She looked around, trying to situate herself, but every time she tried, water would wash over her. She had to do something. Her grip was already weakening and her stomach was being smashed into the piling. She gathered as much strength as she could and, in the seconds between the sucking waves, maneuvered herself around to the other side of the piling. Then, as the next wave hit, she pushed off and swam as hard as she could toward the next piling, which was closer to the interior of the dock.

The water smashed her into the wooden pillar and she gasped as her stomach hit. Oh god, the baby! What if it was injured in the fall? What if it was in shock? Could unborn babies go into shock? Could its heart stop? Tears streaked down her cheeks as despair hit.

She couldn’t feel it moving, which she logically knew was probably because her own heart was hammering away loudly inside her, and her body was taking a battering.

“Volkan!” she cried out, as despair threatened to drag her under.

Water rushed at her again, ripping her grip from the piling. She shrieked as she was dragged steadily back toward the ship, but before she was pulled under the water, something took hold of her hair and she was yanked back toward one of the pilings.

“Why did you do that? Why did you pull me in, too? You were meant to die alone, like her!”

For a second, Yasmin thought she was hallucinating, but then, as the water cleared from her vision, she saw Defne’s face swimming next to hers. Her expression was twisted with hate and anger, and before Yasmin could respond, Defne thrust her under the water.

Yasmin tried to fight back, but she was exhausted and was still being battered by the current. It was too much to fight both Defne and the water. Yasmin did the only thing she could, she pulled her fist back and sent it flying into Defne, hitting her breast.

The grip on her hair loosened, and Yasmin fought her way back to the surface. “You stupid little — ” Defne shrieked, but as soon as Yasmin’s head broke water, she threw another fist into Defne’s mouth.

“Ouch!” Yasmin gasped as pain burst through her knuckles, but Defne let her go.

Yasmin readied herself and the moment the water started moving toward the dock instead of the ship, she shoved off the piling and swam for all she was worth away from Defne. She heard splashing behind her and assumed Defne was trying to follow her.

“You’re going to kill both of us!” Yasmin screamed over her shoulder at her sister-in-law just as Defne slammed her hands down on Yasmin’s back, gripped her jacket and tried shoving her back under the water.