Chapter 87 Don't let João Pedro steal the show again.
As soon as she walked away, Steve's cell phone rang. He answered with latent irritation, talking to someone who seemed to be behind that absurd request. “Give up on that idea!” he exclaimed. “I already asked her. Perfume making is just a hobby; she's not a professional and would never create something harmful to fulfill her whims! What are you thinking?” He doesn't love you. Even if he forgets her, do you really think he would fall in love with you?
While Steve dealt with his family conflict, Katherine walked down the busy street beside him. The aroma of food stalls filled the air, and she allowed herself a moment of normality, visiting almost every store and leaving with her hands full of bags of food and drinks.
She sent a quick message to Gabriel Park, coordinating that night's meeting with Mimi. However, when she reached the end of the street, Katherine stopped abruptly. The instinct that kept her alive in extreme situations kicked in. She looked up, her eyes narrowed, sensing that the “tranquility” of that afternoon was about to be shattered.
João Pedro's car slowly pulled over to the side of the road. When the door opened and he got out, his expression was not the best—the exhaustion from the meetings added to the irritation from Octavio's message created a heavy aura around him.
Katherine hesitated for a second before finishing her message. Seeing him approach, she instinctively put her phone away. João was without his jacket, which made his white shirt and pants a little less formal, but no less imposing. He looked at the mountain of bags in her hands and then at the traffic on the street.
“Why did you buy so much?” he asked, bending down to pick up the bags.
Katherine stepped back, avoiding contact. “What do you want?” Her voice was icy, a clear warning for him to get to the point.
“I came to take you home,” he declared bluntly.
“I'm meeting a friend tonight, so I won't be having dinner with you. Please let Aunt Anastasia know.”
“A friend?” João's tone rose an octave, laden with possessive curiosity.
“Yes, a friend.”
“How many? A man or a woman?”
Katherine looked up defiantly. “Why do you care?”
João held her gaze with a depth that brought a slight smile to his eyes, interpreting her silence as a form of concession. Katherine, impatient with the psychological game, walked past him.
“Come home early,” he said to her back.
Katherine paused for a brief moment but did not turn her head. As she turned the corner, she saw Gabriel Park parking.
“Your assistant is here,” João remarked, having followed her with his gaze. Katherine frowned; she didn't remember confirming to him that Gabriel was her assistant, but João always seemed to be one step ahead. “Go on, don't be late. If you need me, call me.”
A strange, indescribable feeling tightened Katherine's chest. She took one last look at him before getting into the car. João, meanwhile, returned to the office; it was going to be a long night at work.
When she arrived at the luxury condominium in Dama 1, Katherine dismissed Gabriel and went upstairs with her bags. In the hallway, she passed two people.
One of them called her by name: it was Cícero Arbex, Dandara's brother, who had returned from France a few days earlier. His tone was questioning, as if he were still processing her presence there. Katherine just waved coldly and moved on. “Mr. Cícero, do you know this girl?” asked his companion.
“She's a relative... what is she doing here?” Cícero muttered, intrigued.
Upon entering the apartment with her password, Katherine found the room being prepared. “Wow, you're early!” exclaimed the figure inside, with a thick accent.
It wasn't “Mimi,” but a French man, blond, blue-eyed, and about 15 years older than her. Katherine put the groceries on the table and raised her eyebrows. “Where's the wine?”
The foreigner laughed, took two bottles from the cellar, and shook them enthusiastically. “We won't leave here until we're drunk!”
The atmosphere between the two was one of wild camaraderie. They quickly abandoned the glasses, drinking straight from the bottles. “Last time I couldn't beat you, but today your luck runs out,” the Frenchman taunted with a challenging look.
Katherine smiled slightly, clinked glasses with him, and began to drink, immersing herself in a night of freedom far from the intrigues of the Lutz and Arbex families.
Dinner at the Arbex residence proceeded with its usual rigor. Amid the clinking of cutlery and furtive glances at cell phones, Cícero Arbex took his place at the table.
“Where have you been?” asked Emily, watching her son. “You're very late.”
Cícero shot a meaningful look at his older brother. “Sasha arrived. I went to welcome her.”
His brother froze, surprise written all over his face. “You really managed to bring her?”
With a smug smile, Cícero took a sip of water before savoring his triumph. “Why would I lie? It wasn't easy. It took a monumental effort to convince her. She's already settled in at the Garden, in Dama 1, and the cooperation agreement is signed. She starts at the company tomorrow.”
Emily was amazed. Bringing in a talent of that caliber—a former professor at the world's most prestigious perfume school, someone who had always ignored fame and fortune—was a masterstroke. Her older brother, however, couldn't hide his discontent. He himself had tried to recruit her in the past, offering astronomical sums, only to be ignored.
“She has skills, I admit,” her brother retorted acidly. “But calling her ‘the best’ is an exaggeration. There is always someone better somewhere. Besides, research takes time. Starting now, with such a tight deadline, may be too late.”
Cícero let out a short laugh. “Did you hear that, Dad? By his logic, if I'm ‘late’ starting tomorrow, imagine our second brother, João Pedro, who hasn't even found a perfumer yet. He's already lost the race before it even started.”
Their father intervened, his deep, solemn voice cutting through the discussion. “Cinedim is the result of a lifetime of effort by your aunt. It's the most lucrative business the Arbex family has. One of you two needs to win this project. Don't let João Pedro steal the show again.”
The silence that followed was heavy. João Pedro's name hung over them like an insurmountable shadow. For years, he had been the face and mind behind the family's global rise, leaving his cousins in a constant background. This time, with Sasha's arrival, the brothers believed they finally had the secret weapon to bring down the “untouchable” João.
What none of them imagined was that, while they were planning the company's success the next day, Cícero's “secret weapon” was, at that very moment, toasting with Katherine in an apartment a few meters away.