Antony hadn’t realized that he was still in the car, looking at her until their gazes met, enveloping him in a great embarrassment. Only then did he start the car engine and drove away.On the way, he called Ricardo and asked him to meet him at the company as quickly as possible. Ricardo was not only his best friend but had also been the CEO of the company during the period when Nicolaus had been seriously ill. He was responsible for turning that business into a genuine success.Antony remembered this fact as if a knife were stuck in his heart. Remembering that his own father preferred to entrust the family business to someone other than him filled him with great resentment towards Nicolaus. It wasn’t Ricardo’s ability that was at stake, but as the sole heir, it should have been Antony who assumed the presidency in his father’s absence.Nicolaus had his reasons for this, and somehow Giovana was always involved in his decisions.He parked the car in the building’s garage, still lost in

Antony sat in the office armchair, thinking of his childhood. Nothing worried him back then, not even the constant fights between Nicolaus and Amelia because she refused to have another child. Nicolaus wanted a house full of children, but Amelia refused. Antony never understood how a woman like her had conceived him. But Amelia loved him , and he never doubted that love.But the world crumbled when Amelia became pregnant again and died during childbirth. It was a guilt that Nicolaus couldn’t bear for many years. Losing his wife and the baby she carried tormented him and drove him away from the only family he had left: Antony. When Antony turned eighteen, he left home to live in another country, far from Nicolaus’s brutality and the ghosts that haunted him. Nicolaus was no longer the father he loved; he became an obsessive and manipulative man. When Nicolaus decided to take care of Giovana, he saw in her an opportunity for redemption. He offered her what life had taken from him: a fres

A few days had passed, and Giovana felt that life was lighter without Antony disturbing her or Matteo pressuring her for another chance. Despite this, she found this calmness very suspicious. Antony seemed to have gotten the message, or at least that’s what she wanted to believe. But deep down, Giovana knew he was planning something diabolical against her.She left home that morning, feeling more determined than in previous days. The market was two blocks away from her house, and she decided to walk there. It was cold that day, despite the cloudless sky and the sun shining.She was attentive to the shopping list she held in one hand. She passed by the hygiene aisle and paused when she saw several packages of diapers. A smile emerged on her lips, but her heart raced when she thought that in a few months, she would have a baby, and no one would be there to help her. It was a frightening vision of her own future. The smile faded, replaced by an immense tightness in her chest. She put the

Antony averted his anxious gaze to look around. Giovana must be baffling, he thought. The sharp look he gave her, before grabbing her arm and pulling her inside the building, left her bewildered.“What’s your baffling plan this time, Giovana?” she felt his fingers tightening around her arm. She furrowed her brow in fear as she tried to free herself.“Don’t play dumb, Antony,” she shook herself again, but he didn’t let go, “I know you were at my house, and it was you who left that message written on the wall of my room.”Antony immediately burst into laughter. He didn’t know this uncontrollable side of Giovana. When they were married, she always behaved well in his presence, quiet and completely submissive. But after the divorce, Giovana’s behavior had changed so dramatically that it scared Antony most of the time.“I haven’t forgotten that you reported me for threats,” he tightened his grip on her arm “do you really think I would go to your house to threaten you again?”“I know it was

His ex-wife’s statement completely surprised Antony. What was even stranger was that Giovana’s determination to get him out of there caused strange feelings within him that Antony couldn’t distinguish.Immediately, surprise turned into mockery. In response, Giovana couldn’t help but release an emotionless sigh as she saw him disdain her intentions.“You came to get me out of this place?” He looked at her disdainfully, still smiling. “I didn’t know you had become a lawyer.”“Don’t be sarcastic, Antony.” she crossed her arms over her chest and averted her gaze from his. “I’m saying that I will drop the charges I made against you.”A silence lingered between them to the point that Giovana lifted her head to look at Antony and was surprised by the expression of confusion on his face. It was as if he didn’t believe that she could save him.“Not that you deserve my considerations,” he said, while his words shattered the enchantment of that moment, “but it wouldn’t be fair to leave you here,