PRIVATE PROPERTY: A Dark Romantic Novel

CHAPTER 4

Demir froze behind the door. The mocking smile vanished. The rush of victory evaporated, replaced by a heavy, dark, and cold sensation. Jalal? That pathetic, weak coward... r***d her? Then her fear... her escape... her broken eyes... it wasn't pride; it was the trauma of a victim. And he, with his lie intended for "amusement," had just put her in front of a firing squad. He had effectively sentenced her to death.

He pushed the door and entered. Noor and Raha screamed in terror. Demir looked at Raha. She was collapsed, eyeliner smudging her face, her wedding dress torn. Raha looked at him with indescribable hate: "You... you destroyed me... are you happy now?"

Demir ignored her question. His face returned to its mask of stillness, but his eyes were burning with a different kind of fire. He took two steps toward her and said in a voice seemingly void of emotion: "You should thank me... I saved you from a wedding you were being led to like a lamb to slaughter."

"Thank you?" Raha screamed with a hysterical laugh. "You’ve sentenced me to death! They’ll kill me in minutes!"

Demir looked at his watch coldly: "Death is fate, little one... and today, fates are changing."

He turned and left without another word. In the hallway, he met the doctor who had just arrived. He gave her a look that terrified her, then continued toward the stairs, unbuttoning his jacket and readying his concealed weapon. The game had changed. He no longer wanted to ruin a wedding. Now... he wanted blood.

Ten minutes passed like an eternity. Below, Aslan and Jalal waited for the verdict. Demir stood in the corner, smoking, his eyes never leaving Jalal. He was imagining a thousand ways to skin him alive. The door upstairs opened. The doctor exited, her face pale. She descended slowly. Silence reigned.

"Speak!" Aslan roared.

The doctor looked at the father in fear, then delivered the final judgment: "The girl... is not a virgin."

The volcano erupted. Aslan let out a roar of rage that shook the palace. "The guns! Bring the guns!" Jalal also drew his pistol, feigning wounded honor: "I will wash the shame with my own hands!" Everyone ran toward the stairs, toward Raha’s room.

In that split second... Demir threw his cigarette on the ground. With a swift motion, he pulled his phone and pressed a single button.

Click.

The power to the entire palace was cut. Total darkness. The place turned into a hell of screams and chaos. "Don't move!" Aslan shouted. Violent gunshots rang out, sounds of glass shattering. Demir’s men began their assault.

Upstairs, Raha was screaming in her dark room, believing her father was coming to kill her. Suddenly, her door was kicked open. She saw nothing, but felt a massive, powerful hand clamp onto her arm and pull her from the bed. "No! Father, believe me, he didn't touch me!" Raha screamed.

"Shut up!" came the voice in her ear amidst the darkness. A deep, familiar voice with a terrifying tone of possession. Demir.

"I’ve got you," he whispered, lifting her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. "I’m taking you from here... and let your family go to hell."

He hauled her out of the room amidst the crossfire in the hallway. A stray bullet whizzed past her head; she screamed, but Demir pressed her head to his chest, protecting her with his massive body as he carved his path through the darkness and corpses, heading toward the unknown—leaving behind a burning palace, a family searching for lost honor, and a groom, "Jalal," who would soon begin to pay for his sins in blood.

The armored car tore through the road at a manic speed, distancing itself from the palace lights and the remnants of Raha’s life that had shattered in mere seconds. In the back seat, silence reigned—but it was a silence that screamed.

Raha sat pressed against the door, her body trembling involuntarily. Her lavish white wedding dress now felt like a block of ice suffocating her. The long veil had fallen over her shoulders, and her black hair framed her pale face like a ghostly halo.

She looked at the man sitting beside her with an infuriating coldness, his legs spread dominantly as he toyed with his phone, as if he hadn't just abducted her from amidst hundreds of men. That coldness was the spark that ignited her volcanic rage.

"You aren't human!" she suddenly screamed, lunging at him like a wild cat whose dignity had been wounded. She didn't think of the consequences. She jumped onto him in the cramped space, pounding his solid chest with her fists and digging her nails into his broad shoulders. "How dare you! How dare you touch me and defile me in front of everyone!!!"

