Chapter 88 Chapter 88
Cícero Arbex entered the dining room exuding confidence. “Don't worry, Dad. This time it's different. We haven't heard anything from Second Brother, and I have Camille with me. There's no way I can lose.”
The patriarch, however, kept his feet on the ground. "Quality is only one side of the coin. Marketing is what moves the masses.
And between the two of you, who has more tricks up their sleeve than João?“ Cicero didn't give up. ”The product will be sold under the Cinedim brand, Dad. The key is technique. My team is solid, including new blood like Nísia Oliveira. With Camille on the team, victory is certain."
He paused and added, almost as an irrelevant detail: “By the way, I saw Katherine at that condominium in Dama 1. She was alone, carrying some bags.”
Dandara, who was submerged in her thoughts, looked up. “What was she doing there?”
“Who knows?” Cícero shrugged.
While the Arbexes were conspiring, Katherine was in a very different setting. Two hours of open bottles had passed. She patted her drinking buddy on the shoulder.
“Hey, weren't we going to drink all night? Camille?”
The blonde was already snoring softly on the table. Katherine sighed, taking the last sip from the bottle, still too sober for her liking. She settled her friend into her room and decided to return to the mansion. As she left the building, the lights of a car cut through the darkness. João Pedro was already there.
He got out of the car, his face contorted as he smelled the wine. “Drinking?”
Under the influence of alcohol, Katherine's barrier fell, revealing a mischievous malice. She giggled and used a formal tone laden with sarcasm: “Well, Mr. Arbex... João.”
“Hm?” He found her audacity amusing.
Katherine pointed her finger at his chest, her gaze suddenly cold. “Don't be so cocky. Mind your own business.”
She tried to hail a cab to ignore him, but João, with a simple intimidating glance at the approaching driver, made the car turn around and disappear. With no way out, she got into his car.
During the ride, João was attentive, covering her with his coat when she began to doze off. But the awakening was chaotic. When they arrived at the mansion, a deafening noise bombarded Katherine's left ear. She groped her ear in panic—her hearing aid had fallen out.
“Are you looking for this?” João held the small white piece between his fingers. “What's wrong with your ear? Why do you need that?”
Katherine snatched the device from his hand, her eyes flashing. “Don't meddle in my life!”
She hurried out of the car, leaving João behind. It was then that Cícero's mocking voice echoed in the parking lot. “Second brother, your approach with women won't work. They are complex. Take my example...”
Cícero displayed kiss marks on his neck like trophies. João looked at him with contempt. “A scoundrel.”
“Not a scoundrel. A connoisseur!” retorted Cícero. “You should never chase after her. If she ignores you and walks away, it's because you've lost your value. But changing the subject... you know about Camille, right?”
She starts in my lab tomorrow.
“Hmm,” João replied, with an indifference that irritated his cousin.
While the two men measured their strength in the courtyard, Katherine entered the East Wing. Anastasia greeted her with a stack of interview requests and invitations from calligraphy enthusiasts, all eager to meet the “Primordial Master.”
“Please turn them all down,” Katherine whispered, exhausted. “No interviews.”
Anastasia smiled, already expecting this, and let her go up to the silence of her room.
Octavio, sitting slumped next to Katherine, dropped his newspaper and looked at her with an amused but meaningful gleam in his eyes.
“Not only did my mother refuse all interviews because of you, Katherine, but she also personally rejected invitations from twelve influential families who begged to have her as their daughter-in-law.” He let out a muffled laugh. “Just look at her partiality... Anastasia is really astute when she decides to protect those she loves.”
“Octavio, go do your homework right now!” Anastasia's shout echoed from upstairs, cutting off the conversation.
Octavio shrugged, climbing the stairs with a knowing smile, leaving Katherine immersed in her own thoughts.
Upon entering the room, the silence of the night was interrupted by a soft, insistent scratching at the door shortly after her bath. Katherine opened it and found João Pedro's Samoyed, crouching like a loyal guardian. On his back, a small basket held a secret: a bottle of mineral water and an alcohol detox pill.
