Everyone is surprised by the unexpected voice before toasting.Melissa frowns. She expected Josias, but it wasn’t him. Where had she heard that voice before?The Mountain family is stunned when they see CLÁUDIO GUZMAN returning wearing a dark green suit and matching tie. A new close-cropped hairstyle and two-day stubble completed the look. On the lips, a victorious and... charming smile for the late Kate Bezerra Rocha.“Like this? I just got back and you guys are leaving?”“MR. GUZMAN!” Caroline and the other children run up and hug him, “We miss you!”“Are you going to teach Carol swimming in Victoria?”“Reuben!” Isabel puts her hand on her glabella. That grandson of hers...Cláudio laughs pleasantly, “I'm glad I was missed.”Caroline is sad, “Mr. Guzman... did you hear that Kate and my little brother J.J. passed away?”“Yes, I was waiting for their plane at the airport when they broke the news.” Cláudio responds by glaring at Kelvin and Daryl, “Since I was left alone in America, I d
The next day, Melissa, Kelvin, Caroline, Mary, and Ignacio take a last look at the Mountain Penthouse that served them as their home for so many years. The radio, TV, and furniture were left for Daryl and Diana to enjoy.“I moved into this penthouse in 1984, and this was the first home for all my children.” Melissa emotionally attests, “Good times we had here.”“Now we're going to have something truly ours, darling, bought with our money.” Kelvin asserts.Daryl and Diane walk in, “Good morning! Are we feeling better?”“Hey, guys!” Melissa hugs Diane.Daryl takes Kelvin aside, “Allow me to have a few words with you, little brother.”“I even imagine what it is. Claudio Guzman.” Kelvin mutters.“That imbecile has nothing against us, just an unnatural desire for revenge.” Daryl states, “Don't worry, you leaving for Victoria has become a deliverance.”“But what about you, big brother?” Kelvin genuinely worries, “I confess I'm relieved, but I worry about leaving you and Maggie behind.”“I t
Caio is surprised that William would ask for something like that.“Dad, did I hear you right? Do you want to communicate with the woman who angered my uncle? Hadn't you made peace with Uncle Josias?”“We called a truce.” William responds with a grim face, “Maybe I can help you if I know what's going on. I laughed a lot at my sister's party, but now I'm intrigued.”“Are these matters any of our business?” Caio scratches the back of his head, “Dad, I hope we don’t get in the way.”William stares at Caio, “Don't worry, son. Your father won’t let anything bad happen to you.”“Then I go to the newsstand to buy the magazine of the week.” Caio hurries to buy an edition.William continues to listen to the radio, “And be sure to check it out on our noon news: Kelvin and Melissa Mountain say goodbye to Lagoon City to expand family business in the Capital!”William smirks, “Correction, Announcer: Coward Kelvin Mountain flees Josias, taking my little sister Melissa CAMPOS hostage. It’s like the s
Gabriela finally thinks ‘Why not?’ and answers the phone, “This is the last time you’re talking to Gabriela Alves from Maggiezine. I hope it's worth it!”“Measure your words!” William thunders, “You're in no right to be tough, Miss Alves. We need to meet at Café Montanha in twenty minutes!”“Who is it?” Gabriela widens her eyes.“Twenty minutes or a grave in the sand of Sunset Village will be filled with your dead body!” William angrily hangs up the phone.Gabriela is terrified, “Hello? Hello? HELP, there's a maniac on the call!”Maggie approaches her sourly, “Gabriela, are the pregnancy hormones making you hysterical?”“Maggie, some madman has ordered me to Café Mountain in twenty minutes or he'll bury me alive on the beach at Sunset Village! How horrible! What do I do?”Maggie looks at her wristwatch, “You better go so you won't be late.”Gabriela stops the urge to slap her former boss, takes the box with her belongings, and leaves at once.******João Paulo enters the premises of L
At Rocha Constructions, Josias calms Tiago Bento's spirits.“Tiago, you always scare me with your mobster talk. Then you deny it.”“I have already killed for you, master, and I would kill again,” Tiago responds solemnly.“SCHI!” Josias gestures, afraid of someone listening, “Walls have ears, Tiago!”“I beg your pardon, master, but you know that the Bento family is here to serve you.” Tiago continues with a somber face.“Except for Elisa, I hope she is happy in Sunset Village with her hubby and son.”Tiago suddenly smiles like a normal guy, “She continues to be forever grateful and includes you in her prayers.”“OK, let's do this: we need to know what happened for Bernie Marçal to fire Gabriela out of nowhere. She is heavily pregnant and needed the job. Perhaps it was anger at being fired that made her thoughtlessly slap Melissa.”“It could be the reason, but it's still not justifiable.”“And I want to talk to Cláudio Guzman. Alan told me that he accused Melissa of murdering Kate. What
Gabriela is walking down the street when an unidentifiable gentleman approaches her. He wore sunglasses, a black suit, and a matching tie.“Miss Alves? On behalf of Josias Rocha, we recommend that you accompany me to his office.”Gabriela again feels panic, “Who are you?”“I work for Mr. Bento and we are servants of Josias Rocha, the sovereign. Please come to the limousine, and don't make a fuss.”“HEL—”Before Gabriela could scream, the mysterious guy grabbed her, covered her mouth with one hand, and dragged her to the limousine with the other hand. Those who were passing by pretended they didn't see anything, afraid of harming themselves.******At Crystal Blue, Ivan and Lorraine have lunch with meatballs in authentic tomato sauce with pasta cooked in garlic and olive oil and grated cheese on top for decoration.“I missed that handsome maître d', the lucky one who married Melissa Campos,” Lorraine comments.Ivan takes a sip of his dry wine, “Lucky is the right word. He fled before J
Josias and Octavio walk through the corridors of Rocha Constructions after lunch. “Are you sure you don't need my help, Octavio?” Josias insists, “I would hate to know that you are hiding your problems from me intending to spare me. What's the use of being your best friend if I can't help you?” Octavio smiles in thanks, “No need to worry, buddy!” “OK, take the rest of the day off and accompany your wife to her appointments with Dr. Silvana.” Josias does not give up. Before Octavio protests, Josias turns to Pollyanna. “Mr. Rocha, Mr. Guzman and Miss Alves have been captured and are waiting for you.” Josias rolls his eyes. Sure enough, Tiago's henchmen abducted Claudio and Gabriela like in some action movies! He enters the office and prepares drinks to calm the visitors. Afterward, he goes to the side door and enters the lounge. Gabriela was banging on the door and hoarse from screaming, “LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!”
In Josias's office, Gabriela and Cláudio finally want to know what the president of the company has to say.“Now I'm curious.” Claudio accepts the drink.“Here’s the thing, folks.” Josias sits in the armchair, “Why did you decide to ruin Melissa's farewell party?”Gabriela smirks, “Isn't she Mrs. Mountain? Why do you still call her ‘Melissa’? Oh, God, Josias, don't tell me you still have feelings for her! So that's why you kidnapped us?”Josias puts his hand to his forehead and shakes his head, “Mr. Bento exaggerated. It wasn't meant to drag you against your will. Anyway, you only asked and didn’t answer my question, Gabriela.”“I thought I was still involved with the Mountain family as their friend.” Gabriela responds uncomfortably, “But I found out the worst possible way that I was fired. Melissa tried to dump me from the party and I could
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