What Hurts the Most

Chapter 16

"What do we do about your mother?"

Even hours later, Emir ponders the question Kemal had asked him, but still has no answer. His mother belongs in jail after all she's done. Emir is tempted to just let the police take her away so that he never has to see her again. But he has to think of the family. He has to think of what this would do to Suna. To his father. What would become of the Holding and the Tarhun name? But mostly he hesitates because he knows it's not what Reyhan would want. His tender hearted wife would feel way more guilt than is necessary if his mother went to jail. She'd blame herself and Emir won't let her take on that burden.

But Emir can't let his mother stay. She's hurt them too many times.

"I'm not going to let her hurt you again, my love," he says, placing a gentle kiss on Reyhan's hand.

He feels a squeeze in response.

"Reyhan?"

She squeezes again and his heart leaps with joy.

"That's it. Come on now. Wake up for me, Baby."

Her eyes start to flutter and once they open, she squints at the brightness. Immediately he gets up to turn the lights down for her, leaving on only a bedside lamp.

"Hey!" he says as he watches her adorably blink open her eyes. "You're finally awake."

"What happened?" she asks groggily, looking around to see where she is. "Hospital?"

"You're going to be just fine," he assures her, helping her sit up when she begins to try on her own. He reaches over and grabs the remote that controls the bed and lifts her just a bit, enough to make her comfortable.

"What am I doing here?" she asks him.

"What do you remember?"

She lifts a hand to her forehead and massages her temples when a sharp pain hits.

"Headache?"

She just nods at his question.

"The doctor said that might be the case when you wake up. Here," he says, giving her a glass of water to sip on. "Drink this and I'll go get a nurse. They need to know you're awake."

Reyhan takes the glass from him and starts taking small sips of the water while she thinks. She remembers Emir leaving for work and then going to see her uncle. She remembers Cavidan and ...

"Cemre," she gasps as the memories fully return. She looks up when Emir comes back into the room, a nurse following close behind. "Cemre was there. She held us hostage. She tried to kill your mother. "

The nurse does a check of Reyhan's vitals and checks the status of all the fluids and medication in her IV.

"She has a headache," Emir mentions to the woman, and she jots it down in Reyhan's chart.

"I'll let the doctor know and let her know that you're awake, Reyhan hanım. She'll be in to see you in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Reyhan says, giving the nurse a small smile.

Emir returns to his seat right next to the bed after the nurse leaves.

"Did you hear what I said? Cemre was there. She was trying to hurt your mother."

"I know," he sighs, taking her hand. "We saw everything through the nanny cam. I was so terrified and felt so helpless. We got to the house as soon as we could, but it was too late."

"Your mom?" Reyhan asks in a panic.

Emir has a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that Reyhan can still be worried about his mother when his mother has very little regard for Reyhan.