Katherine felt an involuntary tightening in her heart as she picked up the objects. She crouched down, stroking the dog's soft coat, while her eyes shone with deep melancholy. João Pedro didn't need to say a word; his silent and omnipresent care spoke louder than any promise.
Meanwhile, at the Collins mansion, the atmosphere was stifling. Rosana, her belly increasingly prominent, moved with the confidence of someone in control. Daniel, however, watched her with an indifference that bordered on coldness.
“Go to bed early, Rosana. Don't affect the baby with these worries,” he ordered, without looking up from his book.
“Nísia is having problems with the fragrance mixture for Cícero Arbex's laboratory,” Rosana replied, adjusting her shawl.
“I'll give her some tips. We can't allow the Collins to lose prestige in front of the Arbex. Her future is at stake.”
“You always control her like this, preventing her from learning to walk on her own,” Daniel grumbled, but Rosana had already left, closing the door with a sharp click.
Restless, Daniel abandoned his reading and walked to Heitor's room. Upon entering abruptly, he found his son hurriedly hiding something under the covers.
“It's too late, Heitor,” said Daniel, his deep voice vibrating with authority.
“Dad? Why are you here now?” The boy sat up straight, his face pale.
Daniel walked over to the desk and pulled out a piece of paper. His eyes widened when he saw the drawing: his own image, stern and cold, under the vengeful phrase: “I will destroy you in the name of the moon!”, accompanied by lightning bolts drawn with fury.
“What does this mean?!” Daniel growled, fury rising in his throat.
“I used your image for a... special appearance,” Heitor muttered, looking away.
Daniel sat down, his intimidating aura filling the room. "Why do you draw these terrible things about your own father?
Heitor finally looked up, and what Daniel saw there was a hurt so deep it made him falter. “When my brother is born, you won't like me anymore. I won't have a place in this family anymore, will I? That's what I see happening every day.”
Daniel's face paled. “Who told you that nonsense?”
“I see it myself,” Heitor replied, his voice laden with painful maturity.
Silence hung heavily between them. Daniel, trying to change the subject to hide his discomfort, picked up his son's textbook. It was clean, without a single note.
“Why didn't you do your homework?” Daniel asked.
“I don't know how,” Heitor blinked, looking vulnerable. “I don't understand any of this.”
Daniel sighed, feeling the weight of responsibility. For the next hour and a half, he tried, with a patience he didn't know he had, to explain simple math problems. His throat went dry from repeating the same formulas over and over.
“You're in fourth grade and you don't understand this? What do you do at school all day?”
“Dad... I'm in third grade this year,” Heitor corrected, his voice small.
Daniel froze. He didn't even know what grade his own son was in. Swallowing his embarrassment, he finished supervising and covered the boy.
“Go to sleep. You're my son.” Everything in the Collins house will be yours one day. Stop thinking about nonsense.
“What about Sis?” Heitor asked, his eyes shining in the dim light. “Will Katherine have a role too?”
“She's different from you,” Daniel replied, his voice hardening.
“Why different? Grandma said you used to take good care of her... Why don't you anymore?”
Daniel felt a blow to his chest. His son's question was a sharp blade in his hidden wounds. “Go to sleep. This isn't for someone your age.”
“I want to go to the amusement park. Will you take me, Dad?” Heitor asked, in a last whisper of hope.
“I'm too busy,” Daniel said, turning off the light and leaving without looking back.
When he returned to the master bedroom, Rosana was waiting for him with a satisfied smile that didn't reach her eyes.
“Where have you been, Daniel?”
“In Heitor's room. Starting tomorrow, find him a more attentive tutor. The boy is lost, he doesn't know the basics of the subject.”
Rosana froze, surprise transforming her expression. “A tutor for Heitor? But he has the best grades in the institution! Every time there's a test, he ranks first in the entire school.”
Daniel felt the ground disappear beneath his feet. Shock paralyzed him as her words echoed like an accusation of his own negligence. “What... what did you say?”