The Price of Pride

Chapter 23

Reyhan is feeling lucky. She has almost managed to escape the house with minimal damage. The earlier incident with Cavidan and the tea was harmless. It made the older woman appear desperate and scared, and only required Reyhan to change her clothes. Finding out they moved her things from her and Emir's bedroom was a hit. Reyhan will admit it. That one had hurt. Feeling unwelcome and unwanted by Cavidan isn't new for Reyhan, but it still hurts.

But she survived. And the day is almost done. It's time to go back to the safety of her real home. While saying final goodbyes to Hikmet for the day, Reyhan is left alone with her uncle while Emir goes to have Sefer bring the car around for them.

"You really have to get better now, my dear sweet uncle," she tells the man. "You can't miss out on reaping the fruits of your labor. Who would have thought this marriage would work out. But you know what? We're happy."

The confession brings a smile to her face. And if she looks hard enough, she can almost imagine her uncle is smiling too.

"Nothing but good days from here on out," she promises him. "You raised a good son. And he knows how to love me. I'm happier than I could have ever imagined."

When she hears the door open behind her, she turns around, thinking it's Emir. But the smile drops from her face when she faces the one person she didn't want to see.

"Cemre."

"I guess it was only a matter of time before the trash blew back in," Cemre sneers at her.

"Not even pretending to be friendly anymore," Reyhan notices. Cemre apparently no longer sees a need to be a fake friend. "I suppose that's refreshing. I know exactly where you stand. But then again, after moving into my bedroom, I guess there's no point in pretending anymore."

"Let's face it," Cemre says. "You know it's only a matter of time before the change is permanent. Emir is meant to be mine. You're just a distraction, Canım. Now that you're back in my domain, we'll see who wins."

"This isn't a game, Cemre. This is my marriage. My life. My family." Reyhan steps up to Cemre and does something she's never done. She looks her dead in the eyes with all the confidence and self assurance she never had before. Emir loves her. She knows Emir loves her. And nothing Cemre can do can change that. "Do not try to go up against me."

Melisa tried, and failed. Reyhan isn't worried about Cemre and her petty mind tricks.

"I didn't know what I was up against before," Reyhan continues. "You had your true face hidden. But I see you, Cemre. I see you and I will fight you. Because Emir sees you too."

Cemre goes pale at that.

"Emir sees who you really are. He sees that you're no friend."

"Lies," Cemre says, her eyes starting to water. "Emir is mine. And I'm not going to let you take him from me."

"Emir was never yours, Cemre. The sooner you realize that, the better off we'll all be."

Cemre's tears turn into anger and her eyes darken. Reyhan will admit that the girl is quite scary.

"You clearly don't know what I'm capable of," Cemre says. "You clearly have no idea what all I did to you before. You're already more than halfway out of Emir's life and don't even know it."

"Before?"

"Does the name Vural ring a bell?" Cemre asks and then laughs when both recognition and panic fill Reyhan's eyes. "Of course, we didn't realize he would kidnap you. We were just setting it up to look like he was your secret lover. Do you know how easy it was to make Emir doubt you? Do you know how easy it will be to do it again? And maybe this time, the kidnapping will be an actual part of the plan. I know a lot of interesting people. People who will do anything for me. You wouldn't believe how easy it was to find someone to forge that document about the company shares."