The night of the gala had arrived and everything was in a flurry of preparation. It's almost time for them to make their appearance, so Emir goes to the room they set aside in the banquet hall as their dressing room to see if Reyhan is ready.
"Don't come in here!" Emir hears from inside the room and it makes him immediately want to do the opposite. He tries the door, but only finds it locked. So he begins to knock.
"Reyhan? Reyhan, is everything okay? Let me in, Honey," he pleads, still knocking.
He's surprised when it opens and one of the event coordinators slides out of the room.
"Slight change of plans," the woman says, shoving a new tie set at him. "You're wearing this instead."
"You look beautiful, I swear," he hears Suna say to Reyhan from inside the room. And he becomes even more suspicious.
"What's going on?" he asks. "I thought my outfit was supposed to be coordinating with Reyhan."
"Like I said ... slight change of plans." The coordinator looks covertly over her shoulder before nudging him a bit further away from the door. She lowers her voice to say, "Let's just say the babies had a bit of a growth spurt. The other dress wasn't quite working for us anymore."
"Oh," Emir immediately understands. He made the mistake a few days earlier in mentioning how her stomach had gotten so much bigger since they've been at the ranch. She wasn't happy with him. He's since learned his lesson.
"No worries. We came prepared for this possibility, especially when I found out you two are expecting twins. I know at this stage, things can be a bit unpredictable."
"No, no, no," Suna pleads. "Don't start crying now!"
Crying? That's more than Emir can take. He pushes past the coordinator and goes into the room.
"Everyone out," he orders.
Everyone quickly obeys, the make up artist attempting to give one last swipe of some kind of powder before getting a scathing glare from Emir. She follows everyone else out the door, leaving Emir and Reyhan alone.
"Deep breath," he tells her, grabbing her hands and giving them a squeeze of reassurance. "Just relax. It's just the two of us in here now."
"Emir, look at me," Reyhan sniffles. "I look ...."
"Beautiful," he interrupts her. "You look beautiful and amazing. I've always loved you in blue. This dress is incredible."
He pulls her into his arms and holds her for a few minutes until she calms down even more. When she pulls away, she has a slight smile on her face. She turns to the mirror and smooths the front of her dress with her hands, outlining her very visible bump.
"I guess we're making an announcement tonight," she laughs. "These babies refused to stay hidden any longer. People are going to definitely know we're pregnant."
He comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her, his hands joining hers on her belly.
"Your beauty will distract them," he says huskily. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath of her scent. "You smell incredible too."
"Emir," she warns him. "They're expecting us out there any minute."
Nevertheless, she leans her head to the side when he places a kiss on her neck. The small nibble to her bare shoulder sends shivers down her spine and she indulges him for another few seconds before a noise from behind them brings them both back to their senses.
They turn to see their now red faced event coordinator at the door, clearly embarrassed to have witnessed and interrupted the romantic moment.
"Ten minutes," is all she says before closing them in the room again.
Reyhan gives him a scolding glare, but Emir just grins and shrugs. He has no regrets.
"What can I say? It's your fault for being so irresistible," he says with a wink. "I can't keep my hands off of you."
She just rolls her eyes and finishes dressing. He's relieved she seems to have calmed down. Mission accomplished. The rest of the evening should be no problem now.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
By the time Cavidan and Cemre arrive, the gala is in full swing.
"I'll meet you inside in a minute," Cemre tells her. "I have one thing I need to check on."
Cavidan nods and heads inside. She barely makes it to her table before she's descended on by a hoard of her society friends.
"Cavidan, Canim. You've finally made it."
Each woman greets her with a hug and a kiss and she has to hide her surprise at their greeting. These are the women she's been trying to get into their ranks for the past 30 years. When she married Hikmet, she was a poor nobody. The society women treated her like a poor nobody and she vowed to become an influential part of the group. However, no matter how hard she tried, or how much money Hikmet made, there was always an invisible barrier she couldn't infiltrate.
Tonight, that barrier seems to be gone. They must not know of her unfortunate change in living situation. But after tonight, that situation will no longer exist. Her son's own poor nobody will be out of their lives and Cavidan will be back to the place she belongs.
"You must be so proud," one of the women tells her. "Your bride is a perfect angel."
All the women beam and nod in agreement. She keeps a smile on her face, but inside, Cavidan is scowling.
"She looks like a princess," another one says. "And you must be tickled pink about the baby. She's positively glowing this evening."
