A Price Above Rubies

Chapter Twenty-Two

"They've taken Leon."

Hilal faints when Vecihi tells her the news. She suspects she knows why. She's not prone to swooning like some young women her age. She's only ever fainted a handful of times and two of those times had been when she'd been pregnant with Acelya and then Yorgo. 

Hilal had woken up the middle of the night a few days after they arrived in Greece to the tiniest twinge in her belly. Like a guitar string being plucked beneath her skin. It was so faint anyone else who'd never been pregnant would have likely not even noticed, but the sensation had woken her and she knew what it meant...She knew. 

She wonders if Leon got her pregnant on purpose, knowing he'd be leaving and to keep her from following him. Her husband isn't a manipulative man, but Hilal knows he would lie, steal, even kill to protect her because she would do the same for him. 

Well, it was too late now. She was here. She was also pregnant. She was also going to do whatever she had to save her husband. 

"I'm not about to leave him down there at the mercy of those monsters." Hilal insists when Yakup urges her to let him and Vecihi and Alcon handle it. 

"If we were going to do that we never would have come with you from Paris," Yildiz points out and Hilal gives her a grateful nod. 

"Leon knows we have steps in place in the event that any one of us was captured," Alcon says, pouring them each a drink as they sit in his hotel room. 

Hilal takes a small sip of her brandy so as not to arouse suspicion and then simply holds it in her hands. 

"We can't risk every man in there by going in to early just to retrieve Leon," Vecihi says before he picks up the phone and starts to dial a number. 

"You could send someone in who wouldn't arouse suspicion. Like a nurse," Hilal suggests, her heart racing. 

Vecihi and Yakup both jump to their feet and shout "No!" 

Alcon remains seated and sips his whiskey. "That could work." 

Both men glare at him.

"Send me," Yildiz insists and Hilal is surprised to see her volunteer so quickly. 

"That is out of the question," Yakup snaps, angrily but Hilal can see the panic in his eyes. 

"What did you expect us to do when you agreed we could come with you? Just sit by the fire and wait while you men went off and played hero?" Yildiz says. "Our family is down there!" Her eyes fill with desperate tears.

Ah, Hilal thinks. It's because of Ali Kemal. Sure, Yildiz cares about Leon but Hilal can tell it's her panic at losing Ali Kemal that drives her sister. 

Hilal looks at Yakup and his face has gone expressionless, hard, in that way Leon's sometimes did when he wanted to hide the emotional wound he'd just suffered. 

He knows it's because of Ali Kemal. 

"I'll do it," Hilal says. 

"Neither one of you are going in there!" Vecihi insists putting the phone down. "Now we know they're changing the passcodes. We need to find them. Otrav likely has them hidden somewhere so I just left a message asking to meet with him tomorrow. If I can get him drunk enough I can maybe find out where they are." 

"A woman can do that a lot faster than you can," Yildiz points out. 

"Yildiz-" Yakup warns but she stands up in a burst of frustration. 

"Would you stop treating me like just your wife and accept that Hilal and I can be useful!" 

Hilal knows Leon would be protesting just as hard as Yakup and she supposes she can see their point but right now she's so proud of her sister.