"Say 'coincidence' one more time and I'll spill your mouth across this table."

Ada was not shouting.

She did not need to.

Four people sat around a square table in the farthest corner of the restaurant. The night had deepened and only a few customers remained. Dim lamps cast yellow pools across the tables, while the background music rose just high enough to veil their conversation.

Miray sat alone on one side.

Ege, Ada and Rüzgâr sat opposite her.

Ege was pale. The pain in his stomach had not eased, and the swelling at the back of his head had grown. Rüzgâr avoided moving his right arm whenever possible. A thin trail of dried blood marked Ada's cheek.

No one touched the tea on the table.

Miray met Ada's stare.

"It wasn't a coincidence."

Ada leant forward in her chair.

"Which part?"

"Tonight."

"This morning?"

Miray considered for a moment.

"Our first meeting was a coincidence."

Ege looked at her.

"The photocopier?"

"Yes."

A senseless relief appeared on Ege's face.

Ada noticed.

"Is that genuinely what you're pleased about right now?"

Ege shrugged.

"It would hurt a little if everything had been planned."

Ignoring her brother, Ada turned to Miray.

"How did you know we'd be at the workshop?"

Miray held her glass in both hands, but did not drink.

"I was investigating Sami."

Rüzgâr spoke for the first time.

"Why?"

Miray turned her eyes to him.

"Because I investigate the criminal organisations in this city."

Nothing changed in Rüzgâr's face.

"That isn't an answer."

"It's the only answer I can give for now."

Ada let out a scornful breath.

"You followed us."

"Yes."

"Was getting a job at the company a coincidence too?"

Miray fell silent.

Ege's eyes travelled over her face.

"Did you know us before today?"

"I didn't know your faces."

"But you knew who we were," Rüzgâr said.

This time, Miray answered directly.

"I knew about the Butterflies."

The silence that descended over the table seemed to drive every sound in the restaurant far away.

Ada's back straightened.

The softness left Ege's face.

Rüzgâr did not take his eyes from Miray.

"Go on," he said.

Miray drew a deep breath.

"I've spent years investigating Istanbul's criminal organisations. Their names, their connections, the companies they work with, the police officers they meet, the cases they walk away from... I collect the things people don't talk about."

Ada's voice was cold.

"Are you a journalist?"

"No."

"Police?"

"No."

"A prosecutor?"

"No."

"Then who are you?"

Miray's fingers tightened around the glass.

"I'm looking for someone."

Rüzgâr tilted his head slightly.

"Who?"

Miray did not answer. Instead, she continued.

"Four months ago, you had Sami arrested while he was smuggling goods. But you didn't know he was more than a smuggler."

Ege frowned.

"What was he?"

"He began with debt collection. Later, while searching for money to pay for his son's treatment, he entered a larger organisation. After a time, most of what he did was no longer for money, but because they would not let him leave."

Ada's face did not soften.

"That doesn't make him innocent."

"It doesn't."

"Do you expect us to pity the men who point guns at us?"

"No. I'm only saying that you change people's lives without learning enough about the people before you."

Rüzgâr's gaze hardened.

"The man we sent to prison was a smuggler. He threatened people. He used children."

"I know."

"Then what is the problem?"

Miray did not look away from him.

"The problem is that he could not have walked out of prison alone."

Ada and Ege looked at one another.

The anger in Rüzgâr's face gave way to an attentive silence.

Miray continued.

"Before Sami attacked you today, he met with several people. I don't know what was said. But I do know that the people who got him out wanted him to take revenge on you."

"Who?" Rüzgâr asked.

"I don't know."

Rüzgâr leant back in his chair.

"You know all of this, but not that."

"Not yet."

Ada tapped her fingers against the table.

"How did you find us?"

Miray was silent for several seconds.

"There have been rumours about the Butterflies for years. Three people of roughly the same age: two men and one woman. One talks his way inside organisations. One gains access to their systems. One becomes the visible face of the plan."

Her gaze moved in turn to Rüzgâr, Ada and Ege.

"After every operation, you have a contact who ensures the criminals are handed to the police. You hide your identities, but your movements repeat. The same car hire firms, the same private hospitals, traffic fines in the same districts..."

Ege's brows rose.

"Traffic fines?"

Without looking at him, Ada spoke.

"I told you."

"I didn't imagine speed cameras could hold a grudge for so long."

An unwilling smile touched Miray's lips, then vanished at once.

"It took me months to reach your identities. I wasn't certain. That's why I took a job at your father's company."

Ada folded her hands on the table.

"To get close to us."

"Yes."

For the first time since he had seen Miray, Ege's face became utterly serious.

"You pretended not to know me today."

"Because today was the first time I saw your face."

"You knew my name."

"Yes."

"You didn't tell me."

"You wouldn't have trusted me."

Ada gave a short laugh.

"We trust you enormously now."

Ege looked at her.

"Ada."

"What? She watched us all day. Found where we work. Uncovered our identities. Followed us all the way to Sami's workshop."

Miray cut in.

"I guessed you would enter the forest. You'd left your car at a distance. When the police came, you would have to reach the main road. So I waited."

Rüzgâr studied her.

"You aren't used to going into the field."

Miray's eyes went still for a moment, as though she had remembered the man she struck with the timber that afternoon.

"No."

"You came anyway."

"Yes."

"Why?"

For the first time, something defenceless appeared in Miray's face.

Ada saw it, but did not soften her voice.

"Why did you do all of this? Why were you looking for us?"

Miray set her glass on the table.

Her fingers no longer trembled.

"Because I've reached the limit of what I can do alone."

Ege said nothing.

Rüzgâr placed his elbows on the table.

"You need us."

"Yes."

"For what?"

Miray's gaze dropped briefly to the table.

She seemed afraid that once spoken aloud, what she was about to say would become more real.

For years, she had stood before a locked door. She did not know whether these people could be trusted. Yet she had spent months, perhaps years, trying to reach them.

It was too late to turn back.

She raised her head.

Her eyes moved over all three.

"For my family."