Josias and Melissa are having dinner. She cooked beef in the pressure cooker and made a sauce with mushrooms. Rice and vegetables complement the dish. Caio was in the living room watching a children's tv program.Melissa breaks the silence: "What's your mother's name?""Elza. Now she bears the surname Queiroz." Josias responds bitterly."You never got a chance to talk about what happened, right?" Melissa tries to understand the situation carefully."No. I was about ten years old when she got tired of my dad's idle life and left us. She was so mad she didn't want to fight for my custody. So I never heard from her again. If she heard about our marriage, it's because she wasn't that far away.""Does she intend to go back to town? What do you think she wants?"Josias has a grim expression. "If she thinks she's going to enjoy our wealth, she's sorely mistaken!"*******************************************************Now that he is l

While Adrian gets dressed, Vera is thinking about how to let him down. After all, she just wanted him to have her first time so she could marry Wallace and keep her lie."You were quiet all of a sudden, dear." Adrian watches."Adrian, I hope you don't think we're getting married tomorrow." She turns to him, "Last night was wonderful, but now I need to get my ideas in order."Adrian stares at Vera without understanding anything. "Yesterday it wasn't just our bodies that got tangled up, but also your ideas?""That's right." She expresses through the body language that she is impatient for him to leave, "Like I told you, I'm not used to this."Adrian smiles slightly as he puts on his shirt. "You know where to find me. I'm leaving, see you later!"Adrian kisses her on the cheek, but he feels like he's kissing a corpse. He leaves and Vera wipes her cheek in disgust.********************************************************Ernesto en

Melissa receives a visit from William. He's still wearing his work clothes and his helmet is under his arm. She leads him into the living room. William looks at the elegant, covered sofas and is reluctant to sit on them in his worn, cement-stained jeans."I'll stay standing." He smiles, "I came here to leave you a message from Raymond Chaves."Melissa purses her lips. That means Raymond will talk about Pamela. "How does that family still remember me?""They remembered when they saw me back in our old house." William jokes."What was the message?" Melissa sits like a diva."Mr. Chaves asks you to try to get closer to Pamela." William tells her, "He's sure that when the two of you were friends, you were the one who put sense into Pamela's head. He attests that since you girls fought, she's gone from bad to worse."Melissa feels praised, smiles slightly. "That's true. She came to you and you fathered Caio, you left soccer without telling us the

Josias and Elza continue to talk in the penthouse living room. He has already told in detail how his father died and how he managed to escape."So how's your husband doing?" Josias asks."He's alive, that's what matters." Elza replies by pursing her lips, "Your father would be 50 now if he had the wits.""Mother, are you still not over?" Josias asks angrily. If she only knew what he faced concerning this matter..."How will I get over it?" Elza becomes dramatic, "I could be present the day they murdered him, they could rape me... Glad you got away. That's what makes me furious the most, knowing Tony left you exposed to this danger... Instead of him finding honest employment, he preferred to borrow money from a pawnbroker! I often thought of the mistake of leaving you behind, but I took comfort in thinking that Tony was taking better care of you."Josias doesn't know if he immediately believes his mother's words. "Well, I've always been in town, in

In Adolfo's hideous house, the family at least could buy a radio, and on it came the song "Born in the USA", by the aforementioned Bruce Springsteen. Mirtes gets even angrier."Turn off that damn radio 'cause I don't have the patience today!""And since when did you have patience, Mom?" Flávia asks, coming from the kitchen chewing a banana.Adolfo is on the sofa that had sunk under his weight, looking avidly at the wanted-ads. "Who was it, woman?""Your sister called me wanting to offer Flavia a job as a maid in Lagoon City! See if such outrage is possible!" Mirtes crosses her arms.Flávia opens her eyes with hope: "A job for me? I want it!""Did you just hear what I said?" Mirtes's unpleasant voice rings in the eardrums of her husband and daughter like a mare's neigh."Mirtes, don't be dumb!" Adolfo closes the paper, "I'm still unemployed. If our daughter has a chance to work, we can't stop her!""And even more,