the Grecos already. Zain knew men like Antonio, they always relied on the fact that they could be intimidating and the money that they had did nothing to fix their behaviour. That was the only thing that mattered most.

"Zain, you have a visitor", Pauline told him when he was finishing up for the day. "Who?", he asked Pauline who checked her notepad and replied, "Antonio Greco and Boris. Should I let them come in?". He released and breath after checking his watch. "Yes sure and please tell Valerie to wait for me", Pauline smiled and left. 

The old woman knew about him and Valerie but chose not to say a thing about it. Zain knew it was because Claire and her liked Valerie, it made him smile considering how they reacted to his past girlfriends, There was a time Pauline even made one of them wait for hours in the waiting area claiming Zain was in a meeting while he was just busy responding to emails and he would have appreciated a distraction. 

"Zain. My apologies for not making an appointment. We were just in the neighbourhood and thought it would be awesome for us to pass by. I hope you don't mind", Antonio said offering a hand for him to shake. "Not a problem at all. Speaking of 'we' i was told there were two of you", he asked pretending to be confused. He knew exactly why they were in his building and seeing him was not the priority. "Oh yeah, He asked for a tour which your awesome PA offered to give him", he answered comfortably. "I bet she is enjoying a man's attention to the fullest", he replied with a smile. With the way Pauline was attentive to details, he knew that she will report to him if anything happened. "So, how do you find our City? Does it meet your expectations?", he asked pouring him a glass of whiskey. "Oh! yes, it's very calm and the women here are even more appealing. Speaking of women. I thought I would see a photo by the desk. You look like the type of guy who is committed to one lover, what gives?" Antonio asked poking him. "Well am sorry to disappoint you but I don't like advertising my private life. It's not my thing", he said clearly referring to Adira's constant need to talk about their relationship on every red carpet they went to. Antonio's jaw clenched and he recovered fast but Zain had already seen that he hit a nerve making him smirk. "You know, a woman like Adira required constant connection so if I were you, I would make sure that I am always with her", Zain told Antonio who seemed uncomfortable discussing Adira but he had to turn the attention away from him somehow. "I agree. It's a good thing that is not you then because I prefer my women on a curvy side", he said finishing the rest of his whiskey. "I hear you. I prefer curvy and dark-skinned. They are easy to please especially if you stand by your word", Zain finished his drink too and stood up, walking him to the door. He escorted him to the elevators where they found Pauline busy explaining something to a buffed guy, Zain figured he was Boris. "It was nice seeing you Zain. Am setting my office a few blocks from here so I hope to see you around", he said shaking Zain's hands one last time before they left.

"He is a weird-looking young man", Pauline said as they were walking back to Zain's office. "Why is that Pauline?", he asked. "He kept asking where the cafeteria was and I told him if he was hungry, I will arrange for the food to be brought to him but am telling you, there was something in the way he was processing my answer. He wanted to go to the cafeteria", she said sitting at her desk. Zain returned to his office. His phone started ringing, it was Valerie. "Hey... Am sorry to bother you but Pauline said I should wait for you...so should I come to your office or?", she sounded nervous making him chuckle. "No need. Meet me by my car, I'm on the way down", he replied and hung up once he heard a faint "ok".