Chapter 1 Hard to believe

Lizandra (Lily to her friends)

Today was quite busy at my aunt's inn, and I barely had time for even a simple meal. My arms were already sore from the repetitive effort with the broom and various other tasks I had been doing since I woke up in the morning. It's always like this in the summer, especially on the last day of the year when the chalets are fully booked for the traditional New Year's Eve celebration in São Miguel do Gostoso.

It was a great relief when my work hours finally came to an end, and I began dreaming of a good shower and meeting up with my boyfriend. I was in the process of putting away the cleaning tools for the guests' chalets when I smelled the sweet and strong perfume of Aunt Lucrecia, and a sense of dread crept over me.

"Lily, dear," she said immediately, and I shuddered with disgust. "I know you were finishing your shift, but one of our best guests just arrived, and you need to provide some extra towels for him."

"But, aunt..." I began to protest.

"No complaints, Lily!" she interrupted. "What's the harm in leaving a few towels for Luciano Monteiro?"

So, it was indeed a VIP guest, and my aunt always caters to his every whim, no matter how absurd it might be.

"It's already past eight in the evening, and I've been working for nearly twelve hours, Aunt," I pointed out with weariness. "I need food and rest, as tomorrow it all starts again."

I couldn't stay silent this time, as I was nearing exhaustion. I had been working for almost a month without a single day off since the summer began in Gostoso, one of the most beloved tourist destinations in Brazil that attracts many visitors throughout the year.

"Don't give me any drama, Lily," she said, quite annoyed. "You know Luciano always prefers to be attended to by you. After delivering the towels, you can do whatever you want, you lazy ungrateful girl."

Even though I was tired and eager to end the day, I realized it was better not to contradict my aunt. She could become quite cruel when angry, and I wasn't in the physical condition to endure all her insults, let alone the speech she always gives whenever she gets upset with me.

"I'm going to get the towels," I said, turning away without bothering with any kind of cordial farewell.

I preferred to postpone my rest a little rather than argue with Lucrécia once again, which had become quite common in the last few months. Our relationship had been getting more tense every day since I received an offer to move to Rio de Janeiro and work as a model.

I hadn't accepted, after all, I wouldn't trust offers like that when the internet is full of stories of people, especially young women like me, who had been deceived and fallen for scams involving work in the southeast of the country, especially when it came to something as glamorous as being a model.

Thinking about this made me nervous and irritated, especially when I remembered my aunt's crude words telling me to use my beauty for something useful like winning over a millionaire tourist.

"You should stop wasting time with a poor guy like Samuel and accept the offers from tourists, silly girl," she repeated whenever she had the chance. "If Juliana had your beauty, I'm sure she wouldn't be in Gostoso anymore but in Europe with some rich man, living surrounded by luxury, like Lourdes did."

I smirked cynically as I recalled one of her sermons and the face my cousin made when she got caught up in her delusions, as Juliana wasn't the person her mother believed her to be. Besides being quite introverted, she always told me that she would never get involved with someone because of money or status, as her mother constantly suggested she would.

But it's better to pay attention to what I was doing and forget about my aunt, so I grabbed some clean and neatly folded towels that were packaged and ready for use. I quickly went to one of the chalets in the inn, even though my aunt hadn't told me which one her VIP guest was in. Luciano Monteiro has one of the chalets reserved with us, as this is one of his favorite destinations to bring his business partners.

"Oh, you're already here!" Luciano commented with obvious satisfaction as he opened the door for me.

"I brought the clean towels," I said, trying to hand over the package and leave as quickly as possible.

"Don't go now," he requested in a friendly tone. "I enjoy your company, Lily."

I didn't like the way some guests behaved towards me, especially when they spoke with such familiarity, even though I hadn't given any indication of that. But to avoid my aunt losing customers, I always kept quiet in the face of such behavior. Lucrécia would never forgive me if a guest left her inn because of me.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Monteiro," I politely replied, "but I made plans to meet with my boyfriend in a few minutes, and I'm not even ready yet."

