03

— What happens is that I'm going to marry your daughter — I say and the face that was already surprised becomes comical.

- How it is? With… Cecilia? - asks, getting up from the couch at once. - Since when? You know my daughter is only nineteen, right? She is a girl!

"I know, Paula. I intend to respect it, of course - I say and his expression seems to soften, but I can't contain the laugh. — Ah, you two… You are so easy to be deceived.

“What… What's going on, Caesar? she asks her husband, who lets out a long sigh and a string of curses before turning to her.

He opens and closes his mouth more times than I can count and it starts to annoy me. The man has the balls to sink my company in cold blood, but he doesn't have the balls to tell his wife the truth. How pathetic is that?

- Let me help you - I say and squeeze his shoulder hard. — Here's the thing, Paula: your husband stole from me. He had been robbing my company for years to support his frivolities, according to him.

I wait for the woman to process the information, eyes wide, mouth open, body paralyzed. Her eye goes in disbelief from me to her husband.

“You didn't do this, Caesar…” she whispers and her eyes fill with tears. I wanted to say I feel sorry for you, but I don't. Caesar made me lose hope in humanity and taught me that anything can be a lie, a theater to deceive me.

— Oh, honey, don't cry… I'll take good care of your daughter.

— But… What will marrying Cecília solve?

“My precious, everything is going to be all right. - César walks over and fixes his wife's hair, tucking it behind her ears before turning to me angrily. “I'm going to convince Thomas that this is insanity.

- Don't waste your time, Caesar - I say and he turns to me.

- Who are you? What kind of person did you become? Are you really capable of such a lowly thing? Getting involved with Cecilia just to hurt me? You saw her born! You were by my side when I celebrated that she took her first steps!

“True, Caesar. I…” I touch my hair and let out a sigh. Then I smile from ear to ear. - I'm not bothered. Spare me your melodramatic speech. I'm going to marry her, period. I want the address where her little crystal is by tomorrow morning. Trust me, my friend, things could get a lot worse if you don't cooperate.

I look once more at Cecília's picture frame and smile when César tries to approach me, but his wife stops him.

"See you tomorrow morning, Caesar." I am waiting.

I make a sign with the fingers on the side of my head and walk towards the door.

"Family dinners are going to be interesting, don't you think?" See you later, in-laws.

I hear thousands of curses shouted by César before I close the door. As I take the elevator down, I think it's going to be a pain in the ass to have to get married for my plans to come true. Not that I expected to marry for love one day or anything like that, what I had in mind was exactly that: a marriage of convenience. But it sucks that this has to be with a brat barely out of diapers.

I'm just going to do whatever I have to do to see that my empire is avenged. Giving up is not in my plans.

Cecilia

It seems like only yesterday that I moved here, that my mother was crying at the airport and promising that she would call me every day. I was really scared at first because I had never lived alone, especially in a country where I didn't know anyone. That's why I decided to live in a sorority, just like the girls in American university movies that I loved to watch when I was younger. At least that way I wouldn't be alone.

My father didn't want to. He is very jealous and had it in his head that I was going to spend all my free time cooped up partying and drinking instead of studying. I had to promise to behave myself for him to agree. César Magalhães could never say no to myself. But it was true, I was really going to behave. Also because I was never interested in going to parties or getting drunk.

I finished high school very early, aged sixteen, and always wanted to study so I could work with him, so when he decided he was going to send me here to New York to study, I already knew what I wanted to do: accounting.

I can't believe it's been almost four years and I'm six months away from graduating!

— You look beautiful, Cecilia! Wine is its color.

I smile at my best friend, Kelly, who lives in the sorority house with me. She's standing in front of the mirror next to me in a green dress that's the same color as her eyes and looks great with her long black hair. I look at my reflection and bite my lip.

- You think? I don't know.

I'm too small and skinny, so it's hard to find something that makes me look like I'm not a kid. The dress turned out pretty, at least it makes it look like I have some boobs to fill out the cleavage. And the color matches my red hair.

“Josh is going to go crazy when he sees you in this,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows in an insinuating way, and I see myself blush in the mirror.

“I don't want anything to do with him, Kelly,” I say and walk back to the cabin to change again.

"Because you're an idiot!" Kelly yells from outside the dressing room. “He's been chasing you for months. I don't understand why you don't give him a chance.

I open the curtain after I take off the dress and put my jeans and T-shirt back on. She stops in front of me and stops me from passing.

“He's handsome, smart, rich, and he's crazy about you.

"I already told you I don't want anything to do with him!" I complain and she crosses her arms, looking at me annoyed. - What?

- And why not? Give me a good reason for that. You spent all of college running away from all the hot guys!

"I'm not interested in any of them!" - I say and try to pass, but she blocks me again.

- And why not? she asks and I start tapping my foot on the floor.

"Did you make a promise to die a virgin?"