Demir didn't flinch an inch. He tossed his phone aside and, with a movement swift as lightning, clamped his massive hand over both her wrists, pinning them with a single hand above her head, forcing her against the leather backrest. In one second, the tables turned. She was trapped beneath him. His massive frame overwhelmed her, his legs pinning hers, preventing any movement.

"Don’t you dare..." Demir growled in a low, husky voice, leaning his face so close their hot breaths collided. "Don’t you ever raise your hand against me again..."

He was so close... close enough that she saw sparks flying in his black pupils. She saw obsession, she saw rage, and she saw something else—something dark that made her blood simmer.

Raha tried to break free, writhing beneath him, but her movement only increased the friction of their bodies, making the situation even more combustible. "You destroyed my reputation!" she sobbed bitterly, her eyes firing arrows of hate.

"Your reputation?" Demir laughed with dark mockery, his eyes descending vulgarly to admire her chest rising and falling, before returning to her trembling lips. He freed his hands from her wrists to grip her jaw firmly, forcing her face toward his: "Reputation only matters to the living, Raha. And you were a corpse walking on two legs in that hall. Do you think Jalal would have shown you mercy tonight?"

Raha froze at the mention of Jalal’s name. Demir brought his face so close their breaths mingled and said sharply: "I saved your life. The price was your reputation? So be it. Reputation can be bought with money or washed with blood later... but once the soul leaves, it never returns. So stop wailing and thank me."

He shoved her hands away coldly and returned to looking out the window, leaving her to drown in tears of oppression and shock. She knew... deep down, she knew he was right. Jalal would have made her wish for death a thousand times and never granted it. But the way... the way Demir saved her was so cruel. He had made her a "w***e" in everyone's eyes to save her life.

TEHRAN PRIVATE AIRPORT – THE RUNWAY

The cars came to a halt before a sleek black private jet, its engines idling in preparation for immediate takeoff. Raha didn't wait for anyone to open the door. She stepped out, stumbling over the heavy train of her dress. She wanted to get away from him, she wanted to run—but where? The runway was vast, and guards surrounded the plane. She climbed the stairs feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. Demir followed behind her, giving quick orders to his men to remain and secure their withdrawal, before the cabin door slammed shut.

On board the private jet, the air was charged with static electricity. Raha fled to the restroom as soon as the plane took off. She locked the door and stood panting before the mirror, trying to calm her heartbeat that felt like it would break her ribs. His touches in the car... the way he restrained her... his scent that clung to her skin... everything about him was disorienting and terrifying.

Her eyes met her reflection. She looked like a ghost. Eyeliner streaked down her cheeks, and her face was as pale as the dead. She turned on the cold water tap and began washing her face violently. She wanted to remove everything... the makeup they had forced onto her, the phantom touches of Jalal. She rubbed her face and neck until her skin turned red. And as the thick layers of foundation vanished from her neck and shoulders... the truth emerged.

Dark blue bruises, others turning green—clear fingerprints left by Jalal and her father on her body over the past few days. It was a map of pain hidden beneath a mask of beauty. Raha looked at the bruises, and her defenses collapsed. She gripped the edge of the sink and began to sob silently, her body shaking violently.

Suddenly... a loud knock thundered on the door. "Open the door," came Demir’s commanding voice.

"Go to hell!" she screamed with a choked voice.

He didn't wait. She heard the sound of a spare key turning (his plane hid no secrets from him). The door opened...

Raha gasped and turned to find Demir filling the frame with his massive frame. He had discarded his jacket and unbuttoned the top of his shirt, revealing the strained muscles of his neck, his hair slightly disheveled. "Get out!" she screamed, trying to cover her body with her arms.

But Demir didn't leave. His eyes locked onto her bare shoulder... onto the ugly blue bruises marring her porcelain skin. The air in the cramped room changed. The temperature dropped suddenly. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, trapping her between the sink and his body.

He took a step forward. The space was incredibly tight. Raha backed away until her back hit the mirror. "Don't come near me..." she whispered in terror.

He didn't listen. He reached out and, with his rough fingertips, touched a large bruise on her bare shoulder. His touch wasn't violent, but it was heavy. Raha flinched, but he didn't pull his hand away.

