الفصل 3

Just look at what's happened to me! As if getting lost wasn't enough, I've gone and hurt my foot too. What am I going to do now? I wonder if I went into that house, would they help me? Someone must live here. I opened the large garden gate apprehensively and went inside. Unable to bear the pain in my foot, I sat down on the pergola at the garden entrance, sighing as I placed my sprained left foot on my right thigh and started rubbing it. "Oh Ceyda, what are you doing here? Whatever is happening to you is because of that curiosity of yours." I fell silent as I felt a hard object on the back of my neck. Is that a gun?! "Who are you?" My voice failed me at the sound of the deep male voice; I couldn't speak. "I said, who are you?!" "I-I... me..." I want to talk, but I can't out of fear of the gun against my neck. "You either talk or you die." After hearing those words, I shouted in fear, "My friends and I are staying in a forest house. I got lost because I don't know these areas. I came into your garden to ask for help!" At that moment, I heard footsteps. Three armed people came running towards us and stopped in front of me. One of them frowned and said, "Who is this?" The man behind me laughed and said, "An uninvited guest." And the man who had just spoken in front of me called someone on his phone, saying, "Bro, we have an uninvited guest here," listened to the person on the other end, and hung up. "Bro said bring her," he said, and two people grabbed me by the arms and started dragging me roughly. "Let me go! You're hurting me, you savages!" I shouted. It was obvious from their demeanor that they were savages; would they let me go? They opened the door of the house and we went inside. After a large hall, they opened a door and threw me inside like a sack of potatoes. I fell to the floor, groaning, "You animal, you brutes! You're not human!" I shouted. As I tried to get up from the floor, I saw the person sitting in the single armchair opposite me, watching me. He was sitting with his legs spread comfortably, gestured with his head to the savages behind me and said, "You, get out." He frowned. "Who are you?" he said. Fearfully, I stood up straight. "I-I got lost. I came to your house for help," I said. He raised his eyebrows mockingly and smiled slightly. "What could such a beautiful girl be doing alone on this mountain top?" he said, getting up. He started coming towards me with heavy steps. "When such a beauty has come to my feet, I shouldn't let her go easily, should I?" he said, grinning. "Oh God, why am I here? Please, save me." I felt like I couldn't breathe from fear; as he came closer, I stepped back. "I swear, I only entered your garden to ask for help." His brown eyes were fixed on mine as he came closer, closer. In a moment of panic, I turned my back and, forgetting the pain in my foot, started to run. Since the living room door was open, it was easy for me to get out. I had just reached the exit door when he grabbed my collar, turned me towards him, and pinned me against the door. I was breathless. "What do you think you're doing? I hope you didn't think you could escape," he said, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinized me. "So, you're lost?" "We're staying in a mountain house with my friends. We went for a walk, then we played hide and seek. Without realizing how it happened, I wandered away from them and got lost," I said. Mockingly, he said, "Hide and seek," and started laughing loudly. "How am I supposed to believe that?" His closeness made me very uncomfortable; there was almost no distance between us. I couldn't stand it; with my last bit of strength, I started pushing him. "Let me go! Are you a bandit? I want to leave. My friends must be terrified since they can't find me." As I said this, he grabbed my arm, pulled me roughly, and pushed me onto the sofa in the living room. He leaned over me. "Behave, little girl. You're not going anywhere until we figure out who you are and what you're about..." "Bro." He pulled back at the sound of the man entering. "You have to see this; it's that girl," he said, showing the screen of his phone to the man in front of me. The man, whose name I didn't know, looked at the phone for a while, then turned to me, put his hands on his hips, closed his eyes, and started laughing. Am I the girl he's talking about? What's going on here? Suddenly, he opened his eyes and grabbed my arms tightly. "Who sent you here?" "No one sent me! I told you how I got here. You're hurting me, you animal!" I shouted. "I'll tear out your tongue," he said. "Aren't you ashamed? With that huge frame, you're testing your strength on a weak girl like me?" As I said this, he took a loud breath, let me go, and straightened up. He turned to the man next to him and said, "Get out.

