Istanbul Noir - Mustafa Ziyalan [33]
Her voice grew slightly shrill and she seemed to turn into a little girl, like she always did whenever she got excited.
“I’ll get some from my Dad too. I’ll lie about what it’s for, tell him it’s for school or something. Or that I’m sick. I don’t know. But I’ll come up with more. I promise.”
“There’s no way we could ’ve afforded it,” Zeynep said, shaking her head. “You can’t even imagine how much they were asking for, sweetheart. Even your father couldn’t have gotten us out of it, believe me.”
She thought of Hasan’s expression, the way he had drooled when he stared at her legs. She doubted the asshole would ’ve made do with just the money, but she didn’t tell Nee that.
Nee turned around and gave Zeynep a frightened look, all the blood suddenly drained from her face.
“Don’t worry, baby. I took care of everything.”
Zeynep took a puff from her cigarette.
“I told you about that mafia godfather, the one our asshole did business with—Kâzım Aa. Well, I had a little talk, a little more than a talk, with his son last week, and invited him to the house. An hour before your appointment. He’s no different from all the other assholes. He wanted me to be his mistress, to make me part of his harem. He would ’ve taken care of my husband, too, if I’d asked, I’m sure of that. But for what? Why save myself from one animal just to go and be a slave to another? Believe me, from now on nobody’s going to make me do anything I don’t want to.
“Anyway, our boys wouldn’t recognize him; they’re new in Istanbul. And I’m sure that when our boys burst in, he reached straight for his gun. He’s the panicky type. So he wouldn’t have left them any choice. He keeps a gun under his pillow even when he’s making love, can you believe that? They’ll never be able to show their faces in Istanbul after this, trust me. Kâzım Aa would skin them alive. They either hightail it out of here or they’re finished. Simple as that.”
She took a deep breath.
“If they do cause us any trouble, I’ll make sure the aa gets wind of their names. I’m sure he’d believe me and not them. I’ve even made up a story already, just in case.”
Her eyes wide, Nee peered at the woman standing next to her. She felt extremely grateful, but also ashamed. And now, after what she’d just heard, she felt a slowly growing sense of admiration too.
“I’m so sorry, for everything,” she said in a low voice, like a child who’s just broken a toy. “He told me you would get divorced, that your relationship was over. But when I learned the truth … I hated him. I swear, I was going to be out of your lives, if only he’d left me alone.”
“I know, sweetheart,” said Zeynep, smiling. She reached out and ran her hand through Nee’s long red hair. Nee gently leaned in toward her.
“You weren’t his first lover. I couldn’t even count how many there’ve been. But even I wasn’t able to leave him, so how could a little angel like you possibly have done it?”
She thought of all the beatings she’d taken, all the slaps to the face, for some bullshit reason or another. But now, all that was over.
Zeynep slipped her arm around the waist of the younger woman, who snuggled up next to her, resting her head on Zeynep’s shoulder.
Two large seagulls passed in front of them, so closely that if they’d reached out, they could have touched them.
PART II
PUSHING LIMITS, CROSSING LINES
THE SMELL OF FISH
BY HKMET HÜKÜMENOLU
Rumelihisarı
Semile Abla had a bad habit. It was a habit that tormented her so much it gave her stomach cramps. But other than that, she was a fairly carefree woman. No one had ever heard her complain, not even when her knees ached on rainy days. She was just grateful to have friends who came knocking at her door frequently enough to make her forget her loneliness. She had enough money to buy meat twice a week, and a house with a roof that never leaked in the winter. In fact, according to Nalan, if Cemile Abla would only, finally,