The next day, Sheila was in her suite, wearing her robe and sitting on the sofa, very worried about what was happening with Jonah Lopes’ book.She typed a message to Wagner’s cell phone and sent it. Now she’s staring at her cell phone, hoping the hysterical secretary will pass on the message.“Please be kind to my baby... He is an innocent boy...”Just as Sheila was thinking about calling, an unknown number started calling back.Sheila promptly answers, “Hello?”On the other side, Jonah’s kind and magnetic voice sounded like a Mozart symphony to Sheila’s ears, “Hello, Sheila? Wagner passed the message.”“Oh, Jonah...” Sheila feels like crying.In Jonah’s elegantly furnished room, showing his masculine taste, Jonah was leaning against the headboard, with the white blanket covering him from the waist down, showing off his fit torso.“Sheila,
At Golden Letters, the atmosphere was one of despair and distrust.The employees didn’t know what to say. No one wanted to blame Matthew so as not to sound disrespectful, but it was clear that they felt sad inside. The young man was doing so well...Matthew enters the company and Nayla welcomes him, “Good morning, Mr. Sterling. Don’t pay attention to the nasty comments on the Internet. Were your college friends understanding?”“I didn’t even go to college.” Matthew laments, “We had to move up this emergency meeting because my mother made the situation worse.”“Oh, what happened?” Nayla is surprised.“Jonah Lopes didn’t know about the plagiarism. We could solve the problem without disturbing him, but my mother called him... now he must be coming here to sue us...” Matthew sighs.“And why would your mother get involved in such a complicated matter?” Nayla’s mouth drops open.“Because my mom is hot for the writer,” Matthew responds angrily.Nayla swallows hard. She doesn’t judge Sheila:
Nathan didn’t like having lost some of his enthusiasm and giving Matthew an opening to counterattack. He straightens up in his chair and continues speaking, “Matthew, compose yourself. Our grandfather already warned you not to resort to verbal aggression, let alone physical aggression.”“That’s what you deserve, imbecile!” Matthew continues with a firm stance, “You’re trying to blame those who read the chapters of Gabriel Mattos’ book without detecting plagiarism. Well, you read it too. Something like that didn’t cross your mind, huh?”“You felt like the guy was ‘inspired’ by Jonah Lopes.” Nathan tries at all costs to convince others of Matthew’s guilt.“Yes, but I never thought about plagiarism. In fact, when was the last time someone tried to fool Golden Letters that easily?”Abner and Evandro start to think.“Huh... It’s been a long time, long before the pandemic...” Evandro comments.“We have always been careful in this regard.” Abner responds, “On the other hand, we used to think
Sheila returns from the SPA to the Sterling Mansion. Alice approaches her in the foyer before she goes up to the second floor.“Sheila, before you embarrass yourself... Jonah Lopes is here.”“WHAT?” Sheila couldn’t hide her pleasant surprise, “He came here to help Matt?”Alice doesn’t like seeing Sheila dazzled. “Control your fire, creature. This is not the time for you to be romantically interested in other guys. Jonah Lopes came to help.”Sheila grins, “I knew it! He’s not going to sue my son because I asked him to.”“Don’t be ridiculous, woman!” Alice dismisses her, “You look like a teenager in love.”“I may be in love, but I’m not a teenager.” Sheila shrugs, “Is he in his suite?”“Yes, but like any decent woman, you’re NOT GOING there, correct?” Alice teases her.“I’m a decent woman, so I just want to talk to him. Stop being neurotic, grumpy old woman!” Sheila goes upstairs after defending herself.Alice shakes her head. Abner returns from the meeting.“What’s wrong, honey?”“Abne
