Chapter 4

POV ADEM

In my world, weakness is paid for with life or with empire.

I adjusted my gold cufflinks in front of my office mirror, staring at the man Istanbul feared: Adem Sahenk, the impeccable CEO, the perfect heir, the man who fourteen years ago agreed to chain himself to Enise Aydinlar only to inherit my father's company. Fourteen years of a marriage that is only a paper contract and heartbreak.

But today my mind wasn't on business, it was in the next room.

Through the glass, I saw Defne. She looked so small and fragile, trying to hide with makeup the blows that this wretch Berat had given her.

I was full of fury about it. She didn't know that from the first moment I saw her go to work two weeks ago she had become the only woman who has made me feel anything like life. She is my ecstasy, even if I don't know it yet.

My wife had interrupted my office and that only added to disgust. Seeing her look at Defne with that disgusting contempt made me want to end it all at once. But he couldn't do it, at least not yet. I had a family lunch, one of the lies that my father, Mr. Kerem Sahenk, is used to, playing God with our lives.

"Don't fail me, Adem." Enise had told me before leaving.

I left the office without looking back, although I felt Defne's eyes fixed on my back. I got in my car and drove to the family mansion. The air there has always seemed to me pure hypocrisy.

When he arrived, everything was ready . My father presided over the table with that hard look that has not changed in sixty-three years. At her side, my mother Fatma and my sister Zehra, who is barely eighteen years old and already seems tired of our lies.

"You're late, Adem." My father said without looking up from the table.

"Work doesn't stop for a simple lunch, father." I replied, sitting down opposite Enise, who smiled at me with the same falsehood as always.

Then Devrim came in. My little brother, only twenty-two years old, the one who still thinks he can escape this surname. He was accompanied by Yasmin Ceylan, the woman my father has chosen for him only for economic convenience. I saw myself in it, now I was in the same situation as I was fourteen years ago; forced to marry whom he does not love. He is in love with a woman named Senay, I know because I see it in her eyes every time he looks at the phone, but here, in this house, that love is forbidden.

"And how is the expansion of Sahenk Motors going, son?" Kerem asked, ignoring the silence coming from my brother.

"Everything under control, I have hired new staff, very efficient people." I said, and for a second the image of Defne on the floor of the apartment hit my chest.

"That assistant of yours..." Enise blurted out. "She seems a little distracted, don't you think? He always has that look of a beaten dog. It disgusts me to see her walking through the corridors as if she were about to break.

My fingers closed around the fork until my knuckles turned white.

"She's the most brilliant assistant I've ever had, Enise. Just organize your social events and let me take care of my company. "I answered her so coldly that my sister Zehra raised her head in surprise.

"I'm just saying that the company's image is important, Adem. And that woman doesn't fit into our world."

If you only knew Enise... If you only knew that woman is the owner of my thoughts while you talk about stupid things. If you only knew that I gave him an apartment and a luxury card just so that he would never have to suffer again because of a starving man.

The lunch followed with empty conversations about inheritances, stocks, and Devrim's future marriage to Yasmin. My brother didn't say a single word, he just looked at me sadly. He knew I was hiding something, and I knew he was willing to give up everything for his beloved Senay.

Zehra has always been more observant than she appears, she whispered to me as we got up from the table:

"I see you differently, brother, you have a light in your eyes that scares me. Don't let Daddy break you like he did the others."

I kissed him on the forehead in silence. She couldn't understand that I'm already broken and that Defne is the only one who has the pieces of my truth.

I returned to the office full of unbearable tension. As I passed by Defne's desk I saw her there, so focused and beautiful despite the trace of pain on her face. I stopped in front of her. I wanted to take her away, I wanted to hide her from the cruel world, but our deal was a secret.

"Tomorrow we'll review the business plan, Defne." I said out loud for everyone to hear. Then I got close enough that only she could hear. "Tonight I will go to the apartment. Get ready for me, precious. I want my payment, I want to see if you're able to give me the ecstasy you promised.

She looked down, blushing immediately, and that gesture filled my soul. She thinks this is just for money, that I'm buying her like she's an object, yet she doesn't know that I'm falling for her so deeply that she terrifies me.

Because in this world full of scammers and marriages of interest, the forbidden is the only thing that keeps us alive. And I am willing to burn the empire in order to have her by my side.