Untangling the Web

Chapter 15

"Of course," Emir says, letting out a chuckle when she yawns. He kisses her when she's done and then lets her burrow her nose into the crook of his neck the way she likes. She throws an arm across his chest and then tosses a leg over his thigh. She sighs contently once she's settled.

He asked her once before why she goes through such a precise process before going to sleep and she'd told him that it makes her feel even more connected to him. In that position she can feel his pulse in his throat, the beating of his heart. She feels safe and surrounded by him. His heart had swelled three sizes at her explanation.

"Emir?"

She's so close that he can feel her words on his neck.

"Yes, Sevgilim?"

"Why do they hate me so much?"

Her words are soft. Quiet. But he can hear the tears in her voice. She blinks and he feels the warm, salty drop transfer from her cheek to his own skin.

He has no answer for her. He's asked himself that very same question and can't come up with a reasonable explanation.

"I don't know, love," he answers honestly. "But it's not you. None of this is your fault. This is on them because they're broken. And it's on me because I couldn't protect you. But never think you have anything to do with this."

He knows this is his mother they're talking about, but he's really starting to hate her for the way Reyhan is feeling right now. He can't understand what Reyhan did to deserve this kind of treatment. But he mostly can't believe he was so blind for so long to what his mother and Cemre were up to.

I'm so sorry, he silently apologizes. I won't fail you again.

When he looks down at her, he can see that she is asleep. He resists dropping a kiss on her pretty lips to avoid waking her. With a reluctant sigh, he slides out of the bed. The sooner they can solve this mess, the sooner he can start to plan his children's future.

He's relieved to find Kemal in his home office. Emir plops down in a chair, a huge sigh escaping his lips.

"It's going to work out," Kemal promises when he notes the hopelessness in his nephew's eyes. "This isn't all on you, Emir. I'm here with you. Zafer is here. We're not going to let you fall."

"I have babies on the way, Kemal amca. Babies. Can you believe that?" Emir asks, half amazed, half terrified. "This should be the happiest time of my life. But I'm so afraid of them being hurt. By my mother of all people."

"That won't happen," Kemal swears. "But that means we have to do something about Cavidan and Cemre. And Yonca as well."

Emir looks up at the change in his uncle's tone.

"You sound like you have an idea."

"Possibly," Kemal hedges. "The investigators came up with something that might change the game. Once we were able to tell them our suspicions about Cavidan, Cemre, and Yonca, they were able to find a connection. A man named Talaz. His number was in all their phone contacts."

Kemal goes on to explain his own connection with Talaz and all he knows about the dangerous man. If the women are hooked up with him, then he can't imagine anything good coming out of the alliance.

"How do you think this Talaz ties into this situation?" Emir wonders.

"Play the recording Zafer made and fast forward to the end," Kemal instructs.

Emir pulls out his phone and finds the terrible video his friend unfortunately captured. The last thing he wants is to watch it again. But this is important.

"This baby, if it survives, will be a problem. It's going to forever tie him to this peasant. Unless we rewrite her story again. Emir will have his child and that girl will be gone."

"So we take the baby first? And then get rid of her?" Cemre asks, confused at what Cavidan is planning.

"Not exactly," Cavidan grins, the plan starting to take shape in her head. "But close. Tell me, Cemre. Are you ready to be a mother?"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're going to raise Emir's child. Reyhan won't be a problem. Not after what I have planned," Cavidan admits.

"I'm still confused," Cemre says. "How do we get rid of her if we can't run her off or kill her?"

"She's going to finish what Hikmet started," Cavidan explains. "She's going to hire someone to kill me. We saw last time how easy it is to buy a killer and get him to say whatever we want. This time, we'll get the killer to say Reyhan hired him. We'll even make sure the money trail leads back to her. No loose ends this time. We need a professional. Didn't you say you knew a guy?"

"Talaz? I gave him your number when you wanted to have Reyhan kidnapped. Yet another plan you ended before it got started, I remind you. We wouldn't be going through any of this now if you had let him do what we wanted," Cemre sulks. Her patience running thin at Reyhan's continued presence in their lives.

"Start getting ready," Cavidan warns her. "When the time is right, I'm going to call him and get this plan started.

The video ends there and Emir is somehow as shocked hearing it again as he was the first time.

"My mother, the criminal mastermind," he tries to joke. But it falls flat. He can't hide his pain and disgust and shame at his connection to this woman.

"Emir," Kemal says, trying to offer words of comfort. "It really will be okay. We're going to stop her this time."

Emir can only pray his uncle is right. His mother needs to be stopped. Before it's too late.