Top Assassins Call Me The Lady Boss-Chapter 179: Only if

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy- Nine

That made him turn fully to her, surprise clear on his face. "Because you think I’m doing the same thing to your dad?" he asked. "Mine has retired, if you have any fight, it should be with me."

"It’s a long-standing grudge," she said simply. "One that didn’t start with you." She curled her fingers into her palms, remembering all that Marco had told her about Ahmet’s father and her family.

Her jaw tightened. The muscles in her face drew hard, as if she were holding something feral behind her teeth.

"Do you care to explain?" he asked, brow creasing, confusion sharpening into concern.

She hesitated. Just long enough for the room to feel smaller. Then she spoke, low, like saying it louder might make it real again. "He killed my parents and my entire family."

The silence that followed felt like a slap.

His stillness only fed the heat in her chest. She turned toward the door, anger pushing her forward.

"Is that why you hated me?" he asked behind her. His voice cracked. She didn’t stop.

He could’ve denied or defended his dad but he didn’t. He only cared about himself. That realization only made her mad.

"I’m not trying to defend him. But there is no way my father would kill an innocent man. Let alone kill the wife and the entire family." He said quickly, stepping closer.

She laughed a sharp, ugly, one... nothing was amusing about it. "You mean to say they deserve it?"

"No. I mean, if you had said my father had killed just your father and a couple of men, I would say it is likely possible but if women and an entire family are involved, that could not be possible. We don’t harm innocent people." He defended and she hoped it was true. She wished it were. She wanted that to be true.

But it wasn’t. She knew it wasn’t. "His mistake," she said quietly, turning back to him, eyes burning, "was leaving me alive."

He swallowed. "Well, I will say you look into it. Because regardless, I will protect my family with everything I got," he told her.

"I don’t expect you to do otherwise. You are after my dad and that will mean you are after me. May the best Boss win. The next time we see each other, it will be on a battlefield."

He stared at her, incredulous. "Wait a minute. Do you think I decorated this room and gave you flowers just to go back to being enemies? I’m not tangling my personal life with business." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"There’s no personal life for us. Even if there was, this is our personal life." She snapped.

He tried again, softer. "No. Answer me, at the end of all this, when we retire..."

"I’m not retiring." She said.

"Well, you will eventually. Look at my dad..."

"Yes, it’s not my fault he is weak!" She snapped.

Something dark crossed his face. "He retired to spend more time with his family and I’ll be doing the same. If you disrupt his peace..."

She cut him off. "Then what?"

"Asli, do your investigation before you lay a hand on him. He may be retired but just know, he trained me." He said simply but sounded like a warning.

"I don’t expect anything from a goddamn murderer!"

"Murderer? We all are. I’m just saying that you may be accusing the wrong man." Ahmet defended.

"Of course, defend him! I don’t care." She said, voice rising. "I’ll give him a taste of his own medicine, then kill him after I watch him suffer the loss of his loved ones."

His eyes shook.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Asli saw the trembling look in his eyes. Usually, that should satisfy her but it didn’t. And he continued, "Asli, my father, Markus, and I are not innocent. The rest of my men are not saints. We do not fear punishment but if you touch my mother..."

"Your mother. You grew up with one while your father deprived me of mine!" She exploded. The words tore out of her, raw and unfiltered. She inhaled, trembling. "Maybe I’m glad I wasn’t carrying your child. Imagine how my mother would be rolling in her tomb for my stupid action. Your mum is the first on my list."

"I dare you!" he yelled, because he knew she wasn’t bluffing. Because he knew she could do it.

She turned and walked away, leaving him where he stood, frozen in the middle of the room. The corridor blurred as she moved. A tear slipped free, hot and unwelcome, tracing her cheek before she could stop it.

Why couldn’t she just be happy? Why did it feel like she was marked for loss? Why was he his father’s son? Of all the men in the world, why him? This ache. This frightening hunger for something more.

She needed more than what she had now. She never felt this way. Why was she suddenly needing a family? Why were the people she called family not enough for her?

Why was she suddenly ’feeling’?

