Untangling the Web

Chapter 7

"I technically kept my promise ... I didn't really tell anyone."

They watch a red faced Suna try to explain on the video chat screen they have opened on Zafer's laptop.

"What do you mean by technically?" Zafer asks her.

"The call was on speakerphone," Suna confesses. "So technically, you told her."

An impish grin crosses her face and the guys can't help but laugh at the girl, Zafer as much of an older brother to the girl as Emir. He's known her since she was in diapers.

But Suna's choice of words is caught by Reyhan and she's the one who asks the question.

"Told who?"

"Cemre. She was the one who wanted me to call Zafer. Insisted, actually. And I remember being annoyed because I didn't care where you were. As you recall, I wasn't really speaking to you at the time." Suna is embarrassed at her memories of the way she treated Reyhan. "I'm really sorry about that, by the way. I don't know what had ...."

A puzzled look comes across Suna's face, making her stop in the middle of her sentence.

"Reyhan? Are you okay? You went pale all of a sudden."

"She hasn't been feeling well," Emir admits, his attention on his wife now. "Suna, we'll talk to you later, okay?"

He ends the chat and puts the back of his hand to Reyhan's forehead.

"You really are pale. What's going on?"

"She did it," Reyhan gasps, her breaths starting to come faster and shallower. "She really tried to kill us."

"Who ... Suna?" Zafer asks, completely lost at what's going on.

"Cemre! Cemre tried to kill us."

"Cemre? No way," Emir insists. "She wouldn't do anything like that."

"You think she wouldn't," Reyhan says, her voice coming out in almost a scream as she gets more and more upset. "You don't ever believe me when I tell you about the things she does. But she would do something like this, Emir. You don't know her as well as you think you do."

"But this is Cemre we're talking about. I've known her all my life," Emir reminds her.

Little does he know, his words are like a slap in Reyhan's face.

"And you've only known me for barely a year. And in that time, I've lied so much that my word is automatically to be doubted," she spits at him. "Is that what you're saying? Is that what you believe? That I'm making this up?"

"That's not what I meant," Emir tries to back track. "But ..."

"When have I ever lied to you? Yet, you never believe me about anything," Reyhan sniffs, tears starting to flood her face. "Not if it has to do with Cemre. Cemre was drugging your sister for months and you didn't believe me. I had the proof in my hands until she dumped the pills down the drain. Suna could have died!"

"But the tests ..."

"I don't care! I don't care what those fake test results showed! I know what I saw with my eyes and what I held in my hands," Reyhan yells. "Do you know what else I held in my hands? A letter written by your own mother admitting that Cemre was the person who set you up in that fake affair. Cemre had a woman pretend to be your lover and set it up for me to see. Does that sound like the Cemre you know?"

Emir opens his mouth, but Zafer interrupts him before he can say anything else. The man doesn't seem to understand he's in a losing battle and every word he says in the wrong one.

"How about we all just calm down." Zafer steps in between the two combatants, placing an arm around an unsteady looking Reyhan. "Reyhan, why don't you have a seat and Emir will bring you some tea."

Emir just glares at Zafer, slapping his arm away from Reyhan.

"Hands off my wife," he growls at his friend, stepping between Zafer and Reyhan.

"Fine," Zafer says, lifting his hands in the air. He tries to hide his grin but is largely unsuccessful. "I'll make the tea. You make nice with your wife."

Emir gets Reyhan settled on the couch and sits next to her. He takes a deep breath to gather his thoughts before speaking this time. He doesn't want to say the wrong thing again.

"Listen," he starts, taking her hand in his. "I'm really sorry I upset you. Let's start this conversation again ... okay?"

"I can't," Reyhan says, letting out a little cry. "I can't do this. I can't fight you. I can't fight her. I can't fight your mother. Not anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Cemre actually tried to kill us, Emir."

Emir wisely keeps his mouth shut this time.

"I can't risk getting in her way. Not now."

The finality and certainty in her voice alerts Emir that something is seriously wrong.

"Reyhan, you're scaring me. What's going on?"

Tears fill her eyes again and she wipes them away as they fall down her cheeks.

"I think I might be pregnant."