41

I take a deep breath before opening my eyes and realizing I was in Ravi's room without Ravi. My eyes wander around the space, searching for any sign of him, initially finding nothing but silence.

I slowly sit up in bed, feeling my hair brush against my bare back, realizing not only his absence but also the absence of my clothes. Wrapped in a sheet, I leave the room with my dress, and the house itself is eerily quiet, confirming what I had already suspected: there shouldn't be anyone there except me and maybe a soldier.

As I begin to soap my body, washing myself, I vividly remember Ravi's hands on me, especially how his presence made me forget even what I was going to say. Our bodies fit perfectly together, despite his nearly 2 meters of height and my mere 1.60.

I felt that we were slowly reaching a new level, not like in the beginning when we first met. It was as if the bond between us grew stronger with each intimate encounter we had.

I wasn't distracted enough not to notice a tall figure through the open bedroom door. I didn't need to think too much to deduce it was Ravi, as he always appeared and disappeared as he pleased.

I run my hand over my face, staring at the door, turning off the shower faucet.

"Ravi?" I call, expecting a response. But there is none. I put on the robe that was nearby and tie it as I walk out of the bathroom, finding what seems to be an empty room.

"Ravi?" I insist once more, not wanting to jump to the conclusion that I was going crazy or seeing things that clearly weren't there.

But as I turn to go back into the bathroom, I come face to face with Rubens leaning against the wall, staring at me intently.

"Try again," he says maliciously. I quickly back away, hitting the door frame with my back.

"Don't tell me you're scared," he straightens up, looking me up and down.

"Get out of here," I say through gritted teeth.

"Not now. Not until you confirm it was you."

I furrow my brow, shaking my head slightly.

"What?"

"You killed Talita, didn't you?" He continues to stare at me with a firm voice, keeping his eyes fixed on me as if trying to read my thoughts.

"I didn't," I murmur.

"Are you really going to stick to that story? Ravi may believe you had nothing to do with it, but I'm certain," he says firmly, keeping his eyes locked on me.

"Get out of my room," I say, raising my voice slightly, wondering where the soldier who always followed me when I didn't want him was at that moment.

"Now."

"Not until you tell me in plain words what you did."

"I didn't do anything!"

"You two had something, didn't you? Your last conversation left that in the air. Continuing with this pregnancy hurt her feelings. So much that even with all the cuts from the glass you threw at me, she made me have sex with her, eat her out as if her life depended on it," a scene automatically forms in my mind, despite my efforts not to imagine anything. At that moment, a supposition emerges in the midst of that invented scene, something I should have realized some time ago.

"But it wasn't the first time, was it?" I say quietly, narrowing my eyes. "You two were meeting before."

However, when a man emerges from the crowd in front of us, well-dressed and confidently walking towards us, kissing Talita at the last second, I blink a few times without understanding, wondering if I had missed something.

"I missed you," the man wipes the smeared lipstick from Talita's lips with his thumb, biting his lower lip.

"I know you did," Talita keeps her arms around him. "So did I."

I watch the scene unfold, still trying to understand what was happening right before my eyes.

"Oh," Talita continues, "this is my friend," both of them turn to me, "Mariana." I feel my blood run cold for a moment in my veins when the man's gaze discreetly roams my body before finally fixing on my eyes. "And this is Rubens."

"That doesn't matter," he says, undeterred.

"It does matter," a brief smile appears on my face as the pieces begin to come together right before my eyes. "You two must have been having an affair for some time, perhaps in secret or not. But when you found out about the pregnancy, for some stupid reason, you thought you had the right to interfere."

"She was trying to help you," he argues.

"Ah, help me? To me, this is something else entirely. She didn't want to lose me; she wanted to keep me without you knowing, and with you... without me knowing," it was hard to estimate how long they had been "together"; it could have been days or weeks. It had been quite some time since Talita had infiltrated Jacarezinho, and I usually only arrived later to provide support. It must have been more than enough time to do a lot of things, including starting another relationship.

"Do you really think he cares about you? That he's here for that reason?"

"I know very well why I'm here," I take a step towards him, determined not to let him or anyone else intimidate me. "But I must inform you that your plan failed because I'm still carrying his baby. The firstborn. The heir," my voice rises, leaving Rubens momentarily speechless. But this didn't last long, as he closed the gap between us in an instant, holding my neck tightly.

"Do you remember the last time I had my hands on your neck?" He tilts his head slightly to the side, watching me lose my breath slowly. "Of course you do," I close my eyes, struggling against his hand that tightened with each passing second, my lungs burning for oxygen, and an agony settling within me as I entered a dilemma: would he stop squeezing my throat when I stopped breathing, or would he simply continue until I died?

I was in this dilemma when I felt that I was losing consciousness, and I ended up opening my mouth in a final gasp, feeling several pills being pushed inside my mouth at once, followed by water. I reflexively gag, but Rubens is faster and covers my mouth again, managing after a few seconds for me to swallow.

"Did she swallow them?" Talita asks worriedly.

Rubens looks at me intently.

"Everything indicates she did," the pressure on my face gradually diminishes until there is nothing stopping me from breathing normally. I look at the two of them, fighting against the pills in my stomach and the anger boiling inside me.

"Now what?"

"Wait for it to take effect and be careful not to let her vomit."

I have to vomit then, I think immediately, focusing on the nausea that was already present in me.

"Hey. Hey. Hey," he says quickly, lifting my head and looking into my eyes. "You wouldn't want me to make you swallow two blister packs now, would you?"

With the feeling of anger rapidly taking over me, I manage to strike Rubens between the legs, and then without waiting for him to recover, I knee him in the abdomen, causing him to bend over in pain. I watch the satisfying Unable to stop myself this time from kicking his face, his body falls to the side, but even so he remains conscious, groaning in pain, but conscious.

I move away from him quickly, running out of the room, taking care not to slip on the steps, while aiming for the front door. I cross the large room without slowing down, opening the door abruptly, just before I feel a body blocking my path.