Within an hour, Emir has the entire hospital in an uproar. But no matter how much they search, Reyhan and Cemre are nowhere to be found. Kemal has arrived and is currently on the phone yelling at any and everyone he can contact about the situation. Phrases like "how did she slip past her security?" and "how did no one see a psychopath dragging a pregnant woman out of the hospital?" come up more than a few times, but without satisfactory responses. Because by all accounts, Cemre did in fact manage to slip right by her security and apparently walked right out of the hospital with Reyhan. And nobody seems to have seen anything.
"How are they just gone?" Emir groans in frustration.
Kemal and Suna have tried to make him get back into bed and get some rest, but he has long given up the pretense of being a patient. Besides, his room is the scene of a crime. More police than doctors have been filling the space and he couldn't rest in there even if he wanted to. But he doesn't want to because it's the place where his wife was taken and his best friend was nearly killed. That room is the last place he wants to be.
Zafer is still hanging on to life according to the last update from Narin and the surgical team. He had lost a lot of blood by the time Narin's screams brought help to the room. Cemre managed to slit his throat in such a way that if Narin had let go of where she was applying pressure for even a few seconds, Zafer would have bled out completely and died on the spot. But she managed to hold on to him long enough for him to get into surgery where they're now repairing the damage. His chances of survival are hopeful.
That leaves Reyhan. Emir can't figure where she could be. The police have been questioning Süheyla and Yonca since they arrived. But neither woman have been able to give them any clues as to where Cemre has taken Reyhan. The police will be no help. Emir is on his own. Looking around, he sees that everyone is busy doing other things and he manages to sneak away unnoticed. He just needs to quiet. And some space. He needs to be able to think. There has to be a way to save Reyhan. But how?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Reyhan starts to slowly wake from the off-and-on state of consciousness she's been in since leaving the hospital. The medicine the doctor had given her took a while to get out of her system. So when she found herself a victim of Cemre's kidnapping, she couldn't do much to fight her. But now that she's coming back to her senses more, she's beginning to realize what's actually happening. And panic is starting to settle.
"Cemre?" she asks, sitting up from the spot Cemre dumped her hours before when they arrived. She stretches and discovers that just about every part of her body aches. Her hands immediately go to her belly to reassure herself that her babies are fine. She feels a little twinge of pain, but also feels relief at the kicks the babies give her in return for the poke she gives them. They seem to be okay for now. But for how long?
"Where has Cemre brought us, my little ones?" she murmurs, looking around at the empty room. She slowly gets to her feet to explore, trying the different doors to see where they lead. One is locked. The exit, she imagines. The other leads to a bathroom. And she realizes how grateful she is for this particular room at the moment.
After handling her business and washing her hands, she continues to explore the room. It doesn't take long to see that there's no getting out of this place. Not until Cemre sets her free. But she can't let that get her down. She takes a deep breath and rubs her belly to help calm herself. She just has to trust that Emir will find her. She just has to trust that everything will work out fine. Otherwise she'd be panicking right now. And panicking won't help anything. Her doctor warned her she needed to remain as calm as possible and that's what she's going to do. She can't help herself right now, but she can help her babies.
"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.
"Well like you said, when given the choice between you and me, it's obvious you'll be the clear winner. But that's only because you have something I don't have."
Cemre stares hungrily at her stomach. Reyhan's instincts kick in and she covers her belly with her hands. Cemre smiles at her reaction.
"Something tells me his choice may change when I'm the one who has his baby."
"Cemre, no!" Reyhan is in full panic mode now. "You are not getting your hands on my ..."
She stops what she's about to say when Cemre pulls the knife out and raises it to Reyhan's throat.
"You're irrelevant now," Cemre says, dismissing her and whatever she was about to say. "Say good night."
Unable to block her in time, Reyhan feels a blow to her head just before darkness takes over.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This time when Reyhan wakes up, she's still out in the main room and her head is pounding from where Cemre hit her. She slowly blinks her eyes open and looks around, noticing the front door is slightly open. Cemre is standing just outside and appears to be talking to someone. Reyhan is about to scream and alert the visitor for help when she hears laughter coming from the pair. What if the person is an accomplice? She'd end up in worse shape than she's in now.
