Untangling the Web

Chapter 28

"Your daddy will save us," she says, continuing to rub her stomach. "He'll find us and he'll save us."

She has to believe that.

Cemre's sudden entrance into the room startles her and she can't help but jump at the surprise.

"You're awake finally," the girl says, scowling at her. "You slept for so long. Come on. We have things to do and you're making us late."

"What things?" Reyhan asks suspiciously. "What's going on here? Why have you taken me? Where have you brought me? Where's Emir?"

Reyhan doesn't necessarily want to stay in this room, but she feels she's safer here than going anywhere else with Cemre. At least for now.

"Did you hear me? Where's Emir? I'm not going anywhere until I know he's okay."

Cemre just rolls her eyes.

"You don't have room to be making demands. Now come on!"

Cemre grabs her arm and drags her out of the room and into another room. She throws Reyhan into a chair and then sits across from her, lifting a cell phone.

"Here's what's going to happen," Cemre explains. "You're going to make a little video for Emir. An "it's been fun, but now I'm leaving you" video."

"Cemre, what are you talking about?" Reyhan asks in disbelief. "Emir has to know by now that you've kidnapped me. He's not going to believe I just left him."

"Then make him believe!" Cemre screams.

Reyhan can see that she's unraveling. More than usual. Before, Cemre was able to maintain a semblance of normal. It wasn't until after Reyhan returned after that summer of being away from Emir that Cemre began to show her true face. And unfortunately, Reyhan was the only one who saw it. But now, Cemre isn't even trying for normal anymore. If she's managed to escape police custody and her first thought was kidnapping Reyhan, then her grasp on sanity is completely gone. Nevertheless, Reyhan tries to reason with the unreasonable.

"You know that no message or video will be able to convince Emir," Reyhan starts. "No matter what I say or how I say it. I love him and he knows I love him. We have an unbreakable bond."

"You don't know Emir the way I know Emir," Cemre counters. "We've known each other all our lives. You can't just show up out of nowhere and steal him from me."

"That's not what happened and you know it. Emir and I are together because we love each other and want to be together. Emir never loved you in that way, Cemre. Emir will never love you in that way. Even if you manage to break us apart, our love will still remain."

"No! No!" Cemre screams, eyes closed and head shaking furiously. "You're nothing to him. Emir is mine and as soon as you're gone, I'll have him."

Reyhan is starting to get nervous at the way Cemre is melting down, but she pushes even farther. Because she can't just sit there and do nothing.

"You had 30 years to get him to choose you. He never did. And he never will."

Cemre is silent for a long time after that and Reyhan fears she may have broken her. She stares into the distance for a while before finally appearing to come to some sort of decision.

"You're right," Cemre says after breaking the silence. "You've twisted his mind in such a way that he can't see anything but you. So maybe I have to give him ... other options."

Reyhan's stomach drops. She doesn't like the sound of that.

"What do you mean by other options?" she asks, even though she's not sure she wants to hear the answer.