The phone rang at seven in the morning.
Sofia was sitting at Marta's kitchen table, still wearing the baggy T-shirt her friend had lent her, when the name that appeared on the screen made her whole body stiffen.
Rosa.
She stared at the vibrating cell phone for a few seconds, as if the simple act of answering would pull her back to a place she had just escaped. In the end, she took a deep breath and slid her finger across the screen.
"Where are you?" Rosa's voice came sharp, without any disguised concern. "Why didn't you come home yesterday?"
"I'm not going back," Sofia replied, bluntly. "I'm getting a divorce."
There was a short, heavy silence, followed by a nervous laugh.
"Have you gone crazy?" Rosa raised her voice. "Sofia, do you know what you're saying?"
Sofia closed her eyes for a moment. That reaction didn't surprise her. For years, any decision that strayed from the "right path" in Rosa's eyes was treated as insanity.
"I know exactly what I'm saying," she replied. "The divorce is already underway."
"Underway by whom?" Rosa retorted, furious. "By you? Or by Bruno?"
"By me."
"You've lost your mind!" Rosa exploded. "Do you know what it means to leave that marriage? Do you think the world out there will treat you like a princess?"
Sofia squeezed the coffee mug between her hands. The liquid was already cold.
"I don't want to be a princess," she said. "I just want to leave."
"Leave to where?" Rosa insisted. "You have no house, no money, no support! Everything you have today came from the Soares family!"
That phrase, said so many times over the years, used to work like an invisible chain. But now, for the first time, it didn't have the expected effect.
"I know exactly what came from them," Sofia replied, calmly. "And I also know what I gave in return."
Rosa was breathing heavily on the other end of the line.
"You're going to call Bruno now, apologize, and come home," she ordered. "While there's still time."
"No."
The word came out simple, clean.
"What?"
"I said no."
The silence was longer this time.
"Do you think you can decide everything on your own?" Rosa's voice became cold, calculating. "You owe me everything, Sofia. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even have met that family."
"And if it weren't for me," Sofia replied, "you would never have entered that house."
The phrase escaped before she could contain herself.
Rosa was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly changed her tone.
"You're confused," she said, with false gentleness. "You're sick, weak. I'm coming to get you."
"Don't come."
"You don't tell me what to do."
"I control my life," Sofia said. "And I'm hanging up now."
She ended the call before the woman could respond. Her hands were shaking, but there was a strange sense of relief in her chest.
Marta appeared in the kitchen doorway.
"Was that her?" she asked.
Sofia nodded.
"She said I've gone crazy."
Marta sighed.
"That's the least she would do when she lost control."
Sofia tried to smile, but couldn't.
Later, the phone vibrated again. Message from Antoine.
"Mr. Bruno needed to change the time. The divorce will be in the afternoon."
Sofia read slowly. The same strategy as always: decide alone, communicate later.
She replied without hesitation.
"I do not accept the change. The agreed time will be maintained."
Then, she turned off the cell phone and put it inside her bag, as if she wanted to protect herself from it.
That morning, she went to the hospital alone. She was fasting, as the doctor had instructed. Her body still weak, her head too light.
During the exam, the phone vibrated several times inside the bag.
Bruno.
She didn't answer.
When she left the hospital, there was a new message on the screen.
"Sofia, answer. It's serious. There may be a life at stake."
She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
Life?
Her heart started beating faster. For a moment, she thought of Bruno's grandfather, thought of something serious, something she couldn't ignore.
Against her better judgment, she called a car.
"Address?" asked the driver.
"Grupo Brasil Global," she replied.
During the journey, she tried to convince herself that she was just going to listen, just to end everything definitively. But a part of her knew: Bruno never used words like that without a reason.
The elevator rose slowly.
Sofia felt her own heart beating too hard in her chest, as if each floor added more weight to that moment. The reflection in the polished steel mirror showed a pale face, colorless lips, eyes too sunken for someone who had barely slept.
She took a deep breath before the doors opened.
When she arrived at the building, she was led directly to the executive floor.
As soon as the office door opened, Sofia felt the blow.
Bruno was there.
And he wasn't alone.
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