Instead, Reyhan slowly sits up as quietly as possible. She realizes that she's on the floor, and she guesses she fell off the chair when Cemre knocked her out. Pressing her hand to her head, she notes the patch of dried blood on her temple and hopes she doesn't have a concussion on top of everything else. Her blurred vision isn't a positive sign, however. Trying to blink her vision clear, she manages to focus on an object under the chair across from her. It's Cemre's phone. She must have dropped it earlier. Still moving slowly and quietly, Reyhan reaches over to grab it, making sure not to alert Cemre at the door. She hides it just as Cemre is closing the door and turns back around.
"What happened?" Reyhan says groggily, pretending she just woke up.
"Get up," Cemre says harshly, kicking at her with her foot. "You're going back in the room."
Reyhan struggles to comply, only half of it an act. It really is hard to overcome the dizziness from the head blow as well as lever her pregnant body off the floor without assistance. But she manages and soon finds herself locked back in the room. She goes one step further and locks herself in the bathroom before pulling out the phone, smiling in triumph when she notes there's a signal. She quickly dials Emir's number.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hours have passed. Too many for Emir's liking. Reyhan has been gone all day. And he's losing more and more hope of ever finding her. He stares out the window at the changing of the guards. It's a new sight for him. But having guards patrol the property is the only way he knows to keep his family safe.
Being at home has been better than being in the hospital. He'll get a visit with a nurse twice a day to check his wound and administer his antibiotics and other medications. But being at home makes him feel safer and makes him feel as if he can do more to find Reyhan.
Just the thought of not knowing where she is ... or how she is ... takes his breath away. Suna comes into the room at that moment and rushes over to him when she hears his audible gasp.
"Abi? Are you okay?" she asks, concern filling her voice. "I knew we shouldn't have left the hospital.
"I'm as fine as I can be," he says, rubbing at a spot on his chest closer to his heart than to where he was shot. That's where the real pain is. "It was more important to be someplace I could keep you and Zeynep safe."
"Well that's what I came in here to tell you," she explains. "You might want to look in on Zeynep. I don't think she's okay with any of this. She has that image of what Cemre did to Zafer in her mind. She's terrified for Reyhan."
Emir winces. He didn't think of that. He's been so concerned with keeping them safe and finding Reyhan that he's neglected that girl.
"I'll go check on her," he says with a sigh, grabbing Suna for a quick hug when he walks past her. He needs to do better at being there for them.
When he gets to Zeynep's room, it's dark inside and he figures the girl is asleep. He's about to close the door when he hears sniffling coming from the bed. The sounds of her crying makes him feel even worse. He calls out to her.
"Zeynep? Canim? You okay?"
More crying is all he can hear. He goes to her, sitting next to her on the bed. She falls into his arms, full blown sobs breaking free.
"Shh, sweetheart. It's going to be fine. I promise you. Reyhan is going to be fine."
He just sits there holding her until she cries herself out, her tears tearing out what's left of his heart. He's never realized how connected they've all become since the moment this child came into their lives. But he can feel her pain as if it's his own and he'd do anything to make it stop.
She eventually cries herself to sleep, her head falling heavily on his shoulder.
"You're a good dad," Suna says, smiling at him from the door. "She's lucky to have you and Reyhan."
He gives a small smile, brushing Zeynep's hair out her face. He probably should have braided it for her, the way Reyhan does.
"She makes it easy."
He tucks Zeynep into bed and presses a kiss to her forehead before leaving the sleeping girl, sending up a silent prayer that he'll have good news for her when she wakes the next morning.
A miracle happens as he gets an almost immediate answer to his prayer.
"Hello?" he says into his ringing cellphone, the whispered voice on the other end sounding like an angel. His angel.
"Emir?"
He's almost too shocked to speak when he hears her voice.
"Reyhan?"