Part 50
The light on Asad's call went out, and she couldn't stand the suspense. She buzzed Phyllis and asked her to come in. "What did he say?" Zoya asked her.
Phyllis bit back a puzzled smile at Zoya's complete loss of serenity. "He said he understood perfectly."
"Was that all?"
"Then he asked if your trip was a sudden, unscheduled one, and I told him it was. Is that okay?"
"I don't know," Zoya said helplessly. "Did he say anything when you told him my trip was sudden?"
"Not exactly."
"What do you mean by that?"
"What he did was laugh, but not loud. I guess you'd call it a chuckle"sort of low and deep. Then he thanked me and said good-bye."
For some reason, Asad's entire reaction made Zoya feel acutely uneasy. "Was there anything else?" she asked when Phyllis continued to hover in the doorway.
"I was just wondering," the secretary replied a little sheepishly. "I mean, do you think he has really dated Arzoo and Deepika, or do you think the movie magazines just make that stuff up?"
"I'm sure he has," Zoya said, struggling to keep her voice and face completely blank.
Nodding, Phyllis glanced at the phone. "Did you forget Hamza is still on your line?"
Horrified, Zoya snatched up the phone and asked Phyllis to close her door. "Hamza, I'm sorry for making you wait," she began, nervously raking her hair off her forehead. "I'm not having a very good morning."
Hamza's reply was amused. "I'm having a fascinating morning, thanks to you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that Khan's attorneys suddenly want a parlay. Harvey Spector called me at nine-thirty this morning so filled with goodwill that you'd almost think the arrogant bas***d had had a profound religious experience over the weekend."
"What exactly did he say?" Zoya asked, her trepidation mounting.
"Well, first Spector treated me to a lecture on the sanctity of nikkah, particularly among Muslims, which he delivered in his most pious voice. Zoya," Hamza pointed out on a suffocated laugh, "Spector is an orthodox Jew on his fourth marriage and sixth mistress! God, I couldn't believe his nerve!"
"What did you say?"
"I told him I couldn't believe his nerve," Hamza said, then he stopped trying to make her see the humor of it all because he sensed she couldn't. "All right, never mind all that. According to Spector, his client is suddenly willing to let the divorce go through, which strikes me as odd, and odd always makes me nervous."
"It isn't that odd," Zoya said quietly, ignoring the painful and irrational thought that Asad was dumping her with embarrassing abruptness after she'd gone to bed with him. He was only doing the decent thing by calling an end to hostilities immediately. "I saw Asad this weekend, and we talked."
"About what?" When she hesitated, he said, "Don't keep secrets from your lawyer. Spector's sudden eagerness for a meeting is setting off all kinds of alarm bells in my head. I smell an ambush."
Because Zoya knew it wasn't fair or wise to keep the events of the weekend from Hamza, she told him what had happened"from her discovery that Asad had purchased the Houston land to her stormy confrontation with Asad's father. "Asad was too sick to listen to me when I first got to the farm," she continued, "but yesterday I told him the truth about what my father had done, and he believed me." She didn't tell Hamza she'd gone to bed with Asad; that was something no one had a right to know except, perhaps, Ayaan.
When she was done, Hamza was silent for such a long time that she was afraid he was guessing the truth, but when he spoke, all he said was "Khan's got more control than I have. I'd be gunning for your father."
Zoya, who still had to deal with her father over his treachery when he returned from his cruise, let that remark pass. "In any case," she said, "that's obviously why Asad has decided to be cooperative."
"He's being more than cooperative," Hamza said dryly. "According to Spector, Khan is deeply concerned about your well-being. He wants to make a financial settlement for you. He also volunteered to sell you the Houston land for very agreeable terms"though at the time I didn't know what land Spector was talking about."
"I don't want, nor am I entitled to, a financial settlement from him," Zoya said emphatically. "If Asad's willing to sell us the Houston land, that's wonderful, but there's no need for a meeting with Asad's attorneys. I've decided to get a divorce right away. That's why I was calling you"I wanted to ask where I could go to that would be fast and legal."
"No" Hamza said flatly. "If you attempt to do that, Khan's offer is withdrawn."
"What makes you say that?" Zoya cried, feeling as if an invisible trap were closing around her.
"Because Spector made that very clear. It seems his client wants to do this thing properly and completely or not at all. If you refuse to meet with him tomorrow, or try to get a quickie divorce, Khan's offer to sell you the Houston land will be permanently withdrawn. Spector implied that either of those actions would be construed by his client as a personal rejection of his goodwill. It boggles the mind," Hamza concluded with heavy irony, "to discover that Khan's reputation for cold ruthlessness is only a cover to hide his sensitive heart, doesn't it?"
Zoya sank back into her chair, her attention momentarily diverted by several members of the executive committee who were walking past her office and into the adjoining conference room. "I don't know what to for so long, I don't know who he really is."
"Well," Hamza cheerfully informed her, "we're going to find out tomorrow at four o'clock. Khan wants the meeting at his office, with his attorneys, myself, and you in attendance. I can cancel an appointment. Shall I meet you there, or would you rather I pick you up?"
"No! I don't want to go. You can represent me."
"Nope. You have to be there. Spector said his client is not flexible on the date, place, or attendees. Inflexibility," Hamza remarked with a return of irony, "is an odd trait for a man of such extraordinary benevolence and generosity as we're being led to believe that Khan is by his attorneys."
Harassed, Zoya glanced at her watch. The meeting was scheduled to begin now. She was loath to relinquish the Houston land if Asad was willing to sell it back to her, and almost as reluctant to endure the emotional strain of having to deal with him face-to-face.
"Even if you got your quiet divorce," Hamza reminded her when she didn't say anything, "you'd still have to deal with the property issue after that. There's an eleven-year snarl of property rights here that can be easily unraveled if Khan is willing"or that he can drag out in court for years if he isn't."
"God, what a mess," she said weakly. "All right, I'll meet you in the lobby at Intercorp at four o'clock. I'd rather not go up there alone."
"I understand," Hamza said kindly. "See you tomorrow. Don't think about all this until then."
Edited by ...KSGmiAmor... - 10 years ago
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