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“Oh my God,” Neri gasped.
“Unfortunately for my uncle, Afet shared this with her drunk friends. Who shared it around town. Who brought the devil knocking on our door. They killed my uncle and aunt. They tried to kill Afet, but she was too quick. She ran to our house. She arrived just before Cem’s men did. I hid with Melike, not knowing then that it was me they were after. If I’d known...I would’ve walked right up to them and given myself up. I would’ve done anything to keep my family safe. I might not have been born to them, but I loved them. So damn much. They were good. They were kind. They weren’t murderers like Cem Kara. They weren’t rapists or child traffickers. They were decent, hard-working people who donated time and money to the less fortunate.
“And because of me—because they kept me and gave me a good life—they had no choice but to abandon their world and run.”
“So that’s why they left Turkey?”
“It’s my fault. If I’d just gone to Cem myself, they might’ve been spared. But my father never told me why we ran. He never told me who I was or how I could protect them. He only told me when it was too late to do anything...on a boat bobbing out to sea.”
“He was protecting you.”
“And by doing so, he earned the wrath of a monster.” My heart fisted at the thought of Melike falling into his grasp.
“A monster who is still looking for you,” Neri murmured, her hands bathing, washing.
I flinched. “That’s why I can’t ever go back. Everyone knows my face. Every police. Every criminal. Every politician. Cem made sure that the entirety of Turkey knows what I look like.” I laughed coldly. “Doesn’t help that I look exactly like him.”
“But...he wouldn’t kill you. You’re his son.”
“I’m his pawn. He only wants to control me.”
“Did he have any more children?”
“No. According to my father, he was shot in his groin not long after I went missing. Not sure if the bullet tore off his cock or if it was just fate refusing him another child. Either way, he never had another. I’m his one and only. Heir to his blood-soaked fortune and murderous empire.”
I shivered at how similar I’d turned out to be. How the violent urges within me were the product of being the offspring of a killer. Why I’d gone out of my way to never embrace them. Always chose calm over anger. Acceptance over fury. It was why I’d never let myself mourn my dead parents because whenever I thought of them...decomposing on the seafloor...the surge of absolute rage terrified me. Rage directed at my loved ones. At Cem Kara. At myself.
If I let go...truly let go...who the fuck knew what I was capable of.
“That’s why you don’t want me stepping foot there? Because you think he’d kill me for loving you?” Neri asked quietly.
I watched her as she rinsed between her legs, a flicker of memory and pain casting shadows over her face.
“I never want you stepping foot there because Kara still has men searching for me. He’s desperate to find me, not to welcome me into the family business but to tear me apart. He knows I’ll never be what he wants. He lost his heir the day I became an Avci, and right now, I’m his biggest enemy. I’m his greatest threat. And until he’s eliminated that threat, his empire isn’t safe.”
“But you wouldn’t go after his business. You want nothing to do with it.” Standing on one leg, Neri finished her bath with a quick scrub of her feet.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m alive. And that is not permitted.”
A cloud covered her face as she suddenly stood upright. Pieces fell into place in her horrified stare. “God, Aslan...y-you willingly hurt Ethan for me, all while knowing you’ll die if you’re deported back to Turkey?!”
“I’d kill anyone who ever laid a finger on you without your permission, askim.”
“But you can’t!” Her face twisted into fear. “You can’t, Aslan. Ever. Do you hear me? You can’t ever be caught. You can’t ever go back there.”
“I don’t plan on going back.”
“But if you ever feel the need to defend me. If you ever try to help—” She clamped both hands over her mouth before whispering, “The night you came to get me when I broke up with Joel and we kissed...you said you were stopped for a breath test.”
“I was.”
“You could’ve been arrested!”
“They didn’t ask for ID. And I wasn’t drinking. It was just routine.”
I didn’t tell her about the cop tonight. When I’d carried a semi-comatose Ethan in my arms. I’d been an illegal immigrant plotting a murder. The fact that I was still free showed fate was on my side.
For now.