Call Aytaç for me." A little while later, a man I assumed was Aytaç entered the living room. He was tall and well-built, just like Sarp. "What's up, Sarp?" he said, turning to me. After looking at me carefully, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Bro, where did you find this girl?" "I didn't find her. She came of her own accord." "How? Was it that easy?" "It was that easy," he said. Both of them were standing there, looking at me and talking. "How can that be, bro? We've been searching for years and found no trace, and then suddenly one day she shows up on her own?" Both of them were looking at me strangely. "Now go. She's staying with her friends in a mountain house nearby. Find them. Learn everything about her. Such an opportunity has come to my feet of her own will; we can't not use it, right?" "What nonsense are you talking about? Leave my friends alone! No one sent me here, believe me. Whoever you're looking for, I'm sure it's not me!" I said. They looked at my face without bothering to give any response. I've been sitting on the sofa for about two hours. I want to cry, but I can't. He's sitting right across from me. I need to somehow get the phone in my back pocket. Maybe I'd get lucky and it would be unlocked. The mafia-looking guy is watching me without taking his eyes off me. Getting the phone is impossible. I'm scared of his gaze; it gives me the chills. Actually, he's as handsome as he is terrifying. If we hadn't met like this, maybe he would have had a chance. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a man entering. "Bro, you need to come." Sarp stood up and, before leaving the room, gestured with his head towards the sandwich bread and juice he had left for me to eat earlier. "Eat your bread," he said, then added, "And let's have that phone behind you," as he reached into my pocket and took my phone. Then, no matter how much I shouted, he didn't care. How did he know I had a phone behind me? Was I that obvious when I tried to get it? My chance to call someone vanished just like that. Under his gaze, I hadn't been able to eat my bread, but I was so hungry; I hadn't eaten anything since morning. I wonder what my friends are doing? They should have come here and asked for me by now. At the very least, they should have called the police. "Eeek!" I jumped at the sound of a gunshot. "Oh my God, what was that?" I stood up in fear. The sound came from the back. I quickly approached the window. It had gotten dark. I looked into the garden; under the dim burning light, a man was writhing in pain on the ground, with Sarp and his men standing around him. The sound of the man screaming in agony echoed in my ears. My pupils dilated in fear; what wouldn't the man who did this to him do to me? Sarp's back was turned to me; he hadn't noticed me. I needed to get out of here. At that moment, Sarp turned around and we made eye contact. Without thinking, I turned and started to run. This time I had to succeed, otherwise he would kill me like that man. I got out of the house; luckily, there was no one at the door. I was running with all my strength, not knowing where I was going. Just let me get away from them. And to think what I had thought earlier – 'oh, he's handsome, if we hadn't met like this, maybe he would have had a chance' – had I lost my mind? The guy is a savage, a murderer. It's so dark, I can hardly see in front of me. What if I run into a wolf or a bear? What would I do? What have I gotten myself into? I kept running. I was both trembling and crying from fear and panic. I slowed down because I couldn't breathe, moving forward by holding onto trees. I heard a sound and panicked, started running again, then suddenly my foot caught on something and I fell face down. As I tried to straighten up in pain, I heard footsteps. The sound was very close to me. I needed to get up and run immediately, but because I had fallen so hard, my movements were slow. "Haven't you figured out yet that you can't get rid of me that easily?" It was his voice. Damn it. I closed my eyes as if he would disappear if I didn't see him. I slowly opened my eyes; he was kneeling in front of me, looking at my face. "You ran away, and what

happened? Look at you! Was all this trouble worth it?" My tears were streaming down; I couldn't control myself. Sniffling, I said, "What do you want from me? Why won't you let me go?" He just looked at my face and said, "Let's go, we're leaving." He pulled me up by holding my arm and started dragging me. After taking one step, I groaned, staggered, and bumped into him. Realizing I couldn't walk, he bent down, put one arm around my legs, and threw me over his shoulder. In a panic at that moment, I screamed. "Easy, girl, you burst my eardrum." "Let me go, you savage brute, murderer, mafia wannabe!" I shouted. "Look, if you don't shut up, I'll drop you on the ground. Then you'll see what savagery really is." Would he really drop me? Why wouldn't he? Like a sacrificial lamb, I fell silent and resigned myself to my fate. My long hair was hanging down, and since I couldn't keep my arms in the air for long, I held onto his back, his black shirt. When we entered the house, we climbed the stairs and came to the upper floor. He opened the door at the end of the corridor and we went inside. He threw me onto a large bed as if flinging me. He leaned over me, pinned my hands to the bed, frowned, and came closer. "If