Just so it doesn’t become obvious that Andreia is no longer interested in Nathan, she decides to ask, “What happened, Nate?”“Cindy Cardoso gave an interview to Jonah Lopes! Who authorized this?” Nathan complains.“And what’s so bad about this interview?” Vicente cranes his neck towards his cell phone.“Jonah Lopes is calm, unwilling to sue Golden Letters, and practically clearing Matt of the mess!” Nathan gets up.He leaves the kitchen while Vicente takes out his cell phone to read better.“So, I was slapped by my father for this?” Andreia asks sourly.“Honey, your father didn’t have the right. You guys need to fix this as soon as possible.” Vicente speaks while reading the interview.“Vince, we’ve been arguing since the moment I looked at you.” Andreia sighs, “They will never accept you as a son-in-law, give up.”“So should I let you continue to be demoralized?” Vicente becomes impatient, just like his son.“Do whatever you want, I don’t care anymore!” Andreia stands up abruptly. Sh
In the Sterling University canteen, there was a commotion between Ricardo and Cindy that was about to be resolved thanks to Matthew’s authority.But the people around him initially didn’t believe that Matthew could be capable of such power and command...Ricardo still tries his famous last words, “Is that it, Matthew? Are you going to further ruin your reputation by abusing your authority? Don’t you think that I can from here go straight to LCN to write another article reporting how I was mistreated in this educational space?”Matthew pretends to yawn, “Whoa... Dude, what were you doing here in the first place?”“I just wanted to talk to your girlfriend, who by the way is my co-worker and is under my care.”“For now!” Cindy retorts, “I’m about to be promoted. Mr. Torquato has been very complimentary.”“So be it, darling.” Matthew smiles at her, but when he looks at Ricardo, the smile disappears, “You can talk to Cindy as many times as you want on the LCN premises. But as far as the un
The men in black suits and sunglasses notice a young man approaching from the water. From what they could see, the young man was reluctant to leave the sea.Jackson remained submerged from the waist down in the water, more interested in watching the hole being dug.The two men holding Gabriel looked at each other. One of them said, “This young man probably owns the clothes we found. He won’t come out of the water with us around.”The second man crouched down, picked up Jackson’s clothes and towel, and turned to him. “Hey, young man! Do these things belong to you?”“Yes!” Jackson responds, “But, what’s going on there?”“You can get out of the water. No one will look.” The second man smiles gently and gestures at him.The first man turned Gabriel so he wouldn’t look at Jackson coming out of the sea. Jackson, realizing that his question was not answered, got out of the water and hurriedly grabbed his clothes.He managed to notice that there were two more men, without their suits and with
“What is it now, ‘son’?” There was an ironic tone every time Andreia said the word ‘son’ to Nathan.But Nathan wasn’t getting that now because he was too stunned by what he was reading on his cell phone. “I can’t believe the fake writer decided to make a statement apologizing for everything!”Vicente takes Nathan’s cell phone and reads the article. “There’s even a photo of him. I don’t know, he seems a bit aloof to me, don’t you think?”“Of course. He was coerced.” Nathan scratches his chin, “But I sent him to Rio de Janeiro to disappear to Europe!”“Maybe his passport isn’t ready yet, son.” Andreia said indifferently, “Maybe Matt had the help of the Bento family.”“Oh, they always help those who are like-minded. We good citizens can’t count on them.” Nathan says this nonsense when it’s exactly the opposite.Vicente sighs, “What the hell, son? With this statement from the idiot confessing that he plagiarized Jonah Lopes’ book, the public will stop defaming Matthew.”“Then we need anot
At Silva Oil Company, Kirk appeared in Leonardo’s office. Fernando and Marta had already left. “KIRK!” Leonardo abruptly stood up from his desk. “How are you, my young man!” “Mr. Silva?” Kirk was surprised by such reverence. “I didn’t know you cared so much about me...” “Cut the small talk! You just had a seizure and looked like you were going to die in my company,” Leonardo gestured for the employee to sit down. “Now I want to know all the details. Don’t hide anything from this curious old man.” Kirk smiled and sat down. “Well, sir, there’s not much to tell. I was stupid enough to fall for the siren’s song.” “In this case, the cocaine song, right?” Leonardo leaned forward. “What do you intend to do from here on out?” “Obviously, I promised myself and my family that I wouldn’t use that cr*p anymore. It wasn’t worth all the drama and suffering,” Kirk replied honestly. “That’s good. Then you can continue from where you left off,” Leonardo smiled, relieved. “That’s about what I w
