He will suffer when he sees her like this... He will beg when he hears her screams... and he will obey me as I wish."
The mother recoiled with obvious fear:
"But the police... he won't come alone, impossible!"
He replied with a triumphant smile:
"The police all went to the company. Aydan is the only one who will come here... Isn't that exciting?"
At that moment, the motorcycle burst forth, splitting the road with supernatural force. Behind the wheel, Aydan pressed the gas pedal with determination, his eyes fixed on the horizon... towards the mansion. There was no time to wait. It was time for reckoning.
Elsewhere, Erin stood leaning against a wall, his face pale but resolute.
The mother, with worried eyes, approached him:
"Erin, where are you going? You're still sick!"
Erin replied:
"The last time in the hospital... when Aydan left his phone unattended, I put a tracker in it. I've been calling him since yesterday, but he's not answering. I have a bad feeling... I'm going to follow him."
He got into a taxi, took out his phone, and tracked the red dot moving slowly towards the mansion.
In the dark basement, under dim lights, the foster father ripped the tape from Sera's mouth. Her eyes were wide with terror, her lips trembling.
Sera, her voice choked:
"Let me go... What are you planning?"
He looked at her with malicious eyes, a dry smile on his face:
"I want some entertainment... until your lover comes. Then we'll make him lose his mind."
Suddenly... the sound of the motorcycle's engine grew louder from outside, stopping in front of the mansion. Aydan dismounted with steady steps, his eyes sparking with a contained madness.
The mother rushed towards him:
"Aydan! Wait! Stop, I told you to stop!"
He turned to her slowly, a faint smile on his face:
"Why? Are you trying to protect your dear husband?"
The mother, nervously:
"He's... he's in the basement."
Aydan laughed a dry laugh, his eyes flashing with suppressed insanity:
"We'll finish this... where it all began."
He pushed the basement door open forcefully and quickly descended the stairs... When he reached the bottom, he froze in his place.
Sera was bound in iron chains, tears streaming silently down her face, her eyes pleading.
Sera, in terror:
"A... Aydan..."
Aydan's breathing quickened, his heart about to burst. Without a word, he pulled out his gun, cocked it, and aimed it at his father.
"Sera, voice trembling:
"Aydan..."
The father, laughing sarcastically:
"Oh... it's like watching a romantic drama, but it will end with the heroine's death."
Then, with lightning speed, he pulled a sharp wire and wrapped it around Sera's neck!
Aydan, shouting:
"If you don't let her go... now! I'll shoot!"
Sera began to choke, blood trickling from her, her eyes widening in an attempt to catch her breath.
Aydan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them with resolve. He pulled the trigger... a bullet was fired and hit the father's arm. He recoiled, and Aydan rushed towards Sera.
He knelt before her, carefully removed the wire from her neck, his eyes filled with worry:
"Sera, are you okay? Breathe... I'm here, don't worry, everything is fine now... I am your fortress, as I promised you."
Tears streamed from her eyes, her gaze filled with hope... as if he were the light in a never-ending darkness.
Outside, the taxi stopped in front of the mansion. Erin got out quickly, looking at his phone:
"This is the tracking location... and this is Aydan's motorcycle."
He ran towards the mansion. The guards tried to stop him, but he pushed them away with determination.
The mother sharply:
"Who are you?! Get out of here!"
Erin, panting:
"I... Where's Aydan?!"
And downstairs, the father picked up a sharp iron tool and lunged towards Aydan.
Sera screamed:
"Aydan!!! Look out!"
Aydan dodged it at the last second, fired a shot, but it missed.
When Erin heard the gunshot, he ran downstairs. The mother stopped him, handing him a key:
"Take this... free the girl."
He didn't understand, but his heart urged him to move.
He arrived and was shocked by what he saw... Aydan, Sera, the chaos.
Aydan turned, surprised:
"Erin...?"
Erin rushed to Sera, began to unlock her chains, and gently supported her.
The father, screaming:
"And... who is this, too?!"
Erin, coldly:
"Me? I'm just a person who hates Aydan."
Aydan laughed despite the tension:
"This isn't the time for your heavy jokes. Take one step, and I'll kill you... you senile old man."
Erin placed Sera behind his back to protect her, and while they were like that...
The sound of police cars blared from outside.
The police officer broke in:
"I'm sorry, sir, for not following orders... We left a patrol there, but we couldn't bear to leave you alone here."
He looked at the father, "You are under arrest on charges of money laundering and kidnapping the girl."
At that moment, Sera rushed towards Aydan, hugging him tightly, her tears not stopping.
Aydan, in a low, broken voice:
"I'm sorry... everything that happened to you... is because of me."
She looked at him, her eyes filled with love:
"Don't say that again..."
Then she leaned in and pressed a long kiss on his lips, a kiss in which fear, hope, and love were mixed... a kiss that sealed a chapter of pain... and opened a new door to salvation.
"The Mother: "Aydan! Do you... do you hate me or despise me?"
He gave her a cold look, then before the police could put him in the car, he grabbed his father and undid his bonds.
The father laughed and said, "I knew you'd think about that. I mean, I can destroy you."
Aydan started laughing, then said, "Of course, dear father, I'm scared."
