Yasmin was out of her seat and around the table in seconds. She grabbed hold of Volkan’s arm and yanked, but he refused to look at her. He was too focused on the man he was threatening.

“I gave you one rule for tonight,” Volkan snarled. “You serve our table and you leave. You don’t look at my woman and you definitely don’t speak to her. Is that too difficult to follow?”

“Volkan!” Yasmin cried.

“I’m sorry, Sir!” The guy yelled, looking over his shoulder at the street below and paling. He gripped the ledge in one hand and Volkan’s wrist in the other. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I forgot, that’s all. I would never disrespect you or Ms. Mahdi.”

Volkan shook the man. “There you go, allowing her name in your filthy fucking mouth. If I drop you, you’ll never get the chance to speak her name again.”

Though Volkan couldn’t see it, the server met Yasmin’s eyes, silently pleading for her help. She reached down Volkan’s arm and wrapped her fingers over Volkan’s hand, careful not to touch the server where he held on for dear life.

Softly, she said, “Volkan, I want you to bring him back onto the roof and let him go.”

He looked down at her, his eyes still clouded with fury.

“Please, Volkan. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you hurt someone on my behalf.” She could tell her words were working. The fog was lifting and the tension in his shoulders seemed to ease. “Will you do it for me?”

She hated begging him for anything. Hated that she was debasing herself, asking him for a favour, acknowledging his obsession and the hold she somehow had over him. But she didn’t have a choice. If it was the only way to make him see reason and get him to release the poor, unsuspecting server, she would do what she had to.

Finally, Volkan stepped back, lifting the man off the ledge and placing him on his feet. Instead of letting him go though, Volkan dragged him up onto his toes until they were eye to eye. “You will leave this rooftop and never show your face near either of us again. If I see you, I will finish you.”

He released the man and, without so much as a word or a glance Yasmin’s way, the server took off at a run, wrenching open the door that led into the building and disappearing.

“He’s going to call the police,” Yasmin said, shaken.

“He won’t,” Volkan replied, his voice neutral. “The people who patronize this restaurant pay for silence as well as food. If anything, management will have him relocated.”

“Relocated?” Yasmin said in a squeak, imagining the worst.

He shook his head. “To one of their other locations.”