He remained unsure if he should assuage his curiosity or not. He shoved a hand in his brown, sun-kissed hair and mustered his courage. “Is she alone?”

A few moments of silence ensued as if the man on the other side was determined not to answer again.

“Is she?”

“Yes, sir. But she arrived at home accompanied by him. And they spent the whole weekend together.”

A fierce rage took control of him and he hissed between clenched teeth, “Double the vigilance, and keep me informed. I want to know about every step she takes.”

“Yes, sir.”

He switched off the phone and stalked up to the woman on the bed, shaking her.

She pushed her black-dyed hair from her face and her eyes with yellow contact lenses blinked at him, “Yes?”

“Go sleep in the guest room. I’m going to have a shower. I don’t want to see you when I come back.”

He turned without a second glance and entered his bathroom banging the door.

I need her.

No one else will do.

Only her.

About the Author

I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with my husband and two daughters. I’m a lawyer and have always loved to read and write. After twenty years of practicing law, I decided to give writing a go.

I didn’t expect to published this book, but as time went by and the story grew, my oldest daughter persuaded me to do it, since she thought the story was ‘a-ma-zing’ - her words, not mine.

This book is a work of fiction and the characters, and dialogues, places and incidents involving them are drawn from my imagination or are used fictitiously. Wherever I’ve used real locations, I’ve tried to keep all the details and descriptions as real as possible.

Call me insane if you will, but even the weather, sunrise and sunset times are researched and, hopefully, accurate. But I have to confess that there wasn’t a red flag for snowstorm on October 15th, 2009. I made that part up.

And as confessions go, I also need to tell you that Sophia, Gabriela and I share a few things. Apart from being able to read when I was three and starting my first University course - Fine Arts - when I was fifteen years old, I also share Sophia’s interest in preventing sexual abuse and violence against children and women. My thesis at Law School was on this subject, twenty-two years ago.

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I loved writing it.

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All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without the express written permission of the author.

Cover by Renata Fontanive © copyright 2012.

Illustration by Sergio Allevato © copyright 2012.