you try to run away again," he said, breathing heavily, "I won't have any mercy on you. You can't even imagine what I'll do," he said, then released me, straightened up, and left. On the bed, I turned on my side, pulled my legs towards me, and cried until I eventually fell asleep. I slowly opened my eyes. I prayed that everything I had experienced was a dream. Unfortunately, as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw him. His back was turned to me, his arms crossed, watching outside through the window. I got up and sat on the edge of the bed, letting my feet dangle. Without turning to me, he said, "Good morning." This man has eyes in the back of his head. "I left breakfast for you on the coffee table. Fill your stomach." "You're going to kill me anyway, why are you feeding me?" I said. He turned to me, his eyebrows furrowed again. Realizing I couldn't look into his eyes for long, I lowered my gaze to my hands on my knees. The door knocked. Sarp called out, "Come in." The door opened; it was Aytaç. Aytaç said, "Sarp, we need to talk." "Did you find something, Aytaç?" "I did, bro. Her name is Ceyda Keskin. She works at a cafe called Tarot. She came to a mountain house with her friends two days ago for a vacation. She lives with Sevil and Yusuf Keskin, the couple who adopted her." My nerves broke at the last sentence I heard. "What nonsense are you talking? Stay away from my mom and dad!" I shouted, standing up. Pushing Aytaç, I said, "You're lying! What is your goal?" I was about to go crazy. Aytaç grabbed my arm and squeezed. At that moment, Sarp raised his voice, saying, "Aytaç, let the girl go." Aytaç let go of my arm, frowned, and left the room. Turning to Sarp, I shouted, "What do you want from my family? Don't touch them! Stay away from my loved ones!" I started hitting his shoulders and chest repeatedly with my fists. "Talk, you damn curse! What do you want from me?" He watched me for a while, didn't back away, then said indifferently, "Eat your breakfast," and left the room. I was going to lose my mind. I shouted, I cried, I grabbed everything in the room and threw it on the floor until I got tired. I sat down next to the bed, pulled my legs towards me, and cried for a long time. I've been living a captive life in this mountain house for a week. Neither the police nor any of my loved ones have come for me. I've given up fighting; I'm too tired. Sarp promised not to harm myfamily. He hasn't said a single word about why he's keeping me here. We weren't talking anyway. I had left everything to its own course, waiting to see what my fate would be. Since I hadn't attempted to escape again, I could leave my room and sit in the living room when no one was there. Sometimes I could even go out into the garden for a short while to get some air. Like now, after sitting in the pergola for a bit, I walked towards the house. There were men positioned all over the garden; when I passed by them, they ignored me as if I didn't exist. When I entered the house, just as I was about to go upstairs, I stopped at the sound of Aytaç's voice coming from the living room. "Sarp, how long are you planning to keep the girl here? You haven't even told your father. Look, this can't go on. I think we need to tell Uncle Aslan." "No, my father won't know," Sarp said, raising his voice. "I'll find a way. I don't know what my father will do to the girl if he finds out. The Doğans shouldn't find the girl; I don't want to give them that happiness." What I heard shocked me. Who are the Doğans? Why are they looking for me? Why would they be happy if they found me? Who is Uncle Aslan? What kind of situation am I in? Firuze abla's Tarot reading for me came to mind. "You are in a great predicament. The truths you know will become lies. You will fall into chaos." I shuddered. What have I gotten myself into? I'm very scared of what's to come. Just a week ago, I had a normal life. "When the time comes, I will use the girl as a pawn," Sarp said. They are making plans on my behalf. If I went to them and told them I heard them and demanded an explanation, I know they wouldn't answer. This situation is suffocating me. I am in a pitiful state. I climbed the stairs and entered my room. For a week, I haven't taken a shower, and my beautiful, long, wavy hair hasn't seen a comb. I've literally given up on life. Plus, there was the fear of someone entering my room while I was in the shower. The weather was very hot, and I realized I couldn't stand it anymore, so I locked my door. I looked at the clothes Sarp had brought two days ago, saying I could change, and placed in the closet in my room. I took out a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt from among them. He had even gotten underwear. Since the bathroom was small, I left everything on the bed. I went into the bathroom, took off my smelly clothes, and stuffed them into the trash can. I got under the shower. Luckily, he had bought all the supplies, from shampoo to a bathrobe. The hot water felt good on my tired body. If they didn't disturb me, I could stay under the hot water for hours, but for fear of someone coming, I kept my shower short and turned off the water. As I reached for the bathrobe, I heard a knocking on the door. I quickly put on the bathrobe. The person at the door was both shouting and pounding on the door. "Open the door, I said open up!" It was Sarp's voice. I hurried out of the