It's been four days since Baba announced that she had to marry Zayne.
The front of the manor was chaos.
Beyond the estate's iron gates, the press had gathered in droves. Cameras flashed like relentless lightning, voices clashed in a restless storm, and the weight of their presence pressed against the estate like an inevitable tide.
Security held the line. The guards stood firm, unmoving, but it was clear—the barrier was thin. The world outside was hungry.
Mama sighed.
She stood near the window, wrapped in a silk robe, eyes lingering on the distant treeline beyond the crowd. The weight of inevitability pressed against her.
"This is my fault," she murmured.
Nadia glanced at her. "Mama?"
"I should have listened to your father."
Years ago, when the estate had only been an idea, her husband had suggested something different. A high-end, exclusive residential area. A place where they would be surrounded by others of their status—where they'd be a lot more privacy
But she had wanted something else.
She had wanted nature.
She had wanted trees instead of glass towers, wind instead of car horns. A home untouched by the suffocating pulse of the city.
So, ever indulgent, her husband had bought a forest.
And in its heart, he had built their home.
For years, it had been exactly as she dreamed. Isolated. Peaceful.
Until now.
Now, that very isolation made them an easy target. There were no other mansions nearby, no other high-profile families to scatter the attention.
The press had nowhere else to go.
And they weren't leaving.
Mama exhaled, pressing a hand to her temple. "He warned me," she muttered under her breath. "He said this might happen."
Nadia barely heard her.
Her phone screen burned in her palm, a never-ending flood of headlines and speculation.
— AL-FAYED HEIRESS EMBEZZLING FUNDS, THIEF OR NOT?
— THE FALL OF THE POWERFUL AL-FAYED EMPIRE CAUSED BY IT'S OWN HEIRESS.
— NADIA AL-FAYED: THE HEIRESS THAT DESTROYED HER OWN INHERITANCE.
Her jaw clenched.
She scrolled further, and the comment section came into view.
@mouseywife: imagine going down as the heiress that destroyed her inheritance *laugh emoji*
@dance_monk: i'd kill myself if i was her.
@Adgy: poor girl. Blink twice if you need help, Nadia.
Her grip tightened.
Miserable?
Of course she looked miserable. She had been handed off like a business deal and wrapped in a headline. Did they expect her to be glowing?
She exhaled sharply and threw the phone onto the coffee table.
Across the room, her father was on a call, voice smooth but edged with steel. He had been working since dawn—damage control in full force.
"No," he said into the receiver. "I don't care what they're offering. Shut it down." A pause. "If they want exclusive interviews, they can schedule a meeting with my lawyer—yes. Exactly. Tell PR to pay the news outlets to shut it"
Another problem handled. Another fire put out.
Then there was a shift.
It was slight. Barely noticeable. But it was there.
The distant hum of the crowd outside changed, rising into something sharper. A new energy cut through the chaos, subtle but undeniable.
Nadia felt it.
A maid hurried into the room, her steps quick, breath uneven.
"Sir," she announced. "Master Zayn has arrived."
The world stilled.
Papa lowered his phone. Mama straightened.
Nadia exhaled, who did she kill in her past life to receive such endless suffering.
Outside, the frenzy reached a crescendo. Cameras flashed wildly, voices doubled, tripled. Wondering who was the man so powerful he moved in an entourage of luxury cars.
The doors opened.
And there he was.
Zayn Alaric did not rush.
He did not need to.
Some men demanded attention with force, with presence carved out of noise. Zayn did not.
He stepped inside, and the room shifted around him.
It was not something that could be measured, not in words, not in movement, but it was felt. A quiet, magnetic gravity.
There was a patience to the way he carried himself, a certainty that did not waver. Confidence woven into the very fabric of his being.
He did not seek control.
He simply had it.
His gaze swept across the room, unreadable, assessing.
And then it landed on her, for a fraction of a second.
But that was enough.
Enough for Nadia to understand a single, unshakable truth.
This was the man she would marry.