Josias is talking to Ernesto in his apartment. Frederick had already left for work.“Ernesto, get ready for the next step.” Josias announces with a serious face, “You will tell the Bento brothers that I am alive.”Ernesto leans back on the sofa, “Are you sure?”“Yes. The bank canceled my bank account and passed all my earnings to Melissa, as I instructed in the will. I'm going to need Tiago to help me. And there's more.”“What?”“The Bento brothers have this strange scheme of figuring things out. Let it stay between us, Ernesto, but they discovered the whereabouts of Jeremiah Ramos and took justice into their own hands.”Ernesto is startled by the information, “Was it that idiot who pestered you when you lived in Seu Teodoro's building?”“Yes, the one that nearly raped their sister and I saved her. How they discovered Jeremiah's whereabouts is beyond me, so I decided to ask them for help.”“The Bento brothers idolize the ground you walk on, sir; for sure they will protect you from tha
Raymond is very upset with Moacyr letting it slip that his and Cristina's car accident was criminal. Cristina's jaw drops, “Can you explain to me what's going on?” Moacyr is quick to say, “Very simple, honey: Raymond cut the brake wires and I couldn't stop when that car came parallel; so we crashed and you were in a coma!” “IT'S A LIE!” Raymond yells until he is hoarse, “It was your son who tried to kill you!” Cristina puts her hand on her head, “This can only be a nightmare...” Raymond grabs Cristina by the shoulders, “Cris, for God's sake, don't listen to this crazy guy! Remember the countless times his hideous son swore at you and insulted you. Remember how many times he ceased relations with his father. Why would I do something knowing it would harm you?” “But it turns out I didn't get hurt.” Cristina breaks away from Raymond, disgusted, “It was my husband who was harmed. He was paralyzed and will never get out of this wheelchair again. Exactly what you wanted.” Raymond wigg
A few more days go by. At the Bezerra farm, Katherine is lulling Josias Junior in her arms, sitting on the sofa, like any loving mother. Adelina approaches with the bottle.“Here, miss. Although I think the baby should be nourished by breast milk.”“Shut up, here you only obey orders!” With one hand, Katherine snatches the bottle roughly.Jock appears after hearing the altercation, “Is there a problem here, folks?”Katherine rolls her eyes. Here comes the affectionate husband!Jock smiles at the sight of the baby, “And how's my boy doing?”“He is not your boy! He is the son of Josias Rocha!” Katherine screams as if possessed.Adelina is disgusted, “Now, that's enough! Miss Bezerra, respect your husband! He knows whose baby it is!”“Don't worry, Adelina.” Jock always responds calmly and kindly, “Tell your father I'm going to Lagoon City as he ordered.”Katherine's eyes widen and a lightbulb goes on in her mind, “Jock, can I go with you?”“Of course, after all, it will be good for you t
At Rocha Constructions, Carmen notices that Tiago and Igor walked in together and smiling.“Darling, I thought you were here. Good morning, Igor.”“Good morning, sister-in-law.” Igor greets her.“Melissa arrived?” Tiago asks.“Yes, she's in Josias's old room.”At the mention of Josias, the Bento brothers continue to smile. Carmen frowns and gets suspicious.But, the two gentlemen will not answer for the time being. They go to the presidential room and find Melissa reading the report on the work at the Rocha Hotel.“Shouldn't William be around with these reports?” Tiago questions her.Melissa nods at them, “He's still upset that he's not the one sitting in the presidential chair.”“Well then, let him get ready to whimper even more.” Tiago announces with a chuckle, “We have some great news for you, Melissa.”“Seeing you two smiling like that, it looks like Josias has come back from the dead.” Melissa jokes.However, the sudden silence of the two men made Melissa look serious and suspici