"Your son is so lucky," a third adds. "Such a beautiful, kind soul. You chose well, Cavidan. A mother couldn't ask for better for her son. I'm tempted to go to her little village and find a bride of my own. My son could use a woman just like her."
Cavidan is speechless. She has no idea what to say to any of this. That girl actually made a good impression on the very group she's been trying to hide her from this whole time. Cavidan takes a good look around and admits that the gala does appear to be a success. Perhaps she hasn't been as fair to Reyhan as she could be. Perhaps Reyhan is the key to getting what she wants with this crowd.
"I think you all are giving credit to the wrong person."
Cavidan looks up and sees that her old friend Esma has joined the group. She hasn't seen or spoken to Esma since that unfortunate match making attempt between Emir and her daughter Nehir. But really, how was Cavidan supposed to know that Emir would be bringing Reyhan along and mess everything up? Esma is putting the blame in the wrong place.
"What do you mean, Esma?" one of the other ladies asks.
"Why don't you ask Cavidan hanim where she's living these days," Esma smirks. "Ask her why she isn't living with that beautiful bride. Ask her why she tried to turn my poor daughter into a homewrecker, promising us Emir was ready to make an offer."
"You were a more than willing participant, Esma," Cavidan reminds her, trying to deflect the attention off of herself. But it's too late. She can already see the once admiring looks in the other women's eyes turn to disdain and judgement.
"Cavidan hates her bride," Esma continues. "What you're seeing tonight are the results of a young woman overcoming all the obstacles thrown at her by her own mother in law."
"I did hear Emir found the trashiest house in the slums for her," one of the women whispers. "That he put her out of the mansion."
"Nonsense, Canim," Cavidan says. "The mansion is being renovated to make a new nursery. I've been staying with dear Cemre. You know she and Emir have been friends since they were babies."
"I also heard she wanted Emir to marry Cemre, and not this village girl," the same woman whispers. Cavidan can't help but wonder where she's getting her annoying, but very accurate, gossip.
"Ladies ...." Cavidan tries to get the conversation back on track, but it's too late. She's lost them. They drift to the other side of the room and continue to glare at her and whisper.
"That peasant ruined everything for me again," Cavidan grumbles.
"What was that?"
Cavidan jumps when she hears the voice from behind her. She spins around and is shocked to see Emir and Reyhan. She pastes on a smile, hoping he didn't hear what she said.
"Oğlum. Kızım," she says loud enough in hopes that the women across the room hears and believes she actually cares for this peasant. She gives each a hug and kiss. "You've done an amazing job. You've both done the Tarhun name proud. You've done me proud."
Emir and Reyhan give each other perplexed looks at the unusual display of kindness from Cavidan.
"And look at you," she says to Reyhan. "You certainly look ... robust."
She reaches out a hand and gives Reyhan's stomach a quick pat before quickly pulling it away and wiping it on the skirt of her dress.
Cavidan gets a surge of pleasure at the slightest gleam of tears in Reyhan's eyes. Good. She needed to be knocked down off her pedestal.
"Anne ..." Emir starts. But Reyhan grabs his hand and gives her head a slight shake.
"You enjoy yourself, Cavidan hanim," Reyhan says, perfect hostess smile in place. "Thank you for coming this evening. Dinner will be served shortly."
Cavidan grins even wider at her retreat. This suddenly is fun again for her. She can't wait for the main event. By the end of the night, Cavdian is going to make sure Reyhan is out of their lives for good.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Where are you?" Cemre snaps into the phone. The other line is silent for a moment before the deep voice answers her.
"I'm in place," he assures her. "The job will be done tonight. Both targets will be dead before this party is over.
"Pay close attention," Cemre orders. "You need to be ready as soon as the other shooter aims for Cavidan. Only where he's being paid to wound, I'm paying you to kill. Are we clear?"
"Perfectly."
The shooter hangs up the phone and looks to his companion.
"I take it you believe me now," he says to Talaz.
Talaz's frown deepens at the conversation he just heard.
"This is just professional courtesy," the shooter continues. "I'm letting you know that if you didn't get paid up front, you may not get your money. Because I'm about to kill your client."
With that, he walks away to go get in place, leaving Talaz with a big mess on his hands.
"Cemre," Talaz growls. "What have you done, crazy girl?"
He paces frantically for a few minutes, trying to think of what to do now. Cemre has ruined the plan. And not only is he now at risk of not getting paid, he's also in danger of getting caught.
