27

That morning, Lia left Lazzáro's house just as she'd said, without looking back. That sex had been farewell, it had been good, too pleasurable at the same time as painful. She didn't want to have to go, she mentally asked him not to let her go, but he did and it hurt. It was hurting so much that the young woman walked the streets with tears blurring her eyes and when she arrived at Magdalena's house, she took a quick shower so she could go to work.

Lazzáro only did what he thought was best for Lia without even giving her the option to choose. He had that deep fear of the poison they were using on him having a consequential effect, all the expensive doctors he had paid said the same thing consuming his soul, his biggest doubt was which doctor to go see, since he had already been to the best and all they gave in to blackmail, because that was the only explanation for everyone saying the same thing.

He knew that when his girl walked out the doors of his house that morning, she would cry, that it would hurt, because he was in it too, he thought even more. And that was the worst, knowing she was suffering when she wanted so badly to avoid it. Lia only deserved to be happy, smile and her fight was for that, her reluctance was for that, for her not to love him and run the risk of suffering too much when he died.

Lazzáro never felt for anyone what Lia made him feel, he never touched anyone the way he touched her or was touched the way she touched him. And for the first time in his life, when he heard the door slam, he wept for a woman. He cried so much that the sobs almost deafened him, his heart aching, the tears burning, the anguish tearing his soul apart.

He really loved her.

The next day, after pretending to be natural in front of Nádia at her house, with fury showing in his eyes, Lazzáro began to think of a plan, looked inside the drawer for the cell phone with the recording that Lia had made and then called Marjorie, his lawyer.

“Hey, you've been missing since the hearing with Joyce. — Marjorie walked through the office doors, finding him with a cigarette between her lips.

- Look this. he said, exhaling the smoke, holding the device up to her.

Marjorie looked at him confused but pressed play. As I listened to the entire conversation, the expressions of surprise, indignation, and even anger were uncontrollable. After finishing the audio, Lazzáro explained to her what it was about, he also talked about Lia helping him find out while he was too depressed about his "illness" to realize it.

"What sons of bitches!" — the woman swore for the first time since meeting Lazzáro Bartholomeu.

“I want revenge on them, Marjorie. I want them to pay for it before they even go to prison, because I don't think one cell will be enough to make them pay! He growled, clenching his fists.

- They go! Either I'm not the best lawyer this country has ever heard of. he stated confidently.

Lazzaro smiled with satisfaction.

“I need a doctor I can trust and keep in the strictest confidence. Do you know some? She nodded, handing him a card.

— My brother, Jeff D'Avila. Call and schedule an appointment. I can tell you that this one is not corrupt. In the meantime I'm thinking of something, even today I'll give you the answer. Let's put an end to these bastards who poisoned my best client! Oh, and send my regards to Lia Hamilton, her intelligence is spectacular. The woman smiled and left.

The man sitting in her chair, smoking his third cigarette, drinking his fifth glass of vodka, smiled at the memory of her, his heart saddened by the recent farewell. But he would solve it as soon as possible in order to be with her, as he wished: forever.

He later called Jeff D'Ávila who immediately agreed to see him in his office the next day. So when he got there he was hopeful, anxious, desperate.

— Good morning, Senhor Bartholomeu. The friendly Jeff greeted him by shaking his hand.

— Good morning, Doctor D'Ávila. You can call me Lazzaro, please.

“Then call me Jeff too. Tell me what happened, my sister told me some things...

And so Lazzáro spent the next fifteen minutes telling him everything, his heart racing, filled with a desperate fear that he was still sick and the poison was taking effect in his system.

"What the fuck—" Unlike his sister, Jeff controlled himself.

He was also outraged by everything he heard.

— Let's start doing the exams right now, I'll speed up the results for a maximum of fifteen days, since they are many and very thorough.

- Thanks.

The next few hours were exams after exams, Lazzáro felt inside him that Jeff could be trusted, as well as his lawyer. And that even thirsty for revenge, he could soon be with Lia in his arms, his biggest purpose with all that.

Days passed, the man could not sleep. With no news from Lia, he managed not to ask Magdalena about her or go to her house and take her in his arms. He was suffering, afflicted. She rented an apartment to stay in during that week, away from that perfume that was already in the hands of the lawyer along with the recording, and away from the eyes of Nadia the informant.

Soon there was Lazzáro, in Dr. Jeff D'Ávila's office, with shaking hands, deep dark circles under his eyes, tiredness, insomnia, headache, body pain, anxiety attacking.

— Come on, I already opened all the exams. The poison they used on you, if they gave you a stronger dosage, would kill you in seconds, as they were in small dosages, the effects would start to occur from simple fevers, headaches, to something more serious the acceleration of your heart causing a heart attack, that would last for a while, maybe three months. Which would confirm the supposed illness you had. But as we soon discovered, some detox sessions will leave you feeling like nothing happened. You are very lucky to have discovered this so soon.

Jeff made Lazzáro's heart flutter with relief for the first time in two months. Therefore, after all the recommendations, the man went straight to the place where his true strength was, where his will to live was, where his reason was. On the way he couldn't believe he had spent all that time depriving himself of things and getting depressed. But what was his fault? I couldn't guess that I was being poisoned. But none of it would stay that way, just as he was happy and relieved, he was also angry and willing to make them pay dearly for that. And they would pay. Very expensive.

When he got close to Magdalena's house, he was surprised to find Lia, his Lia, having her hands held by another man, almost the same age as her. She had a smile on her face, the boy seemed to want to jump on her, he seemed very happy to be touching her.

Lazzáro felt his heart ache, his hands sweat and his insides freeze. A tightness unlike anything he'd ever felt in his chest.

Did I arrive too late?