Larissa prepared to return to her apartment, while Santiago was set on not leaving her side. When they arrived, Santiago helped her upstairs despite her stubbornness and constant requests to let her go. Larissa knocked on the door of her apartment and Rebecca answered, surprised to see Santiago holding Larissa around her waist, as she leaned on him, a sight remarkable as Santiago had never behaved this way towards anyone, given his arrogant and selfish nature. However, seeing his hand over her stomach and the pain etched on her face, Rebecca realized something was wrong.
"What happened?" inquired a frightened Rebecca.
"We had an accident last night," Larissa explained as she entered the apartment and Rebecca assisted her to the couch.
"What kind of accident?" pressed Rebecca.
"An accident, Becky, do you need to ask so much?" Santiago replied, clearly irritated.
"Sorry, it's just that I'm worried about my friend. You show up with her like this, what am I supposed to think?" Rebecca retorted.
"It’s nothing. She just needs to rest for a few days," Santiago reassured her.
"Do you want breakfast?" asked Rebecca.
"Sure," responded Larissa.
"No, I have a lot of work," Santiago demurred.
"Fine," Rebecca conceded and then offered, "I'll make you some coffee."
"Coffee? I don't know if Larissa should be having coffee," Santiago remarked.
"Should? It’s not like I'm pregnant," Larissa replied, frowning.
"Did I say that? It's just your medicine; I'm not sure if it's supposed to be taken with caffeine," Santiago clarified.
"Thanks for looking out for me, Santiago. But now, I'd like to rest in my bed, okay?" Larissa expressed her desire.
"If I must leave then. Call if you need anything. I'll still send my guards to watch over the apartment," said Santiago.
Before they knew it, not just Rebecca was witnessing the ordeal, but the other girls of the apartment too. None had ever seen Santiago behave in such a manner, and they were certain he was smitten with Larissa.
Santiago took his leave, and once the door closed, the girls bombarded Larissa with excited shouts and shaking, which quickly turned to concern as her wound began to bleed from the vigorous activity. They stepped back at the sight of blood on her stomach.
"What happened?" Rebecca cried out in desperation.
"Calm down, Becky. Get me that coffee, and I’ll tell you everything," Larissa requested.
The girls scrambled to bring coffee, a blanket, a pillow—anything to make Larissa comfortable. Once settled, they urged her, "Now tell us."
Larissa recounted her entire story, and the girls listened in amazement. At the conversation's end, they embraced Larissa warmly.
"Oh, friend, what would I have done if something had happened to you," said Rebecca.
Meanwhile, Demir lay in bed watching the news, which featured a report about a young woman's disappearance and her family’s social media campaign to find her. That’s when it struck him to spread Larissa's photo across various social networking groups to gather any information about her, as he had never been convinced of her demise. Something within whispered that she was still alive, perhaps somewhere waiting to be found.
Demir's friends, though skeptical, shared the information out of loyalty. Days passed, and messages and calls came flooding in with alleged sightings of Larissa in diverse places, often implausible due to the distance spanned between locations. Still, Demir clung to the hope that a credible tip would surface.
Unexpectedly, Larissa's photograph was shared by a friend of one of Santiago's associates. Upon seeing the post, the connection was immediate, and Santiago was alerted.
"Mr. Santiago, you need to see this," said Santiago’s associate.
"Send it over!" ordered Santiago.
Upon viewing the photograph captioned, "Hello, my name is Larissa Nascimento. I've been missing for 2 years. I was 17 at the time of my disappearance, now 19. If someone sees me, please contact my brother Demir Nascimento at ######. Thank you," Santiago was stunned. The girl in the photo was none other than Larissa, but the man searching for her was the very infamous military police captain, Demir Nascimento, who had long been trailing Santiago. It dawned on Santiago that he had fallen for his adversary's sister, the very person with the power to incarcerate him if he chose to. Now he grappled with the dilemma of revealing Larissa's whereabouts, which would unavoidably expose him and pose grave danger.
Torn between his promise to Larissa and the threat of exposure, Santiago pondered. In the interim, he contemplated changing his name and setting up decoy businesses to mislead Demir before unveiling Larissa's location.
"What are you planning to do, Santiago? Don't you see a misstep could cause our entire operation to collapse?" inquired Daniel.
"I know, but I truly don't know the right move. If she turns up by herself, he'll probe Larissa's story to learn how she survived all this while," Santiago worried.
"Sure, but you know you’ll always be lurking in the shadows," Daniel pointed out.
Santiago remained silent, contemplative, until Daniel approached him, grasping his arm to turn him around.
"Hey! Are you listening? This concerns us both," Daniel pressed on.
Regaining his composure, Santiago mused.
"Maybe I should just come clean about who I am," he suggested.
"Are you out of your mind?" Daniel challenged.
"But if we make him a deal... since I saved her, he’ll have to honor it out of his own integrity," replied Santiago.
"Honor? What honor? That captain is worst of them all, and his first move will be to imprison us," countered Daniel.
"We’ll see," murmured Santiago.
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