"Who..." he uttered the word in a voice that sounded like the roar of the jet engine. He reached out. Raha recoiled, but there was no escape... He traced the path of the bruise on her neck. His touch was scorching. It sent a violent shiver down her spine. "Give me a name?" he asked, his eyes burning with hellish rage.

"Don't touch me..." Raha whispered weakly, her legs nearly giving way from his sheer proximity.

Demir pressed his hand against the wall behind her head, trapping her completely, bringing his face close to her neck, inhaling the scent of fear and pain emanating from her. "Was it Jalal?" he whispered near her ear in a husky voice. "Did he put his filthy hands on you?"

Raha remained silent, her eyes filling with tears. The silence was answer enough. Demir’s eyes ignited with a demonic glint. His grip tightened until the veins in his hand bulged. The thought that Jalal hadn't just r***d her (as he had heard), but was torturing and beating her, made his blood boil. He felt it as a personal insult.

"I will cut off those hands..." he muttered with a terrifying threat, slowly—agonizingly slowly—running his nose along the length of her neck, inhaling her scent, as if erasing Jalal’s mark and placing his own seal. "I will make him scream your name while he burns."

He pulled away suddenly as if she were a hot coal, giving her one last, dark, deep look: "Change your clothes as soon as we land. I don't want to see this shroud on you anymore."

ISTANBUL – KURTOGLU FORTRESS

The plane landed in Istanbul at dawn. Fatigue had taken such a toll on Raha that she couldn't walk straight. The heavy dress, the shock, and the hunger had all conspired against her. When she stumbled on the plane stairs, he didn't let her fall. Demir swept her into his arms. "Put me down! I can walk!" she protested weakly.

"Stop being stubborn for once," he said coldly as he headed toward the waiting car. "You're shaking like a leaf in the wind."

They arrived at the palace. It wasn't an ordinary house. It was more like a fortress overlooking the Bosphorus—isolated, haunting, and cursedly luxurious. Demir carried her in his arms all the way to the master suite, ignoring her weak protests. He entered his bedroom, dominated by black and charcoal silk. He tossed her onto the massive bed. Raha bounced on the silk sheets.

She immediately scrambled backward, crawling across the bed to get away from him, until she hit the headboard, pulling her knees to her chest, her eyes scanning the place with fear as her heart beat the drums of danger. They were alone now. In his bedroom. In his country. And no one in the world knew where she was.

Demir stood at the edge of the bed. He began unbuttoning his cuffs with lethal slowness, his eyes never leaving hers. The look in his eyes was hungry, possessive. "What... what are you going to do?" her voice came out trembling, tears returning to their course. "Did you bring me here so you could r**e me too? Is this the price of my life?"

Demir’s hands stopped moving. He slowly raised his gaze to her... He climbed with one knee onto the bed, crawling across it with the slow, imposing grace of a predator cornering prey, until he reached her. He trapped her with his powerful arms, pinning her between his body and the headboard.

He brought his face so close he nearly touched her. "r**e?" He whispered the word as if it were a personal insult to him... Raha saw the darkness in his eyes, but she didn't see the filthy lust she saw in Jalal’s eyes. She saw arrogant pride.

"Listen to me well, Raha..." he said with an arrogance dripping from every syllable. "I am Demir Kurtoglu. I don't take someone else's leftovers, and I don't steal crumbs from others' tables." He ran his finger over her cheek, wiping a stray tear with a rough but not harmful touch: "And more importantly... I don't force women. r**e is the weapon of the weak, and I am not weak."

He reached out, winding a lock of her black hair around his finger, gently pulling her head back to force her to expose her neck to him, and said in a low, husky voice saturated with confidence: "I won't touch you against your will... that is the way of weaklings like your cousin." He leaned in and planted a light, quick, and dangerous kiss—like a scorpion's sting—on the corner of her mouth, then whispered words that would haunt her dreams: "But I promise you... a day will come, very soon, when you will crawl across this bed and beg me to touch you... and only then, I will think about it."

He pulled away, leaving her gasping behind him, and before he left, he said coldly: "This is your room now. The bathroom is prepared, and there are clean clothes. Sleep, for tomorrow will be long."