A Necessary Journey

Money Doesn't Make Life Easier

She didn't stop at the reception desk, storming through the office floor, throwing open doors as she went until she was faced with a room full of designers, and a confused looking Tranba. Standing as she entered, he kept his eyes trained on her while he dismissed his  team with a shake of his head and a somewhat amused smirk in Defne's direction. 

Clearly not willing to disobey Deniz's demands, they filtered out of the room one by one, past the redhead with a cold stare and hostile posture. 

When the door closed and they were alone, he thrust his hands into his pockets, approaching her, grinning. "I wondered how long it would take until you showed up." He stepped right up into her space, crowding her with his infuriating smirk, his eyes raking up and down her body. 

Defne from a year ago would have been afraid of him, Defne from a year ago would have shied away, trembled nervously, afraid of his predatory looks and powerful physique. But she wasn't the Defne from a year ago, this Defne was stronger, resilient and she was furious as hell.

She pushed him, hard, hard enough to make him take a step back, his eyes widening in surprise. "Who the fuck do you think you are? Huh? What is wrong with you? You think you can play with people's lives? All for what? To be the winner?" She pushed him again, harder this time and he stumbled backwards, a surprised smile on his face as he drank her in. "Who gives you the right to play these games with people? Who gives you the right?"

Deniz was infuriatingly calm and he turned, gesturing for her to follow and take a seat. "Let's talk Defne, I'm sure you have more questions for me than that?"

Defiantly she stood her ground, arms crossed over her chest as Deniz took a chair across from her, steepling his fingers against his chin he regarded her for a moment, impressed. 

"Why Deniz? Just tell me why? What did you achieve by doing this?"

He shrugged, as though ruining their lives was as insignificant as the meal he ate for breakfast. "Because I could, because it felt good to be teaching Omer Iplicki a lesson for once. Omer thinks he's so superior to everyone around him... even you Defne, and yet you're here fighting his corner for him?"

"I'm fighting my own corner."

"You're not exactly the innocent that you make yourself out to be either though, are you Defne? I heard about your little game with Omer's aunt. Your money problems make a whole lot of sense now."

With a cold smile, Defne took a seat opposite him, showing him once again that she was no longer afraid of him. "I feel sorry for you Deniz, no love in your life, not even the top of your sector, no amount of money will buy you the best designers... and so to compensate for your sad, lonely, small life you look for people's weaknesses, try to make them feel as small and insignificant as you do. This isn't power, this isn't respect... it's pathetic."

"I always understood what Omer saw in you, there was never a question, beauty, and talent... but now I see that there's more to you than meets the eye, I always suspected as much... You and I, we could have had something special."

"Cut the bullshit. I'm not interested in what you think. I'm not interested in anything other than how you made this happen... I want to know, how you pulled this off, when you pulled this off."

Deniz picked up the desk phone from behind him. "Ali? Two Turkish coffees, please? Cancel my next appointment." He dropped the phone back on the cradle and turned back to face her, running a hand over his beard. "You won't like what you're going to hear... but I'll tell it if you need to hear it before you can move on with your life."

He took in her steely cool gaze, unflinching stare, nodding. 

"Okay, okay." Sitting back, Deniz smirked, happy to be relaying the details of his triumph to her. "As you probably know by now, I have my sources. I heard that you and Omer married, and then I heard that he sold up his properties and he arranged for annulment papers. It wasn't too hard to put two and two together, I didn't learn of the reason for him leaving you until much later, but that didn't really matter. A few days later, I got a call from a mutual business associate and he just so happened to mention that Omer was in Rome. It didn't take much to track him down, he's a creature of habit after all. That's when I arranged for an associate..."