Melissa is furious to find the farmer's daughter who kidnapped Josias and made everyone think he was dead. However, in her mind, there was still a doubt.If Josias was captive on the Bezerra farm, then is Katherine's baby really his? If true, why did Josias do this, knowing he was still married to her?Melissa urgently needed to resolve this doubt, “Listen, you crazy woman, don't think you're going to take money from me! I can see that the baby is wearing quality clothes and the stroller is not a cheap brand.”“I was lucky to be born in a golden cradle.” Katherine brags, “And I was lucky to have my first time with a male as hot and virile as your husband, ha ha ha!”Melissa leaves, but not before slapping the scoundrel.“Ouch! Get back here, you—”Katherine is unable to follow Melissa because of Josias Junior. She controls herself and takes a deep breath.“Well, at least I accomplished my mission! Now she's going to go crazy wanting to know how her dead husband got me pregnant. Or may
Melissa is upset when Josias confirms with a straight face that Katherine Bezerra's baby is his. She sits on the couch.“Josias, I thought our reunion was to reactivate and strengthen the marriage even more.” She ponders, “But it looks like you're not committed anymore.”Josias sits on the other sofa, vis-à-vis, “Melissa, allow me to explain. This family of farmers helped me get my health back. However, I realized that Ephraim Bezerra was purposely keeping me prisoner for me to marry his daughter and take over the farm when he retires.”“Did he say that clearly?” Melissa purses her lips.“No, I understood everything when Katherine showed that she was attracted to me and when her father offered me a homemade wine so strong I could get drunk on the first goblet.”“Did you hear that we had a funeral thinking you had drowned in the river?”Josias gets angry and gets up, “Yes, I saw... Ephraim Bezerra didn't have a radio or TV, but by 'coincidence' he managed to get the newspaper reporting
Pamela is in a red armchair in the living room drinking a cup of coffee and cream. The radio is playing “Wishing on a Star”, a version by The Cover Girls.Miguel strides in to communicate something urgent to his wife, “Darling, I'm sorry to disturb your peace.”“If it's something urgent, I won't be upset.” Pamela smiles reassuringly.The radio interrupts the music and the announcer tells the same news that Miguel wanted to say, “We interrupt our programming for a piece of urgent news: Lagoon City police arrested real estate agent Adrian Barbosa this morning, accused of having sabotaged his father's car when he was going on his honeymoon with his stepmother Cristina Chaves. The current Mrs. Barbosa was in a coma for months and Mr. Barbosa got paralyzed after the accident. Now let's continue with the local programming.”The music starts playing again, but Pamela can't appreciate it. She puts the cup on the saucer and stands up, stunned.“Honey!” Pamela stares at Miguel, “Is the case fin
Amoreira does not understand why Moacyr wants to exonerate Adrian if it’s clear that he was the one who sabotaged the car, resulting in Moacyr being paralyzed for the rest of his life.How long does a father's love for his son last?“Mr. Barbosa, I'm sorry for your distress. But unfortunately, your son has committed a crime and needs to be punished according to the Law.”“But I'm saying I don't want to take this matter further, I haven't made any formal accusations!” Moacyr punches the detective's desk.“Well, the investigation will continue in the same way. After all, that's my job, to investigate. The Chief of the precinct was who decided on preventive detention.”“Why did he decide on this nonsense?” Moacyr's voice fails.“Because it has come to our attention that you will be there in this wheelchair forever!” It's Amoreira's turn to lose patience, “For Christ's sake, Mr. Barbosa, are you happy to be weakened forever? You were on your way to your honeymoon!”“If you investigated di