"Crazy, crazy girl," he says again, pulling at his already scraggly hair. "You want to change the plan on me, then I'll change it on you."
Cemre is on her own now. Time for Plan B.
He takes out his phone and sends a message to his own shooter.
"Abort mission. Get out now."
A few moments later, Talaz sees that his message has been received. If Cavidan is dying tonight, he won't have any part in it. He has no problem with her dying. Other than not getting his money. But if people are going to be dying, then special arrangements need to be made to ensure his continued freedom. He's not about to end up in jail because some crazy girl decides to go off on her own.
But he can make sure he has some leverage. A bargaining chip in case things go bad for him.
"Reyhan Tarhun. Where are you kızım?" Talaz scans the room from his hidden spot.
There she is. She's walking towards the restrooms. He slips down the side corridors used by the wait staff and goes to corner her. If he's fast enough, he can grab her before she has a chance to make a sound and have her out the back door before anyone notices.
He catches her right when she's pushing the door open. His heart races at the perfectly executed plan. But just when he has her almost to the door, he's stopped by the press of a gun barrel to the back of his head.
"Let the lady go," the voice says. A hard, gravelly voice to rival his own.
Talaz considers making a run for it, using his hostage as cover. But he notices several other men in police uniforms stepping out of the darkness around him. It appears he's been trapped.
"Hands in the air," the voice orders. Talaz briefly considers his options one last time, but realizes he has no move but to obey. So he does.
"Emir," he hears Reyhan whimper as she falls into her husband's arms.
As the cops begin to put him in handcuffs, he can't help but smile.
"What's so funny?" Emir asks, holding his wife a safe distance away.
"What's funny is that I'm not the one you should be worried about," Talaz grins. "There's a much bigger game going on here. I was just trying to do you a favor, actually, and get your sweet little wife to safety. Someone wants to kill her."
"What?" Reyhan gasps. She lifts a hand to her head as a dizzy spell hits.
"Zip it, Talaz! Emir bey, don't listen to him," the detective warns. "Get your wife out of here. We'll handle the rest."
"You could do that," Talaz teases. "But you'll never see your mother alive again."
"Talaz!" the detective warns again.
But he misses the rage that flashes in Emir's eyes as the man charges Talaz, grabbing him by the collar.
"What are you talking about?" Emir yells, grabbing the man tighter. "What's happening with my mother. We know all about the fake shooting you're setting up."
Talaz just shrugs, that smug grin never leaving his face.
"Then I guess you know everything ... or do you?"
Emir wages a silent war with himself for a few moments before finally looking at Talaz.
"What do you want?"
"First, set me free," Talaz offers.
"Not gonna happen," the detective says, cutting off any possibility of whatever deal Talaz was attempting to propose. "But, you tell us what we need and we'll forget this attempted kidnapping happened."
"And the alleged fake shooting," Talaz counters.
"Agreed," the detective says, drawing a protesting growl from Emir. "Now talk."
"I was hired for a fake hit. But someone else apparently wanted a more permanent solution to the problem and hired a second shooter to actually kill your mother and your wife."
"Someone else?" Emir asks. "What do you mean..."
Realization hits and Emir can hardly believe what he's hearing.
"Cemre? Cemre did this?"
"You might want to save your meltdown for later," Talaz suggests. "My shooter is gone. But Cemre's is set and ready. Your mom has precious few minutes left."
"Get him out of here," the detective orders two of the officers. He hands Talaz over to them and they take him to the waiting police cars.Then he turns to the rest of his team and issues orders. "You two, stay with me. You two, find Cemre. The rest of you, find that shooter. Now! Go!"
"I have to get to my mother," a panic stricken Emir says, running back into the gala.
"Emir, stop!" Reyhan calls after him before turning to follow.
The detective just curses at them both and barely manages to catch Reyhan before she runs into danger. He hands her over to the two remaining officers and then runs after Emir himself.
The detective is about ten feet away from Emir when he realizes he's too late. That he's not going to make it. Maybe it's years of experience. Maybe it was the slight movement to his left that alerted him to the gun a mere split second before it goes off.
"Gun!" he yells. "Everybody down!"
His own shot at the attacker finds its mark, but is too late to stop the bullet already on its way to its intended target. The ballroom erupts into a panic of sound and motion, but it doesn't stop him from hearing a heartbroken scream.
"Emir!"