Chapter 60

Punishment

She looked a mess as he gently placed her over the mattress and went to pick up clothes for her to change when there was a knock at the door and her mother entered.

"I will take care of her, you may leave us alone." Adalet's authoritative voice came as she didn't wait for anyone to invite her, so she knocked and opened the door.

Sinbad looked at Sibel before taking any further action.

"It's okay Sinbad," she said, and he came to her side, pecking her head and whispering, "I will be near, okay." And he left them alone.

Adalet helped her stand on her feet and helped her remove the hospital gown.

"He fought with doctor Asıl, who wanted the nurses to give you a bath, as he wanted to do it himself. He didn't allow anyone to touch you. He closed the door and curtain and bathed you alone. I told you years ago to give him a chance, but your stubborn head needed to see things in those conditions. Abandoning your home, your family, your son because you wanted to prove something to the world."

"Don't speak as if you don't know what happened in the past," Sibel retorted as she finished getting dressed and sat on the edge of the bed.

"If your past with him was so abhorrent, then explain to me how you support his touch now. Because from what I have witnessed recently, you can barely breathe without each other." Adalet scratched at the old memories with a hot iron stick, and Sibel couldn't help her mind from traveling to the past.

"Enough, Adalet ma'am. You can come here and point out my mistakes as if they were mistakes. If everything happened that way, it is your fault for brainwashing me for the entire time I was under your roof. Not letting me be at peace with my thoughts. Always threatening me with your friends. 

I was hurt beyond belief. I was broken and you didn't care about me at all. I was raped in this bedroom.

I was beaten, cheated on in the next room as I was left in the enemy's arms. He broke me into a million pieces. The reason I left him was because I wanted to find myself again. To regain my strength. I couldn't just come back here because I had a baby with him. I didn't want him to feel proud to have me as his trophy. I refused to live the life of a pathetic wife. With me, it's everything or nothing."

"Life isn't like that, Sibel. We make compromises, lose some battles, and win the war in the end. Maybe this was our fault, since you were a child we let you win all your battles and never face the loss until you lose."

Sibel smiled at her mother's words.

"Isn't it funny. It's the harsh truth, my daughter."

"If you are so fond of the truth, then tell me mum. Have you ever been raped?"

"It's not about that, Sibel."

"Just answer, damn it. Have you ever been raped? Have you ever been slapped? Has my father cheated on you? Answer me mum. Have all those things that happened to me in this house occurred to you too!" Sibel shouted in rage.

"No. Thankfully, your father and I have a wonderful marriage that has become stronger through any struggle we face during 55 years of living together."

"Then you are no one to judge my choices.

Then you were no one to blame or threaten me as I held my son in my arms.

You didn't shut your ugly mind that time and put me to the worst cavalry ever."

"Sibel Kara, hold your tongue. If you forget who I am, I can easily remind you." Adalet Kara grabbed Sibel's arm and raised her hand, but that hand never touched Sibel's face as it was held in the air.

"Leave this instant, ma'am, before I lose my patience and do something ugly." His voice was darker than the night that covered the city, as he put down her hand, barely holding himself back from exploding.

"She is coming with me. My family has been mocked around for years because of her choice, and I won't allow her to be the subject of gossip as she lives here like your mistress."

"Hold your horses, woman. You are forgetting who you are dealing with here. And furthermore, how dare you put that label on my wife? Huh?! Are you having a death wish to call my wife in my presence with that loathsome name? Get out of here and don't you dare come back!!!" His roaring brought her father and her brother into the room.

They were perplexed witnessing Sinbad's behavior as he threatened Adalet while protecting Sibel behind his back.

"Sinbad, what do you think you're doing, raising your voice to my wife?" came the authoritative voice of Ahmet Kara.

"Take her away before I break the honor code. Because no one lives to tell the tale of a raised hand or an insult to my wife. But your wife is lucky enough to bear the blood of my two loves.Otherwise, I would not have handled myself," Sinbad said, turning after speaking his mind. He took Sibel and went to the balcony, leaving her family alone. She could feel his heartbeat drumming loudly inside his chest as he held her for dear life.

She wanted to say something, but instead, she started to kiss his chest and made noises like "muah". Her little action distracted his mind.

"What are you doing, little kitten?" He kissed the top of her head.

"I'm imitating your heartbeat. They go boom, boom, boom. I do muah, muah, muah," she said, innocently smiling at him with teary eyes. Then she rested her head on his chest and hugged him tightly.

Her family had left in silence after Adalet confessed what happened between them.

"I'm sorry, Mum, but he was right in defending her. Although I don't approve of his methods, you forgot who he is. He is madly in love with her and ready to burn the world down if something happens to her. And you go and insult her," İsmail said, driving towards home.