In Urbano Magazine, Cindy returned with the printed sheet, extending it to Andreia. “Read this not-so-pretentious article, my friend,” Cindy declared. Andreia took the paper and read it. A smile formed at the right corner of her mouth. “Cool... nothing so blatantly accusatory, but clear enough for any semi-literate person to understand that Elaine knocked over that pyramid of champagne glasses, causing a scene at the book signing.” “Of course, I won’t say she did it because the honored author was her enemy’s mother,” Cindy replied mischievously. “You don’t want to risk Matt’s wrath.” Andreia stood up, a bit slowly due to her pregnancy. “Speaking of which, how did he react after your dad’s video?” “I didn’t bring it up with him,” Cindy shook her head. “If I mention it, people will say I still love him.” “And you don’t want to do anything to ruin your relationship with Jackson,” Andreia repeated. “Cindy, it’s commendable that you’re more committed and focused on having someone in
Fernando appeared in the kitchen wearing gray sweatpants. Liz, who was sour and bitter, smiled pathetically with her gaze fixed on her husband’s pants. “Good morning, son. What’s new?” Ronaldo replied rudely, “The news is seeing my mother still able to walk!” “RON!” Liz was startled. Fernando shook his head. “Son, don’t be disrespectful. Your mother and I are trying to be as discreet as possible.” Ronaldo shot back, “Just missing discretion when discussing my fiancée, huh? Can we talk about that now?” Liz pursed her lips. “I was so happy when I woke up, but you made sure to ruin my day.” “Mom, we can’t avoid the obvious!” Ronaldo turned to Fernando. “Matt told me that Elaine was reprimanded.” “And I will never agree to that!” Liz shouted. “Elaine was a victim of that tough girl from the slums! She could have died from a cut to her jugular!” “But Elaine provoked Patty’s wrath by saying those nasty things,” Fernando reasoned as he served himself breakfast. “Couldn’t Patricia a
Silva Penthouse, Monday morning. Ronaldo was walking down the hallway to the kitchen in just his boxer shorts when the suite door opened. Liz was smiling a little too much, looking like she was about to dance ballet. “Mom! Long time no see!” “Yes, son, I had a wonderful time with your father!” Liz replied suggestively. Ronaldo blushed to the roots of his hair. “Is breakfast ready?” she asked casually. “I was about to check,” Ronaldo said, heading to the kitchen. There, the coffee maker was already brewing coffee. “Nando must have prepared it in advance.” Liz took bread and butter from the fridge. Ronaldo, cautious, sat down at the table. He noticed a tear in Liz’s nightgown. “Mom, did you and Dad make up this Sunday?” “We can say he’s no longer in love with your fiancée,” Liz replied with a mischievous smile. “Mom, stop talking about that disgusting stuff!” Ronaldo frowned. “This is all your sick imagination.” Liz simply shrugged, sitting down at the table as well. “You’r
Elaine arrived stumbling with fear and bewilderment. The truth about Bella and Nathan’s relationship was something horrifying and incredible for her to digest. “Oh my God... how did these two families let this issue intertwine like this?” Nayla was at the reception desk, smiling, waiting for Elaine to approach. But when she realized Elaine was going to walk past her, Nayla called out loudly, “ELAINE?” Elaine stopped suddenly and looked at her friend. “Oh, Nayla, I’m sorry...” “Don’t worry. I know you must be going through a lot of pressure.” Nayla stood up. “I really am. But I always have time for my friends.” Elaine smiled and approached, trying to distract her mind. “I wanted to know if there are any openings here at Golden Letters for my brother.” Nayla asked respectfully. Elaine’s smile vanished with the wind. As Nayla’s boss, she knew who the brother was. “Nayla, we’re friends, but you know I have a strong opinion against drug use and sales.” Elaine replied in a boss t