I always made a point to emphasize that I have a boyfriend, and I hated having to do that because a simple "no" should be enough. But I couldn't afford to leave any room for more inappropriate behavior and certainly couldn't displease my aunt.

"Of course, of course," the man quickly agreed, but then an unwanted suggestion came, "Won't you join us for the fireworks? We can meet there."

I wished not to say anything about that. I didn't want to imply anything remotely personal between us, but I had to emphasize once again.

"I'll be with my boyfriend, Mr. Monteiro."

Faced with the guest's displeased expression, I just smiled and excused myself after finally handing over the towels.

I tried not to let anything of what I was truly feeling show at that moment and quickly walked to my aunt's house, conveniently located just a few meters away from the main building of the inn, where all the administrative part, as well as the reception, was located.

I entered the house in a hurry, not wanting to risk encountering my aunt again that night, as she would surely assign me some last-minute task. I needed a long and relaxing shower, something I did as soon as I found myself inside the tiny bathroom.

Lucrécia's house is small and without any luxury. Her interest was solely focused on the inn, where she made a good amount of money. So there were a few pieces of furniture and some visible repairs to be done, but that didn't bother me. Worse than anything else was her personality, and I was starting to seriously consider accepting Samuel's marriage proposal and finally leaving that house and getting away from my aunt.

But what I feared the most was having to stay in the same city as her. Despite being a beautiful place with a strong tourist appeal, I might not be able to find a job in any other establishment. Everyone would question why I didn't work for my aunt, after all, her inn was one of the best in the city.

No one truly knows how unpleasant Lucrécia can be-a petty and cruel woman who, for some dark mystery, raised me since her sister Lourdes left with a foreigner she met at the same inn, leaving behind a five-year-old daughter.

My aunt made a point of reminding me of this fact and highlighting how kind she was for raising a child who wasn't hers, even though she was a widowed and lonely woman with a small daughter of her own.

Juliana is Lucrécia's daughter and is twenty-two years old, practically the same age as me, with only a two-year difference. My cousin and I are very close friends, and despite her mother's difficult temperament, we manage to live in relative peace and have never had major conflicts with each other.

She had gone to visit one of her college friends; she was majoring in business administration at a university in Natal, the state capital, over a hundred kilometers away from São Miguel. She was currently on vacation and took the opportunity to go out and have some fun.

After feeling adequately fed, exhaustion seemed to have left me, and I felt energetic enough to leave the house that night and meet my boyfriend, whom I hadn't seen for days. I decided to surprise Samuel and go to his house. I was sure he would be very happy to see me after so many days apart, even though we had agreed that he would pick me up at home around eleven o'clock, and there was still over an hour left.

We planned to watch the fireworks together on the waterfront of Gostoso and then take a stroll along the beach and spend some time together.

Now, with great enthusiasm, I quickly changed out of the comfortable clothes I was wearing into a light and white strappy dress. The night was warm, and anything more than that seemed unnecessary, I thought with a smile.

I walked hastily-a habit of mine to move quickly and do everything in a rush-and a few minutes later, I was standing in front of Samuel's house, which was all dark, indicating he wasn't home. As the house had no front walls and was surrounded by verandas, I decided to sit on one of the chairs there, intending to send a message to my boyfriend and check where he was.

I was typing when I heard something resembling moans. Moans? I questioned my choice of words but remained silent and stood up. Probably someone had taken advantage of the absence of the homeowners and was using the veranda's hammocks for rather inappropriate things, I thought with displeasure.

Accustomed to the dimness of the place, I analyzed my options, but soon concluded that I shouldn't report the couple of lovers-it was becoming increasingly clear that it was that-because the moans were becoming more "intense."

I decided to leave as soon as possible. I didn't want to know who the people were and was about to descend the veranda stairs and leave when a louder moan and a very audible request made me freeze in place.

"Harder, Samuel!"

I recognize that voice...

"More, my love!"

Juliana!?