Erin, his eyes widening: "Father? Is... is this Aydan's foster family?"
And as Sera went to approach, Erin grabbed her hand and stopped her.
Aydan: "I wanted to try something! You know, you want to exploit what you call insanity, so I'm going to conduct an experiment to show how devoted a son I am."
Then he grabbed his father by the arm and forced him to sit in the chair against his will.
The officer: "Sir... what are you doing?"
Aydan looked at him and smiled, then said while holding the chains, "Do you doubt me? I won't harm this cursed old man. I'll just make him experience what he used to do to me."
Erin stammering: "W... what... what did he used to do to you?"
Aydan, as he bound him with the chains: "This, you see. The last time this happened, Sera, do you remember the day I met you on the bus? But unfortunately, I don't have proof."
The mother rushed out of the basement with quick steps and went to a room with a locked safe. She entered the secret code and opened it, taking out a flash drive. She looked at it for a moment, then returned to the basement.
The mother, approaching Aydan with slow, nervous steps: "Aydan... my son, I... I have proof."
At that moment, the father yelled, "You cursed woman, didn't you say you got rid of it that day?"
The mother, crying: "I said so, but I didn't. How could I live with this guilt? You turned me into a monster. Wasn't it enough that he was a child? Wasn't it enough that he lost his memory? Isn't it enough that he suffered from PTSD? I think he was looking for affection like any other child, but you..."
Aydan's hysterical laughter grew louder, as if the pain he was hiding had turned into those empty laughs.
Sera stepped towards him and hugged him as if she was collecting the shattered pieces of a broken heart, and it was as if she was the medicine capable of calming that hysteria.
The mother: "Let's try playing it in the living room. It's been a long time, and I don't know if it still works."
Everyone left the father tied to the chair and tightly closed the door. The mother placed the flash drive on the large screen, and it started from the very first day—the day of the adoption.
The first scene appeared:
The mother was shown on screen, bending down to little Aydan, holding his hand and saying with a warm smile:
"Aydan, my son... this is your new room. I don't know what you like yet, but if you want to change anything, just tell me, you poor boy..."
Then she hugged him with tenderness.
But the image quickly cut out.
And then a different, dark scene appeared.
The same day... two in the morning.
Little Aydan was bound in iron chains in the basement, his thin body trembling on the cold floor. The father leaned over him, plunging a needle into his small arm, once... twice... three times.
Then kicks and blows rained down on him.
Blood trickled from his little mouth, but he didn't scream. He was suffering from PTSD; no sound... no resistance.
Outside, Sera was sitting with Aydan, who did not want to watch a past he had tried to forget.
The night was still, breathing calmly. The sky stretched above them like a dark velvet curtain sprinkled with thousands of sparkling jewels. The stars seemed to pulse with life, twinkling softly, some bright, and some about to fade.
Aydan slowly raised his finger, pointing to a faint star fighting to survive amidst the glow of its sisters. His voice came out as a whisper, hoarse with something profound:
"Look, Sera... at that star over there."
She followed his gaze, and with eyes half-closed from contemplation, she said with a deep calm:
"The one that's about to disappear? That's your past, isn't it? As for me, here I am... your present, Aydan."
He turned his face to her, not speaking. His eyes spoke for him, as if there was a mist of memories between his eyelids that would not die. He smiled, but it wasn't a smile of joy; it was as if he was trying to calm an internal fire that would not go out.
"Inside me..." he said, looking at the sky again, "are rusty... painful memories. Some made me shrink into myself, and some carved knots inside me that can't be undone. After everything that happened... do you still not fear staying with a man like me?"
She was silent for a moment, then she slowly raised her head towards him. Her eyes caught the light of the moon and the reflection of the stars, as if they held the sparkle of the whole world.
She stepped towards him lightly, her hands on his cheeks, which trembled from his confession, then she pressed a kiss on his lips... but it was not a fleeting kiss. It was deep, warm, as if it was telling him: "I will not leave."
And with a voice full of confidence, she whispered:
"And will hope fail one who trusted it? I told you that I own you... so how can I disappear? I told you before, and I'll repeat it whenever you need: I will absorb your storm... to the very last drop."
In that moment, Erin was watching the video. His eyes were tearful, and his tears streamed silently, as if they were collapsing from a cracked rock. He was not only crying from the pain... but from the weight of the truth.
He felt as if ropes were twisting around his chest. Those videos were no longer just images; they had turned in his mind into iron shackles pulling him, binding him... imprisoning him in a past he did not choose.
He was looking at his brother's eyes, the eyes of a child who had been let down... whose safety had been shattered, and never repaired. They were eyes that asked: "Why did no one hug me?"
That night ended with a thick thread of sadness, as if a long page of pain had finally been folded. And on the same night, "Aydan" decided to stop—if only temporarily—working as a police officer. His decision was like someone turning off the light in a room crowded with memories, just to get a moment of silence.
As for "Erin," he sat in the corner of his room surrounded by the darkness of a dawn not yet complete. Questions piled up in his chest like a thick fog that he was trying to clear to reveal the truth:
How would he show what happened in 2009? How would he convey all those painful stories to "Aydan"?