The Lies of His Father

Chapter - 16

We all get a chance to see Semiha Yildrim again - just a little bit differently, she still is not the cuddly grandmother though!

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Eda gave a funny little laugh, turning in Serkan's arms, "You know how Efe was from Mardin? And Erdem said that the place felt evil? Well, there is someone in Mardin that is actually evil and has the kind of money to buy and sell the holding."

Serkan frowned at Eda, "Who?"

"You remember me telling you about her, my grandmother, Semiha Yildrim. She is evil and she has the kind of money that could finance something like this. It wasn't until Erdem said evil that I put her name with Efe. If it's her Serkan then we have every right to be afraid. I think we should call Efe and ask."

Serkan could tell Eda was getting upset, he felt her breathing change, he didn't need her panicking. Serkan started rubbing her back in small circles.

Serkan got Efe on speaker, "Efe? Serkan Bolat."

"To what do I owe this pleasure? Or did you just miss me?"

The rest of the people in the room were frozen listening to the call, "Cut the crap Efe, I have a very real question to ask and would like to request that you answer honestly for once."

Efe was silent.

"Is Semiha Yildrim your silent partner?"

Efe was still silent.

"Should I take that as a yes?"

"Serkan, take me off speaker."

"No Efe, these people are my family, they need to know what we're up against. So it's her?"

He sighed a defeated sigh, "Yes. I'm sorry, I never wanted to be a part of her scheme but she had me hostage financially. My partner had us on the brink of financial ruin. If I didn't help her she threatened to destroy my business irrevocably. I would have lost everything. My employees would have lost everything. My reputation would have been in the toilet, she was going to see to that. How did you figure it out?"

"It was Eda, she figured it out. Rather she offered it as a guess." Serkan was still holding Eda close but moved her to a chair so she could sit. She still wanted him close, she couldn't let go of him.

"What are her plans, do you know?"

"She wouldn't divulge them. Please believe me, I tried to protect you as much as possible. She doesn't know about Aptekin. I didn't tell her about all the work that you had done to clean up the holding. Whoever had the idea to clean house had a good one, it takes away some of her ammunition."

Serkan looked at Pyril, grateful for her cool head, "That was Pyril. Pyril suggested that we get our house in order then Ceren and Ferit did all the heavy lifting to clean the books of any of Aptekin's trash. There shouldn't be anything left that is within statute of limitations correct Ceren?"

"We triple checked that Serkan. We went through all the corporate filings with a fine tooth comb. Ferit tracked through deals and back room deals to make sure that the holding is as clean as possible. Ferit? We didn't miss anything did we?"

He shook his head, "No, we dug deep Serkan. The only other thing was Eda's parent's but your father is liable for that, it has nothing to do with you or your mother."

"Efe? We know that you know about Eda's parents, we can assume that Semiha hanim knows. Is that something that she is planning on using?"

"I don't know. She's had the money and power to come after Aptekin Bolat any time over the past eighteen years and has never done so. I don't know why she's waiting to do this now. Eda, I'm sorry, that's why I tried to get you to come to Italy with me. I thought that I could get you out of her clutches. If there is anything that I can do to help please let me know. My association with her is done. I'm still not out of the woods financially but I think I can carry on from here. And Serkan, you have one other thing to worry about."