The Rescue

Chapter One

When she got Gorkem’s phone call back in Izmir she didn’t think of anything else but getting back to the island as fast as she could. Hindsight is 20/20 isn’t it?

Poyraz was in danger. That’s all she heard, all she could process. She didn’t think about why or who could be behind it. 

She cursed her stupidity, knowing that she’d made the situation even worse. She wasn’t the cat or the mouse now, but the bait. The ropes rubbed on her wrists and ankles, uncomfortably tight. She let her head fall back to rest on the chair back and she stared at the ceiling trying to hold her tears at bay. She wasn’t like this normally, she was a fighter. But now, she was terrified. Poyraz was going to get hurt and all she could do was watch.

She’d met the man almost as soon as she got off the ferry. He was an older gentleman, one she hadn’t seen before on the island, but she by no means knew everyone. He asked if she was looking for Poyraz and she said yes. He said he would take her to him.

STUPID!

She cursed herself again. She never used to be so trusting. But everyone on the island knew her, or at least knew her in relation to Poyraz or the hotel. The people of the island felt like her family now, it felt like her home. Surely she was safe if he knew Poyraz right?

Wrong!

She squeezed her eyes shut and her tears rolled down her temples and trickled into her ears. Her quiet sounds were muffled further by the fabric across her mouth. The frightful moment the man’s eyes seemed to turn from a bright blue to pale ice flashed across her memory. It was less than an hour ago now, but it was something that would take years to forget. He was old, but he was tall and strong , and she didn’t stand a chance. 

He’d taken her to an old abandoned building, which wasn’t odd in and of itself, but the feeling she got when she got there was. He’d bound her wrists behind the back of the chair and tied her ankles together. When she struggled and nearly got loose he screamed at her and then bound her waist to the back of the chair as well, so tight it was hard to breathe.

She tried to control her breathing now so she wouldn’t pass out. She needed to be as cognizant as possible if she stood any chance at saving Poyraz from harm. 

Think. Think. Think!

The island was full of people who knew her, maybe one of them saw her go with the strange man. Gossip spread faster than fire, so maybe word of where she was would reach the authorities, or Latif Bey, or Sadik, or someone . There was a deeply buried part of her heart that wanted it to be only Poyraz. She knew it was just her needing that reassurance that he would prioritize her over everything, which was something she’d been needing from him for a long time. But now she needed him to be okay more than she needed anything else, even if it meant she’d get hurt. 

The man who took her knew that she would be there on the doc. He was Ayten’s abusive ex husband. He’d been looking for her for years, and it was clear that he had been watching Poyraz, and by extension her, for a while now too. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought. She sat up and opened her eyes. It wouldn’t be long now, the island was small after all. Poyraz would be there soon, there were only so many places to look. 

After he was sure she couldn’t get out of her restraints, the man had interrogated her about Ayten and what she had told of him. He wanted money from the now famous woman, and like all abusers, he wanted control over her and he was going to use fear to get it. He dialed his phone and held it out, telling her to speak when Poyraz answered. He had wanted her to play his game, scream for help, tell him where she was, lure him into the trap. But she wasn’t that stupid. He’d dialed, and as soon as she heard Poyraz’s “efendim” she scolded him, telling him not to do anything crazy. She didn’t want him to save her. She didn’t want to put him in danger.

But the man had said that “they” told him Poyraz would do anything for her. It was her biggest hope turned into her biggest fear.

She’d heard Poyraz call her name before the man turned the phone off. The sound tore through her. She had unwillingly lured him to what could possibly be his death.

She couldn’t see the man now, and she didn’t see or hear any other men. It was just him, lurking somewhere in the vacinity, waiting to strike. And there she was, the cheese at the center of the mouse trap. Waiting for the violence to unfold in front of her.

Notes:

This is my first Ada Masali fic so show it some love in the comments.

More chapters to come.