Chapter One Hundred and Eighty- Eight
Slowly, and carefully, he lowered the gun from her head. Not fully. Just enough.
To her n, it still looked like control.
To her, it felt like trust.
Her chest ached.
"This ends badly," she whispered.
His grip finally loosened. His hand slid from her arm, lingering for one last grounding second before he stepped back.
"I know," he said softly. "It always does with us."
Space returned between them, thin and dangerous.
The space between them remained taut, electric, dangerous, and neither of them wanted to move... not yet. Though it was wrong, it felt so right being in each other’s arms. Dangerously so. Every second stretched, every heartbeat loud enough to feel in the other’s chest.
Then, a sound. Low at first, distant, but unmistakable ca. Tires screeching against dirt.
Aht’s eyes flicked toward the noise, alert instantly, gun still half-lowered.
Asli followed his gaze. A car barreled through the periter, taking out two of Demir’s n in one precise, roaring sweep.
If they were all here already, then only one man was left who could do that.
"Markus!" Aht growled under his breath, recognizing the driver.
The sudden chaos shifted everything. Guns went up, shouting and confusion erupted, and in the middle of it, the mont they were locked in was broken just enough.
Aht’s grip on Asli loosened reflexively, though only a fraction, as he angled himself to protect her from the flying debris. Asli felt it too. She didn’t step away, didn’t break eye contact, but she understood, they now had a path.
The car fired again, bullets cutting through the battlefield, taking down the nearest intruders.
"Go!" Aht hissed, voice low, commanding but not cruel.
Asli’s head shook, sharp, deliberate. "No," she said, voice low but carrying over the chaos. Her eyes, still locked on his, were cold fire. "I’m here for your father. If anything, I need his head today."
Aht froze mid-step. His chest tightened. His mind raced watching her interestingly. Her hand, her aim, the fire in her eyes... she’s serious.
She took a fraction of a step back, still close enough that he could feel her presence, every muscle taut with lethal purpose. "If I don’t get it... I’ll go back to the original plan. I finish this the way it was supposed to end. I’ll kill every last one of you."
Aht’s fingers clenched around the gun, knuckles whitening. He swallowed hard. She isn’t bluffing. She could do it. She would do it. He knew that.
"You’re insane," he muttered, voice barely above the wind and the gunfire, but he ant it as both warning and awe. His eyes searched her face, trying to find a crack, sothing human or sothing that might stop her. But there was nothing. He found only purpose and resolve.
He exhaled, slow, controlled, though his body still betrayed the tension coiling through him. "You’re going to get yourself killed," he said, the words sharp but with an edge of sothing he didn’t quite allow himself to feel aloud.
She smirked, almost faintly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. "Then make sure I don’t."
Aht’s heart stuttered. In that mont, the world shrank to just the two of them again.
Aht held her gaze, jaw tight, pulse loud in his ears. "How am I supposed to keep you safe when you’re walking straight toward the one thing I won’t give you? They’re not opening the door for you," he said flatly. "Not today. Not like this."
Her eyes flicked past him for half a second, toward the door. Then back to his face.
"Do you see what my n are holding?" she asked calmly. Too calmly. "If that door stays closed, I’ll blast it open. I didn’t co unprepared."
His grip on the gun tightened. "Don’t test my patience, Asli." His voice dropped, hardening. "We can talk. We will talk. My father is innocent."
She tilted her head slightly, studying him, the corner of her mouth lifting in sothing that wasn’t quite a smile.
"Do you think?" she asked.
The question landed heavier than a bullet.
Aht hesitated. Just a breath. Just long enough for doubt to flicker through him.
"Trust ," he said finally, the words rough, almost forced. "Just this once."
Her eyes searched his face, not for weakness, but for truth. When she spoke again, her voice was quieter, but no less dangerous.
"This can’t be a wasted mission," she said. "I didn’t co here for nothing. I’m willing to compromise."
His chest tightened.
"I’ll take the man behind my hatred," she continued. "Just him."
Aht shook his head imdiately. "No." That was his father for crying out loud.
The word had barely left his mouth when movent flashed at the edge of his vision.
A man coming too close, his gun lifting, barrel lining up with them.
Instinct took over and Aht fired.
The shot rang sharp and final. The man crumpled before the trigger could be pulled, his weapon clattering to the ground.
Aht didn’t look away from Asli as he lowered his gun again, breath controlled, eyes dark and unreadable.
"That," he said quietly, "is exactly why we need to slow this down."
"I’m not here for that," she said, voice steady, unwavering.
He hesitated, the words heavy on his tongue, but he forced them out, carefully, as if each syllable had to land in the right place. "I was going to call you today, Asli. I... I carried the pregnancy test with instead of throwing it out. This morning... I looked at it before even thinking about tossing it in the dustbin. We’re... we’re pregnant."
Her eyes widened, a flicker of shock crossing her features before she masked it with discipline.
She swallowed, words caught sowhere between disbelief, fear, and sothing she couldn’t na. "Pregnant?" she whispered, almost to herself.
"Yes," he said, voice low and raw.
"You are lying," she spat, voice trembling despite herself. "You want to withdraw. You want stop."
"No," he said firmly, stepping closer, the chaos around them irrelevant. "You’re carrying my child."
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