The Woman with the Scar (Costa Family)

“There’s enough money to give you a couple months to figure out where you are going,” he insisted.

“I guess he thought it was just delaying the inevitable.”

“It’s cruel,” Deniz insisted, shaking his head.

“It’s okay. I’ll be okay,” I said, then made sure to drop my voice, make it small and weak. “I have no idea what to do, but I will start looking at apartments soon. And get a job, obviously.”

“I hate this for you,” Deniz insisted.

Yeah, sure you do. That’s why you are cheating me out of what is rightfully mine.

Sure, Deniz might have been the most likable out of all the Polat brothers. But that was like saying he was the most appealing snake in a den of vipers.

“It’s just such a shame Eren screwed up the business so much,” he said, turning away to walk toward the windows overlooking the street.

“I had no idea,” I said, only going as far as the kitchen, not wanting to seem like I was following him.

“Of course not. He wanted to protect you from the truth.”

Eren.

Protecting me.

What a joke.

“I hope it isn’t ruined for all of you,” I said, frowning. “There are so many people depending on the restaurants doing well.”

“Between the two of us, I think Berat and I can turn things around. Thank God we have the bigger share in the company.”

Lies.

More lies.

I was starting to think these men were incapable of telling a single truth.

Maybe that was for the better, though. Because each time they lied to me, I only got more determined to see them pay for what they wanted to do to me.

After all their brother had already done to me.

“Are you alright?” Deniz asked, frowning. “You’re flushed.”

It was just then that there was a knock and familiar voice at the door, pushing the door open without invitation.

“Hey, honey, I…” Judy started, coming in, then freezing, her smile falling from her face. “Is everything okay here?” she asked, losing all the friendliness I’d come to associate with her, and giving Deniz a hard glare.

“And who are you to ask?” Deniz asked, chin jerking up in the way Eren’s used to all the time.

Judy seemed to pick up on it, too. But there was no way to communicate to her who this was, and she seemed to get that it might be a touchy situation, so she crossed her arms and tried to keep her tone from being as hard as I knew it was capable of being.

“A friend,” Judy insisted.

“I wasn’t aware Ezmeray had any friends,” Deniz said, and there was something in his inflection that made my blood turn cold. I actually shivered.

I wasn’t sure if Judy picked up on it, or if she just responded with what she considered the truth.

“She came to me when… well, you know,” Judy said. “I have been checking in on her ever since. She’s all alone in here now,” she added, and that was when I realized she absolutely picked up on it. Because the Judy I knew would never comment on a woman living alone. She herself did as well.

“It’s good she has someone to look in on her,” Deniz said in a tone that implied he thought the exact opposite.

Because a woman with friends and connections was much harder to manipulate.

And that would hurt his bottom line.

“Yeah, we girls have to stick together,” Judy said, and her tone was tough, something I was sure Deniz didn’t miss.

“Right. Well, I just wanted to check in,” Deniz said, looking from Judy to me. “You’ll call if you need anything?”

“Of course,” I agreed, nodding, giving him what I hoped was a grateful smile.

With that, he was gone, and it wasn’t until we both heard the elevator that Judy looked over at me.

“Why do I feel like he just somehow threatened me without actually threatening me?” she asked.

To that, I turned my back to the closest camera, and gave her big eyes that every woman would take for pleading, then gave a slight head jerk to have her follow me into the living room since I’d removed the lion, tucked away in a box near the front door.

When I spoke, my voice was as low as I could make it and still be heard. “Because you have good instincts.”

Judy, bless her, was sharp. She reached up, tapping her eye in a way that said Is someone watching. I gave her a nod that had her exhaling hard.

“I always suspected something was up with that husband of yours,” she said, voice as low as mine, shaking her head. “All these men in suits in and out at all hours.”

“You’re not wrong to assume things,” I told her. “And I would advise you to avoid them at all costs if you see them around again.”

“While you have to deal with them all on your own?” she asked, rolling her eyes like there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.