bathroom, and just at that moment, the door was destroyed with a loud noise. I jumped in fear. He stepped over the door and took a few steps towards me. I tightened the collar of my bathrobe, wrapping my arms around myself. I could hear the voices of men coming up the stairs; I cowered in panic against the wall. One of them said, "Bro, what happened here?" Sarp turned to the men with a frown. "Get out!" he shouted. Without repeating themselves, they left. Sarp turned to me and started walking towards me with a frown. I was scared of Sarp; I started trembling. He came and stood right in front of me. I couldn't look him in the eye. "What do you think you're doing? Get out!" I said. "What are *you* doing?" His voice sounded very angry. "What does locking the door mean?" he said. I frowned, raised my head, and looked him in the eye. "With you and dozens of other men downstairs, was I supposed to go into the shower without locking my door? Though, thanks to you, there's no one left who hasn't seen me in a bathrobe!" I shouted. "No one saw," he said. "They did!" He gritted his teeth. "Isaid they didn't see." "You're enough! Get out of my room, I need to get dressed." As I said this, his coffee-colored eyes, which were looking into mine, started scanning my body. Shame spread all over me. I started pushing him. "Get out of my room, I'm telling you to get out!" He grabbed my wrists, pinned me against the wall, and leaned over me. "Actually, you're a very beautiful girl. Why don't I take a closer interest in you?" he said, fixing his eyes on my lips. "You animal, let me go!" I started struggling. He watched me for a while, then pulled away, took my hand, and led me out of the room. He opened the door to his own room on the left, pulled me inside. "You'll stay here until your room door is fixed," he said, and I don't know when he had grabbed my clothes, but he threw them on the bed and left the room. I got dressed, combed and dried my hair. I walked around the room, then sat down by the bed. As had become my habit lately, I pulled my knees to my chest. I thought about my mom and dad. What state must they be in now? Their daughter, whom they've protected from everything, is missing, a captive in the hands of a psychopath. And my friends must be devastated. If I stay here much longer, I'll either lose my mind or die. They'll either bury my corpse in the garden or feed me to the wolves and birds on the mountain. My thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. It was Sarp. He didn't even bother to knock. Without raising my head, my eyes followed his shoes. He stopped in front of me and watched me silently for a while. "Come downstairs, the table is set. We'll eat together today," he said. I raised my head and looked at his face. "I'll eat here. I don't want to sit at the same table with you." "Don't talk too much. I'm waiting for you," he said and left. When I went downstairs, I was very surprised to see the large dining table in the living room set, because during my stay here, I had never seen any cooking done. Sarp only gave me sandwiches or toast to eat. Since Sarp was sitting at the head of the table, I went and sat in the seat farthest from him. I could feel his eyes on me. "Alright, our last meal is ready," said Aytaç, coming from the kitchen with a plate in his hand. The table was full of various dishes. As Aytaç sat down at the table, he looked at me and said, "Since I didn't know which food you liked, I made a bit of everything." For a moment, I thought I had heard wrong. What, had he made all this food for me? "I don't understand you. Are you planning to feed me and then kill me?" I said, looking at both of them. Aytaç said, "Where did you get the idea that we want to kill you? If that were our intention, I wouldn't have waited until now, you can be sure of that." "You don't need to shoot me in the head; I'm dying slowly here every day anyway," I said. He looked at my face with a thoughtful expression for a few seconds. Sarp said, "Come on, eat your food. I don't want tension at the table." I turned to my plate and tried to eat as much as I could in silence. Normally, I love food, but because of the psychological pressure here, I was eating less now. I didn't talk at all during the meal. They, unlike me, talked occasionally and sipped their rakı. When I got up from the table, Sarp said, "Where to?" "I don't want to eat anymore. This is enough," I said. I turned to go to my room, took a few steps, then an idea came to me and I turned back to them. "You should have my room door fixed as soon as possible." "Stay in my room tonight. I'll sleep here," he said.

When I went up to his room, I looked around. I opened the door of the large wardrobe; it was full of his clothes. I closed it and opened the other door. I took a pillow, blanket, whatever I could find, spread them on the floor, and made a bed. I wasn't going to sleep in his bed. I lay down; it was the end of August, the nights were getting cool. I covered myself with the blanket and, while falling into thought again, I fell asleep. I don't know how much time had passed; I woke up with a start at the sound of gunshots. Dazed from sleep, I didn't know what to do out of fear. Guns were firing one after another. While I was thinking whether to stay in the room or go out, suddenly my door was flung open with a loud noise. I screamed in fear. If I don't die tonight, I never will.