Chapter 3 - THE PRICE OF HELP
Samara cornered Henrique outside the private elevator.
“You can’t send him there.”
Henrique stopped.
Laura was already inside the elevator with Caio.
The boy stood against the mirrored wall, staring at the floor.
Henrique pressed the hold button.
“What did you say?”
“The Halcyon Center.”
His face hardened.
“You were listening to a private conversation?”
“I heard the name.”
“That doesn’t give you the right—”
“My brother was treated there.”
Henrique went silent.
Samara stepped closer.
“He came home with bruises.”
Laura sighed dramatically.
“Oh, God.”
Samara ignored her.
“He couldn’t explain everything that happened, but he didn’t need to. He stopped sleeping. He panicked when doors locked. He screamed whenever anyone wore blue medical gloves.”
Henrique frowned.
“Halcyon is one of the most respected behavioral centers in Brazil.”
“Because people like you pay for the brochures.”
Laura stepped out.
“That’s enough.”
“No,” Samara said. “It isn’t.”
Henrique’s eyes flashed.
“You’re making accusations you can’t prove.”
“I tried.”
“And?”
“Your lawyers buried my family.”
Silence.
Even Laura stopped smiling.
Henrique looked genuinely confused.
“My lawyers?”
“Vasconcelos Family Foundation.”
Samara pulled out her phone.
She found an old photograph.
Daniel at seventeen.
Thin.
Terrified.
Dark bruises around his wrists.
Henrique looked away first.
Laura didn’t.
“He could have done that to himself,” she said.
Samara’s head snapped toward her.
Henrique looked disgusted.
“Laura.”
“What? We don’t know.”
Samara’s voice dropped.
“No. You don’t know.”
She pointed toward Caio.
“But he does.”
Henrique looked into the elevator.
Caio had begun tapping again.
Tap.
Tap.
Pause.
Tap.
Henrique suddenly looked older.
“What do you want?”
Samara almost laughed.
There it was.
The billionaire’s answer to everything.
Money.
“What do I want?”
“Name a number.”
Samara stared at him.
“You think I came after you for money?”
“I think everyone wants something.”
“That’s probably because you’ve spent your whole life teaching people that money is the only thing you understand.”
Henrique’s face went still.
Laura muttered, “Unbelievable.”
Samara stepped back.
“Don’t take your son there tomorrow.”
Henrique said nothing.
“Please.”
That word cost her.
She hated that it did.
Finally Henrique removed his phone.
He dialed.
“Cancel Caio’s Halcyon appointment.”
Laura’s head whipped toward him.
“Henrique—”
He raised one finger.
“Cancel it.”
A voice answered.
Henrique repeated himself.
Then he hung up.
Samara exhaled.
Henrique looked at her.
“If you’re wrong, you never come near my family again.”
“And if I’m right?”
His jaw tightened.
“Then I’ll deal with it.”
Samara shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“You’ll listen.”
Henrique almost smiled at the nerve of her.
Almost.
Then Caio suddenly stepped out of the elevator.
He walked straight to Samara.
He lifted his sleeve.
Around his small wrist was a fading red mark.
Then he whispered the first words Henrique had heard from him all night.
“Blue room.”
Henrique went pale.
May you like
Caio looked at Samara.
“No windows.”
