Chapter 17
I trusted my cousin Elif completely. She was my best friend and confidante.
She was the only one I had to listen to me and support me during this difficult time.
I needed to tell her about my pregnancy and my breakup with Ayaz, who hadn’t believed me when I denied cheating on him.
I was devastated, lost, and had no idea what to do.
“Eda, you seem worried,” my cousin said, watching me.
“Elif, I need to tell you something important.” I took a deep breath, trying to find the right words, my nerves on edge. “I… I’m pregnant with Ayaz’s baby.”
“Eda, have you lost your mind?” Her eyes went wide, and she pressed a hand to her chest. “Weren’t you going to end things with him? How are you going to drop this bombshell on your baba?” She looked completely shocked.
“Yes, Elif.” I nodded, managing a trembling smile. “I was going to end it, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“But… have you told Ayaz yet?” Her expression shifted from surprise to what looked like concern. “What did he say?”
“I don’t even know where to start, Elif.
” I shook my head with a heavy sigh. “Ayaz was happy when I told him about the pregnancy, but my world came crashing down when I told him who my baba was.” I felt tears streaming down my face.
“He didn’t believe me. He thinks the baby is Yusuf’s and that everything was just a scheme by my father—one I helped with—to get to him and throw him off balance.
He sent me away and said he never wants to see me again.
” She stared at me, speechless. “I tried to explain that I hadn’t cheated on him, but he wouldn’t listen.
Now I’m alone, pregnant, and without the love of my life by my side.
” I broke down crying, and my cousin pulled me into a hug, trying to comfort me.
“I’m so sorry, Eda.” She gave me a comforting smile, and I felt a little better. “But I warned you this could happen. Once again, you were reckless and impulsive. So what are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know, cousin,” I admitted. “I came to talk to you hoping you’d have some idea. I can’t even imagine what I’m going to do now, how I’ll tell my baba, let alone how I’ll take care of this baby on my own.”
“Eda, this is terrible.” This time her expression shifted from worried to desperate. “You’re all alone now.”
“Yes.” I nodded sadly. “I’m alone, pregnant, with no idea what to do and a broken heart.”
“Calm down! I’m here for you.” She squeezed my hand affectionately. “Together, we’ll figure this out.”
I felt so grateful to have my cousin’s support during such a difficult time.
“What have you done, Eda?” My father burst into my room in the middle of the night, his voice raised. “How could you be so disrespectful to the organization, our family, your baba, and Yusuf?”
I was shocked and confused. Still half-asleep, I had no idea what he was talking about.
“What happened, Father?” I asked, trying to make sense of the situation. “What did I do wrong?”
“You’re pregnant, Eda. And not only that—this child belongs to Ayaz the Cruel, son of Osman Yavuz, my greatest enemy,” he said, disgust dripping from his voice. “And don’t bother denying it. Elif has more sense than you, and she told me everything.”
My world collapsed when I realized that my cousin—the one I believed shared my pain and anguish, the person I trusted most in my life, who had consoled me, given me her shoulder to cry on, promised she would always be by my side and help me—had betrayed me.
But there was no time to think about that now.
I needed to handle things with my father first. Then I would deal with her.
I tried to explain to him that I loved Ayaz, that when I fell in love I didn’t know who he was, and that I wanted to be with him.
But baba was enraged and wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say.
All he could do was shout at the top of his lungs that I had dishonored our family and that he would never allow his grandson to have Yavuz blood.
“Eda, how could you do this to us? You’ve shamed us, disgraced our family,” he said, his voice trembling with rage. “What are we going to do with this child?” he continued, concern and shock written all over his face.
“Forgive me, baba. I didn’t want this to happen,” I said, tears streaming down my face as I tried to explain. “But now that it has, I can’t give up my child—and I won’t.”
“This cannot happen, Eda. This child must not be born.” He was completely unyielding. “We cannot allow our blood to mix with theirs. It will be a scandal in the Turkish mafia. This will never be acceptable. It’s better if he’s never born at all, but if he is, he must be raised by someone else.”
“Baba, you can’t be serious.” I was stunned, barely able to process what he was saying. “You want me to have an abortion, or else hide my child and give him up for adoption?”
“Eda, those are the only ways to protect our name and our honor,” he said coldly. “You made the wrong choice, and now you have to face the consequences.”
The sense of betrayal—from both my cousin and my own father—was overwhelming. I couldn’t believe he was willing to make such a drastic decision, one that would affect my life and my child’s forever.
As for Elif, I trusted her and told her everything. She seemed so worried, so supportive. But the truth is she deceived me, told my father everything, and he was furious. He didn’t want his grandson to have Yavuz blood.
I was desperate. I had nowhere to go and no one to trust. My cousin had betrayed me, Ayaz didn’t believe me, and now my family wanted to separate me from my child.
I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I couldn’t give up on my baby.
I would fight for him, even if it meant going against my own family.
They had betrayed my trust, and I was desperate. As I was being torn from my love and the child I was destined to bring into the world, the darkness of betrayal and deception surrounded me, leaving me in an abyss of despair.
What would I do now? How could I protect my child?
In the end, my father decided I should leave the city and hide the pregnancy.
Since the baby also had Aydin blood, mafia ethics and traditions meant I couldn’t have an abortion or kill the child, but he would give it up for adoption as soon as it was born.
He would tell Yusuf that I had returned to Italy to take care of Aunt Melek, who wasn’t in very good health.
After I returned, he would keep his word, and I would be forced to marry him.
As for my virginity, baba still didn’t know how, but he would find a way to resolve that somehow.
As I left, despair consumed me. How could I protect the child I carried inside me?
Could I really trust my father’s word? What if he decided to kill it or do something to make me lose the baby?
It was an unbearable dilemma, and the future seemed dark and uncertain.
I was devastated and helpless, not knowing what to do.
It was as if my world was crumbling around me.