"How dare you call your daughter that? Have you become so old that you're losing your senses now?" Adem seemed just as furious with his mother as his elder brother, reproaching her reckless actions.

"Both of you, enough! Neither of you have the right to talk to your mom like that. What happened is in the past now. Somehow she has the right to her say..."

"Enough! The three of you are talking as if I am not present here. Whatever I said, it was the ugly truth that they will soon face, and we'll face it too. People will talk and point fingers at your sister."

"Oh, Mom, I want to see who is going to dare to do or say something against Sibel and live to tell the tale." İsmail snickered, knowing well that his brother-in-law would cut off those fingers and shove them in their mouths.

***

After he made sure she ate well and they had a talk through a camera with Mert, who wanted so much to be there, but Sinbad told him the hospital was better, they stayed alone.

Sibel, clad in his warm hoodie, stood at the balcony, staring at the sky. The moon wasn't above them; it had shown its dark side to the world.

"You shouldn't have talked to my mom like that," she said, turning to him as she heard his steps closing the distance between them.

"She shouldn't have talked to you like that, and raising her hand was unforgivable, love," he said as he removed her hair from her face, cupping her cheeks and kissing her forehead.

"You listen to everything?!" she asked, surprised that he had heard her words earlier.

He nodded, showing no signs of anger towards her for opening up to him.

"Sometimes it is hard, Sinbad, comparing our lives. The disgust I felt when you used to be near me during those times, with the yearning to be touched by you now. In some ways, she is right. I shouldn't have behaved like that. It seems like my whole life is a big sin. Maybe if I had never existed, none of this would have happened. But then I think of Mert, and he is a miracle that should have had a better mom. I was weak. I claim to have done right. I claim to be stronger, but I am weaker. I am nothing, and I certainly don't deserve to have you in my life. Why didn't you force me to come back to you when the truth was revealed, when I found out that my father killed your father? About your mom killing herself and leaving you alone in this world. You could have done whatever you pleased with me, then. Sincerely, my family, especially my parents, deserve the punishment of all your suffering, watching me dead and gone..."

"THAT'S ENOUGH, SIBEL! ONE MORE WORD LIKE THOSE RUBBISH YOU'RE SAYING, AND YOU WILL MEET THE DEVIL AGAIN," he roared at her crying form backing off, startled.

"Sin... (hiccups)"

"Come with me," he grabbed her hand and led her to the car. When the engine started, it was as if his heart began to beat.

He took her to the dungeon, where the rotten smell of death lingered in the air. She tried several times to throw up as they approached the main part. He lit up the darkness, and the red blood color replaced it, coming from all those sinners who left their souls in this dungeon.

"You had your stage there in Rome, and it was beautiful. But here is my stage. Here, I give them what I can't give to myself. A vicious and abhorrent death. These walls don't have sweet piano tunes, darling. No, if you put your ears on these bloody bricks, you'll hear their wailing and their screams as they encounter me. I have become a hundred times more merciless since you were gone. Ripping their skin alive, pouring acid onto their open wounds, not because they haven't spilled everything they knew. Hahaha."

His laugh was demonic. An unpleasant, cold shiver passed through her spine as she witnessed his changed voice. The walls, painted with the true blood of people who crossed paths with the devil, made her body palpitate in fear.

"I'm going," Sibel said, attempting to leave, but he caught her hand and placed her in the middle of the room.

"Are you afraid of me, love?!" he asked, cupping her face and pulling it up to meet his eyes. She was silent, unable to distinguish whether his voice was still lovely or menacing.

"You wanted punishment, right?! You were complaining about why I didn't hurt you back then, huh?! Why didn't I complete the revenge when I heard that my father was brutally murdered by your daddy?! Why didn't I cause them the same pain I experienced when my mother burned herself in that farm, and your daddy covered up the murder of my father with that fire?! Why? Is that what you want to know, right?!" His questions revealed things she didn't know. His eyes showed hate, pain, and anger all mixed up in those hazel, lake-like eyes. She couldn't move; her body was frozen. If she were standing on her own two feet, it was only because he was holding her face. Otherwise, she would fall and shatter into pieces on the bloody cement.

"Simply Sibel, my father was a sinner. He cheated on my mom with your aunt. He promised your auntie marriage and happiness when he was already married and had a child. He played a double game. He went to Vienna where your aunt was studying piano, just like you. It was for work, but he fooled her with empty promises. When your auntie came home by surprise, she witnessed my father's happy family. She couldn't bear the disappointment. After all, she was pregnant with him. To save the reputation of your family, she went and had an illegal abortion which caused her to bleed to death.

