Fuck! He thought she wanted to stay, but this stunt showed him she’d been biding her time until she found the best opportunity for escape. He had to admit, she’d been smart about it. Waiting until their wedding day when he was too distracted to track her every move.

And now she was claiming to be pregnant. Was she lying to get herself out of trouble? It made his head spin and he couldn’t control his emotions. He had to leave.

Though guilt ate at him he knew he was no good to her until he could calm down and think straight. He had to stop hating her for trying to escape and taking their unborn child with her. If anything had happened to her in that helicopter stunt, his entire world would’ve crashed, like it had when Caria died. He couldn’t go through it again; another pregnant wife trying to leave him.

He would get some answers, calm down and go back to her where they could spend some time alone. Maybe start over. He’d find a new way to woo her, to convince her to love him the way he loved her. He wouldn’t stop until she belonged to him, heart, body, and soul.

Several hours later, he strode into the Koba mansion as dawn was breaking and the sun was peeking over the ocean. The wedding attendees had cleared out and most of the decorations had been taken down. It seemed his mother was protecting him by removing traces of the best day of his life and the worst betrayal.

“Volkan!”

Before he knew what was happening, Defne was in his arms, hugging him tightly around his waist. He gave her a squeeze, then set her away, asking, “Where is mother? Where are Zeynep and Demir?”

“Mother is out back helping the caterers pack up the leftover food,” she said. “And Zeynep and Demir left in a rush after packing a few bags. They said they’d be back after you calmed down.”

Volkan was furious his brother had escaped his wrath and vowed to hunt him down and get the answers he needed.

“Go to bed,” Volkan said to his sister. “Get some rest. You look like you were up all night. There’s no point in your having a flair-up.”

“I was up waiting for you to come home and helping mother direct the staff.” She took his hand in both of hers and squeezed it, giving him a radiant smile. “You take such good care of me, brother.” She went onto her toes and kissed his cheek before scampering off toward the staircase leading to her suite.