Chapter Seventy-Seven
Aht... the na alone made her stomach twist. He was the son of the man who had wiped out her family, the one whose existence burned like a scar she could never erase.
Her hands curled into fists, nails pressing into her palms. She hated that she no longer despised him like she used to. It burned her inside that the one man she could never have was the man she yearned for.
Demir knew Aht’s na, knew the man whose family she was to destroy. But he didn’t know her Aht. He wasn’t just the enemy. He was the only one who had looked at her like she was sothing precious. As though she was desirable.
Aht was the only one whose touch had made her forget everything else. The sa man who had made her forget what she was supposed to live and die for.
Demir would never understand. He’d never accept it. Hell, even she struggled to forgive herself whenever the mories crept in.
She had lied to herself; it was a mistake. But she kept on craving for him. It wasn’t just a mistake. It was a secret she had no choice but to take to her grave.
The insane part? She wanted to forgive him for pointing a gun at her.
Asli wasn’t the forgiving type. She never let things go that easily. She was the kind of woman who listened to n beg for a second chance and still pulled the trigger without hesitation. And yet...
Yet, Aht had not even asked for forgiveness. No apologies, and no justifications. But sohow, she was willing to let it go. Her thoughts were as conflicting just as the feelings she refused to na.
Before anyone could question her silence, the low hum of an approaching engine cut through the air. The grey car rolled to a stop in front of the building. They all knew who it belonged to.
Marco.
The conversation ended abruptly, and everyone stood still and tense as if they were soldiers waiting for orders.
He stepped out of the car, his presence commanding without a single word. They greeted him in unison, but his nod was brief, and his expression unreadable as always. Then, he smiled... it was a small, deliberate one directed only at Demir.
The man didn’t spare Asli a glance, neither did he acknowledge her return, nor ask if she was better.
She was used to it. It didn’t matter. It never had.
Emotions? She didn’t have those. Not anymore.
So why the hell did it hurt when Aht thought of her as the suspect? Or was it that she did not like it when people blad her for sothing she didn’t do?
Was that it? She wasn’t even a saint.
Or was it sothing she always told herself to escape the feelings they brought?
"I will be inside," Marco announced before heading inside the building. They all knew he was only informing his precious nephew.
"I’ll join you in your suite later, Asli. Excuse ." Demir excused himself as he followed his uncle. His expression beca more serious than it was when it was just the two... three of them.
Asli strode toward her place with hurried steps but the annoying man trailed right behind her.
If only her father would let her kill him first.
Once she got to her place, Matilda burst through the door, her breath quick and uneven. She barely gave it a mont before blurting out, "Demir’s back." Her eyes sparkled with excitent as she leaned in, lowering her voice with a playful grin. "He’s even more handso now. I swear, I almost didn’t recognize him."
Asli stood still, and her gaze remained unresponsive. The sa calm mask she’d perfected over the years was firmly in place. The words barely touched her.
She knew Matilda well and knew that if she so much as flinched, the floodgates would open, and she would drag the matter.
Tsk, was Asli that obvious in the past? That even the young girl standing before her knew she had a crush on him?
"Who is he, anyway?" Markus muttered, his brow furrowed. The buzz around the man had been deafening since his arrival, but Markus couldn’t wrap his head around the obsession.
Now, standing before him, Matilda wore a smile so wide and starry-eyed it almost seed like she was talking about a legend.
He watched her, baffled, and unsure if he was missing sothing— or if everyone else had lost their minds.
Was Demir not just like any man?
"He is Marco’s nephew," her nanny replied, her tone casual as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. But before Markus could process it, Matilda chid in, her voice teasing, "He is also Asli’s childhood crush."
"And now he is back." Both won spoke at the sa ti, and the words hung in the air like a confession, leaving Markus to digest the fact Asli was after all like every female.
Markus’s gaze snapped to Asli, his eyes narrowing as if expecting so crack in her stoic mask. But she didn’t flinch. Her expression remained as blank as ever.
He wondered if she would stand there so unshaken if the world around her one day went down.
"Really? I thought you were incapable of having feelings for anyone," Markus teased, his grin widening as he watched Asli. She rolled her eyes, showing the smallest crack in her deanor. Finally, sothing had shifted in her façade.
Ruth just shook her head and disappeared into the kitchen. In the silence that followed, Asli’s thoughts flickered. ’Well, I also thought that until I t Aht.’ Her jaw tightened, frustration curling in her chest. Urgh. She hated him. She hated him for making her feel anything at all, and she hated him even more for making her so damn confused.
At one point she was forgiving him and the next she didn’t want to.
"Has Cole reported to work?" Asli’s voice was abrupt with a clear shift in focus as she turned the conversation away from herself.
She glanced at Matilda with sharp eyes that the young girl didn’t have any choice but to end the previous conversation.
Cole wasn’t just another mber of her team; he was her right-hand man. Registered, yes, but more importantly, part of her unregistered n. He was soone she could rely on when things got... ssy.
After they had stolen her father’s laptop so she could implicate Maxwell, she asked half of them to take the week off while the other half were on standby. The second half was supposed to go on break, swapping after the first returned.
She didn’t know which group Cole was in... If he was on break or about to go for it.
"Cole? Yeah, he’s still around. He dropped off at school today," Matilda replied quickly, her tone light but with a hint of defensiveness. "Do not tell he reported to you. I just wanted to take a walk after school."
She shot a quick glance at Asli, trying to ease the tension that had suddenly thickened in the air. Asli’s outburst wasn’t sothing she was expecting tonight— not after teasing her so annoyingly.
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