Even in her last moments, she didn't say his name, but a letter written by him that your dad found hidden in the closet of her room brought my father doom.

I don't care about his death or the way he died because he deserved every pain he felt. I don't have a sister, but I have you. You are closer to me than a sister, a mother, and a daughter.

Your dad told me how he found his sister, covered in her own blood as the abortion had cut her veins inside. Do you know what image comes to mind? It's you, my love. You all bloody in that bathtub. You were punishing me for whatever I did to you by taking yourself away from me. Look carefully at that wall." He turned her face towards a wall that wasn't just covered in blood, but also had script writing in the dark. He pushed her body closer to read the lines.

Ruined innocence:

- Interrupting her engagement

- Beating her lover, terrorizing her family

- Forcing her into marriage

- Slapping her

- Raping her all night long

- Making her curse herself

- Menacing her lover, raping her again

- Manhandling, slapping, raping, and belting her

- Forcing her to work

- Humiliating her

- Raping her again willingly

- Cheating on and abandoning her

- Slapping and raping her again

- She decided to commit suicide

- Creating a monster from her lover to her demon

"And the recent events of today." He said as he took a black chalk and wrote:

- Couldn't prevent her kidnapping in time.

"Now tell me, Sibel Kara, what more do I need to do to avenge your family when my list has no end? Huh, my love?! I did everything to avenge something that I had no clue how it happened. Your family sold the information to make me stop the people mouth. Your family separated us. Your family hurt your mind so much that you couldn't escape the abyss anymore.

Your mother is at fault for us being apart. Cause, babe, if you had stayed, I would have found a way to come into your heart. I found it with the night call. Mert would have been sick, like babies do, and I would be there for you. A hug here, a hand held there. Lunch at the farm and dinner outside. I would melt your heart. I would make you accept me again. This was my plan that she didn't let me bring to life. You are a strong woman because you chose the right thing to do. I admire you even more for punishing me with 100 meters distance. How many times I stopped the car to watch you from far away. I confess that one time I disguised myself as a nurse to touch your belly and the baby jumped at my touch, and you smiled while holding my hand there." His voice trembled as tears fell down, bringing back the memories. She hugged him and they both fell to the ground. He cried loudly as she held him close.

"So don't ever say that I should hurt you more or that you should never have been born because you rip my heart, Woman. Can't you see how much I love you? I lost my mind when I found out that you were kidnapped, and luckily I was hot on his trail to come in time. And you doubt my love for you. What more do I need to do, Sibel, for you to trust my love?" His tears were countless as he asked her, unknowing that her heart was crying too.

"I am sorry, my love, for doubting your love that knows no boundaries or limits. I hope I can love you like this one day." Her words worked their magic and calmed his tormenting soul. His lips found hers and brought light to every soul that was bound within those walls.

Faraway:

"Ma'am, I failed," a woman's voice came through the phone, apologizing for her unaccomplished mission.

"I knew it, Livia. Your infatuation for that cripple would be your doom sooner or later." The woman on the other side spat venom as she spoke.

Livia hung up the phone and went to bed while Andrea was badly beaten up. His manhood was gone after being treated so delicately.

"You should have left me. I am not a man anymore."

"That tool only works to produce a baby that I don't want. But as I remember, your tongue and your fingers work perfectly and perform magic." She said as she put the bed head down, unzipped her dress, removed her panties, and positioned herself above his head. The rest is moaning...

"Imbecile!" The woman who had her phone call cut off by Livia roared as she threw away the mobile.

"Ma'am! Massimo failed." Another pawn of hers came, head down, fearing to meet her green eyes. She took the gun from the desk and shot him in the right leg.

"¡Desaparece antes de que llene tu cuerpo de balas!"(Disappear before I fill your body with bullets!)" She ordered, seething with rage.

"Hermosa, estás matando a todos mis soldados en esta guerra tuya con el despiadado Sinbad." (Beautiful, you are killing all my soldiers in this war of yours with the ruthless Sinbad.)" A man came, encircling her body in his inked arms, as he peppered her swan neck with kisses.

"Terminaré con su reino, amor. He perdido algunas batallas, pero juro que ganamos la guerra." (I will end his kingdom, love. I have lost some battles, but I swear we will win the war.)" She flirtatiously turned to face him.

"Dejemos la guerra, mi solecito, y nos concentramos en nuestra princesa que llegará pronto." (Let's leave the war, my little sun, and concentrate on our princess who will arrive soon.)" The man cupped her belly, which had started to show.

"Tienes razón." (You're right)."

The  woman kissed passionately the inked man that was nada más y nada menos that the king of the underworld,Aman García.

Location, Spain.
____________________