Chapter 12 - The Safe House
Far away from the corporate slaughterhouse, the Maybach pulled through a set of massive, wrought-iron gates. Beatriz looked out the tinted window as the car glided up a long, winding driveway lined with ancient oak trees.
At the end of the path stood the Monteiro ancestral estate. It was a breathtaking architectural marvel of stone and glass, overlooking a private lake. This was the home she had grown up in, the sanctuary she had abandoned in pursuit of a normal life.
The massive front doors opened before the car even stopped. A line of familiar staff members, some with tears in their eyes, stood waiting to welcome her back.
"Welcome home, Dona Beatriz,"
May you like
The head housekeeper, a woman who had helped raise her, sobbed as she stepped forward to help with the baby.
Beatriz smiled, a genuine, warm smile that reached her eyes for the first time in years. The house smelled of lavender and old wood—it smelled like her father. She walked into the grand foyer, holding Leo close. The nightmare was over. The awakening had begun.