At Andrade Clinic, Charles was leading a meeting with the receptionists and security guards. Walter and Emmanuelle were present. “So, everyone, the next time Liz Silva or anyone else causes a scene at the clinic entrance, security or even the police must be called in immediately. Don’t hesitate just because the troublemaker is someone from an important family. This is a hospital clinic, not a zoo, so I demand order in the lobby. A disturbance can jeopardize the patients who are waiting for care, and I don’t want to compromise anyone’s safety, understood?” “Yes, Mr. Andrade!” everyone responded in unison. “Okay, everyone can return to your posts.” The staff went back to work. Linda gave Walter a brief kiss before leaving. “Linda, I need to ask you a quick question,” Emmanuelle called her back. Linda paused, closing the door after the last person left. “Did you check with your parents if it’s safe to go home?” “No, Emmanuelle. The conversation with Gus was so good that I forgot
In Matthew’s suite, he was now buttoning the cuffs of his genuine cotton dress shirt. Elaine had also gotten out of the bathtub, unable to continue relaxing, and was now putting on her work suit.The memory of the Golden Letters prompted Matthew to strike up a conversation. “Did you remove a glass from the base of the pyramid?” Elaine stared at Matthew as if he were the devil. “What? How can you throw a question like that out of nowhere?” “I just asked a question, woman, answer me.” Elaine shook her head as she walked to the sofa to put on her high heels. “This is inconceivable. Your mind is always revolving around Patricia’s issues. You never forget her, and then tell me I don’t need to worry.” “Was the champagne glass pyramid made for an occasion involving Patricia?” Matthew countered logically. “No, but it was her mother’s book signing.” Elaine angrily slipped on her shoes. “Well, I remembered that many claimed the embarrassment happened because someone removed a glass from
Monday. Elaine was relaxing in the bathtub of her husband’s suite. Matthew stepped out of the shower stall, drying his hair with a white towel as he walked to the double sink. The sight of Matthew’s exposed body startled Elaine for a few seconds, but then she took advantage of the beautiful view, smiling mischievously. “It hardly feels like it’s Monday,” she commented casually. Matthew was washing his face as he said, “Yes, it’s Monday, the day to take care of important things after we relax our nerves on Sunday.” Elaine pursed her lips and retorted, “If I relaxed my nerves, it’s because they were in shambles. It’s not like me to live in constant stress, darling. I might not get the chance to calm down in the future.” Matthew turned off the faucet and grabbed a face towel. “Are you saying you would be willing to reduce your contact with Aunt Liz?” Elaine could no longer relax. “What does that mean?” Matthew tossed the towel onto the sink and turned to his wife. “I don’t like t
In the Silva Penthouse, Liz took advantage of the wreckage of the coffee table to create more drama. “Here we have it, darling! The COFFEE TABLE is SHATTERED with Elaine’s body thanks to Patty—” “SHUT UP!” Fernando slammed the door shut. Liz trembled in panic, staring wide-eyed at her furious husband. “But what is this? Why are you angry with me, darling, when you should be furious with Patty—” “I command silence, and you keep babbling even more!” Fernando went to the utility room to grab a broom. Liz quickly grabbed her phone and took a picture of the shattered coffee table. Maybe this will come in handy for her in the future... “So, what are we going to do about this?” Liz shouted for Fernando to hear. Fernando returned with a broom and a dustpan in hand. “Don’t tell me you’re going to sweep this up!” Liz reacted horrified. “Let the maid clean it up on Monday!” “I won’t have a living room full of glass shards until Monday. I want to watch TV tomorrow!” Fernando’s ferocity