Can Yaman International Presents: Aşk ve Gurur~ Love and Pride

Chapter 17: "Bir Ömür Boyu" ("For A Lifetime")

At the end of Chapter 16:  Present Day..... Remembering that day and what was at stake, I stiffened my spine. I leaned against the front of my desk and waited with my arms crossed. When the door to my office opened, I was ready. She was no longer my mother. In truth, she never had been. She was my enemy. "Hüma, so glad you could make it."

(Author's Note: Please read to the end of the chapter and leave a comment. Are you enjoying the storyline? Don't forget to vote too. Thank you!)

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"What's in it for me?" Aylin asked, suddenly losing her flirtatious manner.

Osman replied, "Oh, I don't know. Staying out of jail seems like a big incentive to me."

Aylin blew him a kiss. "Well, since you asked so nicely," she drawled and took a sip of her wine. "I went to Yiğit with what I thought was very persuasive information that his fiance' was cheating on him. Sadly, he already knew and he and your mother had a plan to nip that in the bud. They paid me handsomely. I found someone in the agency willing to swipe the photos and voila! I think you figured out the rest. I don't think he was counting on your perseverance."

I didn't bother to correct her assumptions on my relationship with Yiğit. "I want you to go away and disappear for a long time. Preferably forever," I said.

"Could be accomplished but alas," she sighed theatrically, "my well of funds has dried up and your erstwhile fiance' is very tight-fisted. He is also quite the disappointment in bed. You dodged a bullet, sister."

I ignored her impudence. "I'm willing to pay for your relocation and some more besides. But you will need to sign some paperwork in front of a lawyer."

She looked at me considering my offer and asked, "How much?"

I named a sum but she immediately rejected it. I got up to leave.

Aylin quickly responded with, "Fine. Fine. I agree. And out of the goodness of my heart, I'll tell you this... your mother is not giving up. The agency is next. From what I know, she is prepared to hit hard. If you want leverage, send hot Sherlock here to this hotel on Thursday night, after dark, and he should go in through the side door." She wrote an address down on a napkin and passed it over to Osman.

"Why are you helping her?" Osman asked, ever the suspicious PI.

She winked audaciously at him. "A crisis of conscience, I suppose. I'm really a romantic at heart. Can might as well have been gelded for the attention he paid me," she added, totally surprising me with her honesty.

"He was very nice about turning me down," she said making a disgusted face. "Told me he was in love for the first time, and that he is a one-woman sort of man." She looked at me askance and added a caustic remark. "There's really no accounting for taste." She raised her glass in a toast. "But... I wish you both well. Now where's my money?"

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Present-day.....

"Hüma, is it? I am still your mother, no matter how much you might wish it were different. Well, your rebellious years were a bit late in coming but you were always a late bloomer. I'm only here to ascertain myself that what Yiğit said is true. You've been brainwashed and I see that I need to intervene immediately."

I stood up for myself. "I'm not going to entertain your delusions. The fact is that I finally freed myself from you and your toxic idea of mothering and I've never been happier."

"I'm consulting lawyers to see how to best proceed with an annulment," she said with her usual arrogance and complete disregard for my feelings.

"There will be no annulment. Or divorce. Or whatever else your feeble, delusional mind comes up with. I'm done discussing it," I declared.