Chapter 7 Atena Spanos

• Atena Spanos
• My grandmother Maitê’s plan is the craziest thing I’ve heard since I was a child, and we’ve pulled off a lot of tricks before. We’ve switched places many times, and sometimes we even managed to fool our own parents.
• The only real difference between us is that I’m left-handed and Gaia is right-handed. But in order to fool people, we both learned to write with both hands. Still, she’s better at pretending. I usually give myself away.
• Her bachelorette party was going great. We managed to convince our father to close the Santorini house, and Joaquim went to Mykonos, which I’m sure is full of prostitutes to satisfy them.
• Meanwhile, I’m sitting here thinking about all the problems that could fall on me the day after tomorrow. My cousins, friends, and sister are getting drunk, and outside our private room, the bodyguards won’t stop talking to someone, probably our parents.
• But what I didn’t expect was for our mothers to show up here.
• My grandmother sits beside me and taps my knee with her cane, pointing at my sister.
• "I hope she’s had at least three bottles, because she’s way too cheerful for someone who’s about to marry a man she doesn’t love."
• I look at my grandmother and gesture toward the floor next to me.
• "She drank all six of those bottles herself, plus a few shots. She’s hoping to be drunk enough for Dad to cancel the wedding, or maybe even for Joaquim to back out of this madness."
• Aunt Carol sits next to me and hugs me, whispering in my ear,
• "When you get to Rio, come find me. I won’t let your father do anything."
• I look at her in shock, then at my grandmother.
• "We need support. We old ladies won’t be enough. That’s why your Aunt Selma and the Swiss Madame are involved in all of this."
• I look at her and hug the woman who watched me grow up and who I truly consider my aunt.
• "And Arthur and her?" I ask. My grandmother smiles and taps my knee.
• "Don’t worry. As soon as you and Joaquim board the yacht to the island, Carol will already be on her way to Miami with them."
• I realize they’ve got a whole plan mapped out for the next few days.
• "Don’t drink. I need you sober and preferably not giving us too much trouble tomorrow," I hear Aunt Selma say with a laugh.
• We look over at all the girls dancing. They’ve started literally taking off their clothes.
• "Heavens, Helena’s going to give me a headache tonight…" Aunt Carol gets up and walks over to Helena and Laís.
• I look at them and see they’re the drunkest. Aunt Carol pulls them aside, probably to scold them.
• "Atena, don’t forget, give yourself to him. I know it won’t be hard. The real problem will be if he’s rougher than he should be."
• My grandmother’s expression shifts slightly, showing concern.
• "I just hope he doesn’t hurt me. I don’t even know how I’d react…"
• She grabs my face gently, pulling it toward her and looking into my eyes.
• "Don’t be silly, Atena. Never let him dominate you. Remember, you are Atena Spanos, heiress of House Spanos and named after the goddess of wisdom. You were trained to be clever. And let’s not forget, you are incredibly intelligent," I hear my grandmother say.
• I take a deep breath, letting her words fill me with confidence and reminding me of who I truly am. I lift my chin with pride in who I am.
• It was already the middle of the night when Gaia pulled me up to dance with her. I hesitated at first but gave in; tonight would be our last night together, and I had no idea when we’d see each other again.
• We danced a lot, and I drank a bit with her. I tried to hold her when she started crying uncontrollably, but in the end, I couldn’t support her weight anymore.
• "I think that’s enough, don’t you? It’s the middle of the night. Time to take them home, they’ll have a horrible hangover tomorrow."
• I can’t tell who it is that says this and interrupts the bachelorette party.
• My mother approaches to help me, but Gaia brushes off her hand and starts shouting.
• "I hate you! You’ve handed me over to a man who despises me, who will probably treat me like garbage. You’ll be the only ones to blame when I decide to take my own life."
• I hold my sister just as she collapses into my arms, unconscious.
• "Oh, heavens, help me here…" I look at my mother, who starts crying and kneels down to help me with Gaia.
• "Mom, she’s just drunk. Tomorrow she’ll apologize," I try to comfort her.
• I know Gaia won’t even remember what happened tonight, but I think the two of us are already suffering enough because of our father’s decisions. Our mother doesn’t need to carry the fear that my twin might actually take her own life.
• Our bodyguard approaches and helps me with her. I walk beside him, following them to our car. I glance back and see that all the girls are completely drunk. Each mother tries to control her daughter, but it looks like that won’t be an easy task. I don’t even stay to find out how they’ll deal with it.
• "Miss, where should I take you?" I hear Antônio, our bodyguard, ask as I support Gaia’s head.
• "Let’s go home… but can you help me sneak her in through the back?" I ask a little uncertainly.
• All our bodyguards are afraid of our father, which makes no sense; everyone knows my sister loves another man, and it’s not the one she’s supposed to marry tomorrow.
• He nods, and we drive home without any rush. Antônio has known us since we were little. He’s the son of Lucca, my mother’s longtime bodyguard. He’s more of a friend than a bodyguard to us.
• I’m happy that at least he was able to marry the woman he loved, and she already loved him too. A few months ago, we found out they’re expecting their first child.
• As soon as we pass through the gates, he asks that no one be informed of our arrival, saying the situation got out of hand.
• Everyone in the mansion feels a little sorry for Gaia because of this marriage and tries everything to get her to smile. Since our father sealed her fate, we’ve watched her fade into sadness, cherishing the rare moments she’s able to spend with Arthur.
• Our grandmother and cousins are the ones who try the hardest to lift her spirits. I try too, but I always feel like she gets sadder when she realizes I’m around.
• Maybe it’s because she was left with the burden of marrying Joaquim. Still, we’ve never fought, not even once, because of this madness life threw at us.
• Antônio picks her up in his arms, and we enter quietly through the side of Aunt Selma’s house. We go upstairs silently so no one notices.
• I decide to leave her in my room so she can rest there, since hers is already packed with wedding preparations. I thank our bodyguard, and he pulls me into a tight hug.
• "I’m going to miss you, little troublemaker." I laugh at him.
• "I think the only ones who shouldn’t know are my father and mother." He winks at me and leaves the room.
• Since I’m not sleepy yet, I lock my bedroom door and head out to the balcony. I sit in one of the lounge chairs and stare at the sea, which reflects the starry sky above. The temperature is really pleasant tonight.