Patricia doesn’t fight with tears.
She fights with strategy.
Two weeks later she returns with Ricardo Mendes, a smooth man with a smile that doesn’t touch his eyes.
They talk acquisitions, “help,” “opportunity,” and you recognize the trap immediately.
They thought you’d stay broken, easy to buy out, easy to corner.
But the real poison isn’t business—it’s what they say to Marina.
They call her ambitious, say she’s using your vulnerability, say you’d never look at her “in normal circumstances.”
You feel a flicker of hesitation—tiny, human, automatic—and Marina sees it.
That’s all it takes for her heart to snap shut.