Josias visits the Rocha Hotel since he didn’t have a day off for the staff. In the management room, Eugenio gathered David, Benjamin, and Sybil. “Why is that mere cook present at this meeting?” David asked disparagingly. “Because that’s how our boss ordered it,” Eugenio replied dryly. “I didn’t say anything and didn’t call this meeting, so if you’ll excuse me...” Benjamin and Sybil were horrified to see David leaving the meeting just like that. However, when he opened the door, David came face to face with his father. “David, where do you think you’re going?” “DAD!” David exclaimed, extremely surprised. “I didn’t know you were coming!” “Didn’t Eugenio tell you I was coming?” Josias asked with a scowl. David understood who the ‘boss’ was. Benjamin and Sybil felt vindicated. Josias sat down at the desk, taking Eugenio’s seat, while the manager remained humbly standing. “Very well,” Josias began the meeting in a formal tone, “I’m here just to make things crystal clear. First
Melissa and Mary visit the Mountain Café.“A guava juice for me, Mr. Mountain!” Mary requested, smiling sweetly.“Of course, my princess!” Rodrigo replied, thinking Mary was very adorable. “Neil will make a delicious cup for you.”“Thank you. But the princess is Carol,” Mary responded, striking a serious pose.Melissa and Rodrigo laughed heartily. Mary is something else...“Rod, how has it been managing the café in your father’s absence?” Melissa asked seriously.Rodrigo served a baked chicken pastry with ketchup to Mary. “I'm getting by, Melissa. Josias was here earlier, more concerned about my loss than his own, as always. Isn’t he supposed to be resting?”Melissa nodded. “My husband is like that: he only relaxes when all of us are relaxed.”“An impossible mission because of certain people.”Neilton approached with the glass. “Who ordered a guava juice?”“I DID!” Mary grabbed the glass and went to a table.Melissa leaned forward, “Neil, Rod, how are Daryl and Diane? Behaving?”“Cont
At João Paulo’s house, he and Josias were about to have a significant conversation.“Walter, do you want to go with your mom to the kitchen?” João Paulo asked, looking at Helen. “I think she made some walnut cake.”“It was carrot cake,” Sandra replied, already getting up from the couch.“You got it.” Helen appeared and picked up Walter in her arms. “Let’s let Dad and Uncle Josias talk.”“Bye, Uncle!” Walter waved goodbye to Josias.“Bye-bye, I want a piece later!” Josias chuckled.Once alone with João Paulo, Josias became serious. “Don’t let anything or anyone ruin this family scenario, little brother.”“I’m fine. No one wants to ruin anything,” João Paulo replied casually.“Well, I hope David hasn’t caused you any trouble.”“He probably doesn’t even know I exist, man.” João Paulo shrugged.“But I stopped by Café Montanha and found out that the Vasquez family has replaced the Mountain family as the ‘annoying people.’”João Paulo sighed in disappointment. “Yeah. They—”The doorbell ran
Josias visits Café Montanha for a coffee and finds Rodrigo there. “Rod, how have you been?” Rodrigo is taken aback. “How am I? You’re the one who suffered a horrific loss recently!” “But you also lost your father. We’re in the same situation,” Josias explained as he sat down on a stool. “I’m okay, Josias. Life has a way of cheering me up. For example, I’m back at the diner after Thierry decided to take his place at the supermarket.” Rodrigo smiled. “What about the photography studio?” Josias smiled back. “It’s still going to operate, and Thierry will make periodic visits. But he’s going to appoint one of the staff to manage the studio.” Rodrigo served a pizza pastry to Josias. “Thank you. Well, I hope everything is alright between you two. I need to visit Rosemary and meet Jean Luc — is that the name of the baby?” “Yes, the name of the supermarket heir. Meanwhile, Frank will be here or somewhere else.” Josias interjected, “If Frank wants to work at Rocha Constructions, count
At the Rocha Mansion, Josias receives a visit from Benjamin. “How have you been, Ben? Any news about your parents?” The two embrace. “Actually, that’s what I want to talk about.” Benjamin scratches the back of his neck. The embrace breaks. “Let’s go to my office.” The two gentlemen enter Josias’s imposing office. “Any problems with Adolfo?” Josias asks, becoming serious. “Not yet, but I hope not to have any,” Benjamin replies with some sadness. “You know, Josias, what happened with your father made me think about my family, about how important it is for all of us to be together in the final moments.” “That’s true. João Paulo can tell you that better than I can.” “I think you can say it too. Vernon was the father you never had.” Benjamin clears his throat. “So, I’ve been looking into some hotels and realized there’s a demand at the Rocha Hotel in Victoria.” Josias looks at Benjamin, understanding where he’s going with this. “You want to go to Victoria to be close to your pare
