Elza and Jane are momentarily terrified of Renan. But they decide to empower themselves and face the enemy.Elza responds dismissively, “I didn't know Mr. Vasconcelos is married.”“Cut this nonsense!” Renan roars, “I'm talking about Vera Reis, my woman! I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her!”“Ah, so you are not kidnapping her?” Jane jokes.Renan throws her a feverish look, “If I kidnapped Vera, why didn't anyone call the police?”“Perhaps the police are already aware, but they are working in the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment.” Elza bravely replies, “Perhaps it was the police who found Vera and brought her to safety.”“For then I’ll have to clear up the misunderstanding—”“Save your saliva, my dear!” Elza scolds him, “My son, the powerful Josias Rocha, is an eyewitness that you took Vera Reis against her will in a limousine with bodyguards with guns drawn, threatening to shoot her brother. If you go to the police station, you will never leave there!”Bu
Francisco enters Shirley's apartment and is surprised by the open door.“Shirley? The door was open! Where are you?”The apartment was silent, making Francisco afraid. Did something happen with his sister-in-law and his ex-girlfriend?Francisco remembers the day he broke up with Shirley. After he went to his apartment, she tried to go back to reason with him.“Frank, you weren't serious. We cannot part if we love each other madly!”“Do you love me, Shirley?” He snaps back, “So you swear never to be that annoying, nasty woman again? Do you promise to make peace with Maggie and forget about this theory that Henry is Jack Motta's son? My daughter is dating the guy and you offend her with that insinuation!”“It's not innuendo, Frank, it's rock-solid truth!”“HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?” Francisco roars.Shirley takes two steps back and replies in an uncertain tone, “I just know. I know my daughter.”“It seems to be the other way around.” Francisco shakes his head, “You don't know Margareth. So
Back at the Mountain Penthouse, Melissa happened to meet up with her husband.“Honey, how was the noon service?”“Lots of customers, lots of food served, lots of caviar and grilled salmon, and Diane didn't get wrong a single cocktail,” Kelvin responds by forcing good humor.“It's weird people showing up for drinks at noon.” Melissa sits on the couch.“Sometimes people want to celebrate a deal they made.” Kelvin sits down next to her.Melissa observes her husband's features, “Kelvin, I know you well enough to see there's something wrong with you.”Kelvin sighs, “It has. Melissa...” He looks at her, “My mother went to live with her family in Linhares.”Melissa widens her eyes, “Really? Since when? She didn't come to say goodbye...”“After the ice treatment we gave her, she was unlikely to say goodbye!” Kelvin exclaims.“And now you regret it?” Melissa asks cautiously.“I don't know, I have mixed emotions.” Kelvin crosses his arms, “My mom broke up with Uncle Francisco and since then she
Time is passing, and the construction of the new headquarters of Rocha Constructions is taking shape. Josias faces the construction of four floors plus private parking with a boyish smile.Tiago appears beside him, “Who would have thought, huh, master? In 1981, even I wouldn't have dreamed of getting this far. We started in that dilapidated building and will now continue in our own headquarters.”“I am very happy, Tiago. Everaldo didn't play around on duty.” Josias answers.“Speaking of mysterious things,” Tiago chuckles, “how is the matter with our rival?”“What rival?” Josias is genuinely scared.“That crazy person who won't leave Tiago Ibrahim's side.” Tiago gets serious, “He actually managed to build one of the factories not far from here.”Josias takes a deep breath, “Unfortunately, as an advocate of capitalism, I cannot stop anyone from starting any kind of commercial venture. I just need to know if Mr. Vasconcelos is expanding his business with the right mindset.”“What do you
At shooting school, Elza is wearing goggles and earmuffs to practice her aim. She wields the revolver, and with dexterity and professionalism, she manages to shoot the target with mastery. If the target was a person, they would be dead in seconds.However, Vernon is next to her, and with him, it's quite the opposite. Vernon doesn't hold the gun firmly, his finger hurts when he pulls the trigger and his most correct shot hits the target's shoulder.The shooting instructor is torn between praise and scolding, “Congratulations, Mrs. Queiroz. You sounded like a pretty competent cop. I didn't want to be in that target's shoes.”“Thank you, instructor.” Elza removes the earmuffs.Vernon purposely keeps the earmuffs on in an attempt to block out the criticism, but the instructor says anyway, “As for you, Comrade Vernon, keep your body straight and your shoulders tight and balanced. Even those funny actors from ‘Police Academy’ couldn't shoot so clumsily!”It wasn't until the instructor walke
At Bernardo's apartment, Maggie is surprised to find that Shirley has simply left without saying goodbye.“This has got to be a joke.” She paces the living room in circles, “What does she want? Make us feel guilty?”“I don't know and sometimes I wonder if I deserve to know.” Daryl scratches his head, “Our mother definitely didn't want us to have a peaceful life, so I felt it necessary to give her some distance.”“And I preferred to act like she was dead!” Maggie roars.“Calm down, dear.” Bernardo makes her stop walking and calms her down.“The door was open, Kelvin and I found Uncle Francisco also looking for her,” Daryl explains further.“So she doesn't know she's going to be a grandmother again?” Maggie asks with a frown, “Or that she's going to be a grandmother to twins?”“I called her on New Year's Eve.” Daryl responds, “But I just went to her apartment to talk about the twins.”“Oh, this is too much for me.” Maggie shakes her head, “If that's the way she wants it, then have her w
William enters his parents' house and gets annoyed with Vera reading the TV guide in his father's armchair. Now the radio is playing “Incancelabille” by Laura Pausini.“Oh dear, aren't you going to get any jobs, my dear?” he asks annoyingly.Vera rolls her eyes, “When are you opening your pizzeria?”“Why, are you wanting free pizza?” William sits on the sofa.“No, because I can work as a waitress.”William wrinkles his nose, “You’ll be the typical waitress who will seduce my customers with a tight uniform, showing off your breasts.”Vera gets up to slap William, but the landline rings just in time.Dora walks over to the kitchen to answer, “Hello?”On the other side, Simeon is on the phone at Katherine's desk, “Darling, we have good news! We are going to visit Paris!”“What do you mean, darling? With which money? And your job as a foreman?” Dora asks wide-eyed.William stands, trying to make sense of the conversation. Vera lowered her hand.“Josias just declared my retirement. And he
Veronica is at Ronaldo's house, waiting for Jack to go out with him. She watches the living room and sees photographs placed in frames. One of them, nailed to the wall, is a much younger Ronaldo wearing a suit and tie with Jack and Octavio's late mother. She is wearing a very elegant wedding dress.Ronaldo approaches Veronica and sees her contemplating the photograph, “I hope your day is as divine as mine was.”Veronica is startled and turns to him, “Oh... Mr. Motta, I'm sorry for the indiscretion.”Ronaldo smiles slightly, “It's not indiscretion. I want your married life to be longer than mine.”Veronica smiles, “Jack doesn't talk much about his mother.”“She passed away a few years ago. Since then it's been just my boys and me. Imagine if I didn't have any children?”Veronica got the hint: Ronaldo wants her and Jack to have lots of kids!Jack approaches them, scented and well-groomed, “Shall we go, honey?”“Wow, are you guys going to an elite party like this?” Ronaldo asks jokingly.
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