Chapter 1 part1
ORDERS TO HATE YOUChapter One: The Day Istanbul Trembled
His dark uniform was covered in dust within minutes. Around him, soldiers worked frantically to move broken concrete and search for survivors.
“Captain, we need additional equipment on the eastern side!” one of his men shouted.
“Then get it!” Michael snapped. “I don’t want excuses. I want people out of that rubble. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
Michael turned towards the collapsed building. A little girl was crying nearby, her mother trapped beneath a fallen concrete slab.
He immediately approached them.
“Hey, look at me,” he told the girl, kneeling in front of her. His voice was still firm, but something in it softened. “What’s your name?”
“Zeynep,” she whispered through her tears.
“Zeynep, I need you to be brave for me. My men are going to help your mother, okay?”
She nodded, gripping his gloved hand.
Michael stood and signalled to two soldiers.
“Carefully. If that slab shifts, the entire section could come down.”
For all his ruthlessness, he would never abandon a civilian. Not while he still had breath in his body.
“CAPTAIN!”
He turned sharply.
A woman in a police uniform was arguing with one of his soldiers near the emergency perimeter. Her dark hair was tied back, dust covered her sleeves, and her expression suggested that she had already lost every ounce of patience she possessed.
“I said those people need medical attention!” she exclaimed.
“And I told you to wait for clearance!” the soldier replied.
“People are bleeding, and you want me to wait?”
Michael began walking towards them.
“What is the problem here?”
The police officer turned.
For one brief moment, their eyes met.
She looked at him as though she had already decided she disliked him.
He returned the look with equal indifference.
“Your soldier is preventing my officers from bringing injured civilians through this route,” she explained.
“Because this area isn’t secure.”
“Then secure it! Don’t stand here giving orders while people are dying!”
The surrounding soldiers went silent.
Nobody spoke to Captain Michael like that.
Nobody.
Michael stepped closer, his expression hardening.
“Do you have any idea who you’re speaking to?”
Eylul raised her chin.
“A man who apparently thinks his uniform makes him more important than everyone else.”
One of the soldiers looked away, hiding his disbelief.
Michael’s jaw tightened.
“And you must be one of those police officers who believes a badge gives her permission to ignore orders.”
“Funny. I was about to say the same thing about soldiers.”
“This is a military-controlled rescue operation. You will follow instructions.”
“And this is an emergency, Captain. I follow the law, not your ego.”
The tension between them became almost unbearable.
Michael had encountered stubborn people before. He had dealt with criminals, traitors, and men who would sell their own country for money.
But this woman?
She looked at him without the slightest trace of fear.
And somehow, that irritated him more than anything else.
“Eylul,” she introduced herself coldly, extending no hand. “Police officer. In case you decide to report me for doing my job.”
Michael glanced at her, unimpressed.
“Captain Michael. And believe me, Officer, I don’t need your name to remember your face.”
“Good. Because I intend to make sure you remember mine.”
Before he could respond, a deafening crash echoed from the collapsed building behind them.
“EVERYONE, GET BACK!” someone screamed.
A section of the damaged structure gave way.
Eylul turned towards the sound.
A young boy was trapped near the entrance, frozen in terror as concrete began falling around him.
Without thinking, she ran.
“Eylul!” another officer shouted.
Michael swore under his breath.
“GET THAT WOMAN OUT OF THERE!”
But Eylul was already moving through the dust, determined to reach the child before the next collapse.
Michael watched her disappear into the wreckage.
For the first time that day, his anger was replaced by something else.
Concern.
He immediately followed her.
Because whatever he thought of that stubborn police officer, he wasn’t about to let her die under his command.
And Eylul?
She had absolutely no idea that the man she despised was about to become the one person she would have to trust with her life.
To be continued…