The realization terrified her more than any enemy ever had.

Before she could take another step, his hand closed around her wrist. It was not gentle. Neither was it cruel either. It was just a desperate touch.

He released her immediately, as he’d burned himself. "Sorry. I didn’t mean to... shit." His breath was uneven. "Asli... did your father tell you that? Was he the one who told you that? Did my father kill your family?" His voice dropped. "Because if he did... if he was the one, don’t believe him. Don’t believe anything that man told you."

She laughed once and was incredulous. Then yanked her hand free. "So now my father is a liar?" Her eyes burned. "That man found a child kneeling in blood beside her dead family. He took me in. Raised me. Gave me everything I needed. It’s because of him I’m not begging on the street. He made me this powerful. And you... You’re calling him a liar now?"

Ahmet shoved his hands into his pockets, like he didn’t trust them. Like he was afraid he’d reach for her again. "He’s not who you think he is," he said quietly. "Why do you think I’m coming after him?"

She stepped closer, fury tightening every line of her body. "Because you’re your father’s son. You always want more. You don’t care what you destroy. So why did you get close to me, Ahmet?"

His jaw clenched. "First of all, I never demanded or took anything you weren’t willing to give. I only took what you gave me and you know what I’m talking about. I started blackmailing you because I wanted you and didn’t know how to catch your attention. Yes, I had wanted to end your father’s bad operations but I got attached to you. So no matter what my deal is with your father, it doesn’t define or affect what you and I have."

She shook her head. "There is no we."

He exhaled, slow and tired. "There is. And that’s why I’m asking you, just once, trust me and not your father."

Her eyes flashed. "Listen to yourself. How do I not trust the man who saved me?"

"I think you don’t fully trust him." He accused.

"What?"

"If you did," he went on, steady now, "you wouldn’t have unregistered men."

Her shoulders stiffened. "Because they were men he wanted to kill though they didn’t deserve to die!" She responded.

"Yes. Your father is evil." Ahmet said softly.

"We all are!" She shot back. "We kill! Are we any different? It’s just that we didn’t have anyone avenge their deaths or perhaps those left were cowards who couldn’t avenge the deaths of the people we killed. I wanted to give those men my father wanted to kill a second chance." She stopped and before she could continue, he was speaking.

"You don’t do second chances. As a matter of fact, you will pull the trigger before your father even reaches for his gun."

"You know nothing about me, Ahmet."

"I know enough. And I know you kept those men because deep down you don’t trust your father and the perfect men you know would stand by you against him, are the men who know your father asked you to kill them."

The words landed harder than a slap.

She went still.

Was that true?

Did she keep the men because she didn’t trust her father? If she didn’t trust him, then what was her purpose? All her life, she worked and trained harder than the rest of them, because of the trust she had in him and she knew he believed her just as much

She saw as Ahmet watched her face, then said the thing she didn’t want to hear. "It’s only a matter of time before you become his prey too."

Her chest tightened. "Why would he kill me?" she whispered. "He raised me. Everything I am is because of him."

Why would he bring her up until she was this old before he killed her?

Ahmet must think she was foolish and ungrateful. Or weak enough to doubt the man who gave her a life.

The insult burned.

If he thought just some words would let her doubt her father, then he must think lowly of her. The nerve he had to say it to her face. If she could be fooled by the words he was telling her, then it meant anything could fool her.

What did Ahmet take her for?

"It is clear you believe your father and I believe mine. Let us take it that way, and stand by them. I told you, the next time we meet again, it will be a bloodbath." Asli warned.

Ahmet shook his head, frustrated, aching.

"What we share has nothing to do with our fathers. I will only make sure you don’t ruin my family based on some lie. But if, and only if, it were true that my dad did that to your family, and even that, only if they were innocent, you and I can strike a deal." His voice faltered with something like hope.

She stared at him, disbelief hardening into resolve. "Are you kidding me? Assuming that if your father were guilty, which I know he is, I’m killing him and everything he loves." Her voice dropped, raw and punishing. "Because if he is guilty, I’ll have to punish myself too for liking you."