Someone rings the doorbell at João Paulo’s house. The homeowner goes to answer after taking a shower and putting on clean clothes. But when he opened the door, João Paulo felt like slamming it in the visitor’s face. “Don’t be rude!” Erasmo exclaimed. “What do you want, you old bore?” João Paulo shot back. Erasmo barged into João Paulo’s foyer. “The mourning is over. Let’s pick up where we left off.” “Are you crazy? Who decides how long mourning lasts? We just got back from the trip!” “Not exactly, it’s been a day. Life goes on, my friend!” Erasmo replied mockingly. João Paulo remained serious. “But I don’t want to continue living this way, where fights and intrigues are the order of the day. Mr. Vasquez, you have a business to run, and I have a family to raise.” “But you found time to slap my son-in-law when he was here defending his family, didn’t you?” “Alan was extremely rude, but that was some time ago.” João Paulo frowned. “I don’t feel the same anger as before.” “So a
At the Vasquez Mansion, Alan could hardly believe that the people were thinking about more intrigues and disputes. “Guys, don’t you understand that I even forgot the reason I slapped Uncle João Paulo?” “Ridiculous!” Erasmo gestured. “You just maintained respect because it was a difficult occasion. But now, the mourning is OVER!” “Do you think João Paulo will rest, dear?” Sofia asked, sitting next to him. Alan shook his head. “If Uncle João Paulo doesn’t want to rest, then he is truly despicable. But my dad is back in town. He wouldn’t dare to do that.” The news should have been uplifting, but the members of the Vasquez family merely exchanged silent glances. With Josias present, it’s quite likely that he will put a stop to their fighting. Alan turned to Olivia. “In the meantime, we should celebrate the recovery of my dear mother-in-law!” Olivia and Sofia smiled awkwardly because of the secret they were keeping. “That’s right, let’s celebrate life!” Erasmo wrapped his arm arou
Josias Rocha and his family returned to Lagoon City. Those who were waiting for them stayed in the mansion and greeted them cheerfully in the foyer. “WELCOME BACK!” Melissa, crying, embraced her parents, William, and the twins fervently. Josias greeted them with a light smile. “Where’s João Paulo?” William asked. “He went straight to his house. His kids needed to rest from the trip.” Melissa wiped her tears with her fingers. “Alan went straight to his mansion. Especially now that his mother-in-law has woken up from the coma.” “That was a scare; I thought we’d have two funerals,” Simeon commented. Everyone headed to the living room. “Is Paris very beautiful, Mom?” Mary asked. “Yes, sweetheart, it’s stunning. We’ll go shopping together another time, okay?” “Do you have pictures?” Ignacio asked anxiously. “Yes, son, we took some pictures.” Melissa sat on the couch, pulling out a package from her bag. Josias sat in the armchair, taking a deep breath. William approached him.
At Café Montanha, Daryl walks in for a coffee and finds Rodrigo at the counter while Neilton serves the others. “Hey, are we back to the old tradition?” “Don’t be a clown, man.” Rodrigo laughs. “Yes, Thierry is at the supermarket, as we agreed.” “Hi, Neil. Can you make me a cappuccino while I enjoy a natural sandwich?” Daryl places his order. “Sure thing, Mr. Mountain.” Neilton heads to the back. Daryl sits on the stool. “So, how do you feel after getting back to your element?” “I don’t regret at all helping my dear wife at the supermarket, Daryl,” Rodrigo admitted while preparing the natural sandwich. “I’m not talking about regrets.” Daryl joked. “But it’s undeniable that after Uncle Francisco’s passing, you prefer to stay here, carrying on the legacy he left.” “Just like Crystal Blue.” Rodrigo smiled. “Hey, I’m aware that you’re looking to open another restaurant in Sunset Village. Do you think you can manage it? How’s the prospecting going?” Daryl picks up the sandwich but