The Price of Pride

Chapter 38

What she needs is time to regroup. She can't believe Emir fooled her. She can't believe Hikmet fooled her. That old goat was getting better this whole time and they let her believe he was going to be paralyzed and silent forever. She has to figure out how to spin this. And for that, she needs time. Staying in the hospital right now is her only choice until she can figure out how to get out of this. Emir is her son. Suna is her daughter. Surely she can use that to convince them she's not guilty of anything. Surely she'll be able to get their sympathy. She's not going to give up yet.

Her nurse walks in at that point. She quickly changes her whole demeanor to seem as if she's weaker than she really is. Getting shot had hurt, but the wound had been mostly harmless. She had just bled a lot, which is why she's still able to be in the hospital. But she can't imagine they'll let her stay much longer.

"Your lawyer is here," the nurse tells her after making a few checks of the various monitors Cavidan is attached to. "The police said he could have ten minutes with you. Are you up for a visit?"

"I can do ten minutes, I suppose," Cavidan says softly, adding a bit of a breathless quality to her speech to further convince anyone of her fragility. "I'm still so tired. It's a good thing I'm in this lovely hospital with you lovely people looking after me."

The nurse just gives her a stern nod and leaves. Cavidan scowls after her, silently cursing the woman for her terrible bedside manner. But then her lawyer comes in, and based on the serious look on his face, he doesn't have anything good to say.

"Cavidan hanım," he greets, pulling a chair to sit next to her bed. Aside from the doctors and nurses, he's been the only person to visit her. She doesn't want to look any further into that or else the reality of her situation will really sink in. She doesn't want to believe her family actually hates her. Has abandoned her.

"Avukat Bey," she nods. "How is my case?"

She looks hopefully at him. If anyone can keep her out of prison it would be him. She's about to find out how wrong she is.

It's a full three hours before the lawyer leaves. Cavidan makes him go over every detail repeatedly, looking for a loophole. But there's no loophole. Hikmet has left her with nothing. She has no money. No home. No reputation. Nothing. She won't even have her freedom. With Hikmet's testimony, the criminal case against her is airtight. She will be going to jail.

"How could Hikmet do this to me?" she asks herself.

She gave that man over thirty years of her life. She gave that man two children. Yet they're all abandoning her when she needs them most.

"Anne, don't be dramatic. None of this is Reyhan's fault. You are the only one with a problem with Reyhan. So maybe the problem is you. This hatred you feel for her is only going to come back to haunt you. You are going to only regret your actions one day."

Emir's words come back to haunt her. Maybe he was right. Maybe this is her fault. Maybe she really was the problem the whole time. How else to explain losing everything while Reyhan wins it all?

Although, Reyhan doesn't seem to be winning either. Her lawyer had also explained Reyhan's current situation. Still unconscious from her fall down the stairs. Cavidan does feel a slight twinge of guilt. But it's not like she pushed Reyhan down the stairs. Reyhan could have saved herself, Cavidan manages to convince herself. The girl shouldn't have been in her way. So really, Reyhan got herself into this situation. Yes. That's it. She should have stayed in Erzurum. None of any of this would have ever happened. Cavidan warned her time and time again to go back where she belonged. Reyhan didn't listen. This is on her.

"This girl has brought nothing but trouble," Cavidan mutters, sighing out her frustration the more she convinces herself Reyhan is the ultimate source of all of her problems. Therefore the ultimate solution will be to get rid of her, once and for all. No more games. No more tricks. No more hoping Emir finally sees the light and realizes that girl doesn't belong in their world. Enough is enough. Cavidan didn't get this far by letting life happen to her. It's time she took matters into her own hands. There's only room for one Mrs. Tarhun. And Cavidan will be that one. If it's the last thing she does.