Ana Oliveira Part 4

"Speak, you bitch! Why did you hurt Bernardo?" I yelled, losing control and ready to charge at her, only to be restrained by Josiah’s immense and strong arms around my waist.
“Look... The little crazy is showing her claws,” Luana sang, looking at her nails with disdain. “Ana, you’re weak! You don’t scare me.”
“I trusted you!” I shouted, bouncing with rage against my ex-boyfriend's hold. “I believed you were my friend.”
Luana huffed, giving me a sarcastic smile. She raised an eyebrow and licked her lips, as if savoring my loss of control. Marta paced around the carpet, smoothing her hair, completely reminiscent of the nervous gestures made by her two sons. Her eyes were like red waterfalls, streaming tears of anger and sadness.
“Aninha... The depressed, suicidal little whore, the murderer who drowned little Benício,” Luana sang, laughing with her wide mouth as I covered my ears. Flashbacks of my brother in the pool invaded my mind, and all my trauma came rushing back. “Ana drowns little children...”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” I ordered, crying non-stop. Josiah held me close, the warmth of his body keeping me from completely losing myself in the memories.
“Calm down, Sweetheart!” Josiah pleaded, his voice frightened as he kissed my head. “Make her shut up, Dad!”
My chest ached. Fear, pain, longing, helplessness, guilt... Those heavy feelings screamed in my head, and I felt like little Ana, the teenage Ana paralyzed while her mother tried to revive Ben.
“Your parents killed themselves because of you!” Luana screamed between laughs, making thousands of burning stakes pierce my chest.
She was getting into my head. What a horrible woman!
I turned my gaze to her, seeing that one of the security guards had finally restrained her in the chair, pressing her back against the seat and covering her mouth. But the way Luana’s eyes danced, amused as she looked at me, made me realize I was falling into her game. She was affecting me, using words to hurt me, intending to avoid answering.
“You were the one who put that damn bucket on my door!” I accused, breaking free from Josiah’s arms and lunging at her.
When I grabbed her by the hair and threw her onto the carpet, mounting her and delivering countless slaps to that skinny face, no one stopped me. I took out my frustration on her, my rage, letting it all out through my blows, until I smelled that expensive perfume around me. Those strong arms of Josiah’s father lifted me off Luana, who was screaming as if possessed, while Harry dragged her back to the chair.
“You orphaned bitch!” Luana yelled, wiping the blood from her mouth and panting heavily.
Her disheveled hair from my pulls was now accompanied by her red, swollen cheeks.
“At least I’m not an incestuous murderer!” I accused. “What happened to my brother was an accident, but you murdered Bernardo.”
“That’s why I made sure to end your relationship, you whore!” Luana mocked, smoothing her hair, trying to put it back in place. “It was delicious to tell Lucah that Josiah was coming, so he rushed to your room and we set up the ‘cheating’ scene. Wow... It was great to see your perfect relationship fall apart.”
“Damn bitch!” Josiah cursed, clenching his jaw and looking like he was trying hard not to attack her.
“And you? Daddy’s little darling, who always had the world at your feet and still complained about the money you had. Complained that Daddy cheated on Mommy, but you had everything. You never had to work for real, you little shit!” the snake spat at Josiah.
I barely noticed him, my gaze was fixated and frenzied on that woman. I wanted to destroy her. That snake ruined my relationship. So they planned it all for Josiah to see me with Lucah. But what about...
“Was Jonas part of this?” I asked, bracing my heart for it to shatter even more.
“Jonas? That piece of shit? He was an idiot, saw nothing. Adored you... And still believed the boyfriend was a little lamb...” she scoffed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. “Lucah was obsessed with him. My cousin was possessive, took whatever he wanted for himself. It was the same with me. Lucah decided I would be his when I was twelve. And so it was... Then he became obsessed with Jonas, seduced him, and kept him. Pretended to be nice, engaged in charitable causes, but it was just a character he used to win over that idiot boyfriend. Too bad I didn’t get to kill Jonas…”
Talking about killing someone in such a crude manner only highlighted how cold and narcissistic Luana was.
“Don’t you feel ashamed to say these things?” Marta asked, smoothing her chest, shocked.
“Oh, old lady... Go fuck yourself!” she cursed, spitting towards Marta. How did that horrible woman deceive us for so long? “Shame is for the weak. That’s why it’s so easy to play with you. You feel shame, empathy, remorse. I feel nothing.”
“And yet you’re still a fucking piece of shit!” I mocked. “Even if you think you’re this superwoman who plays with people like they’re game pieces, here you are. Unmasked and one step from prison.”
“Fuck off!” she shrugged. “I don’t feel fear. Nothing scares me. I was born this way... That’s my superpower.”
I glanced at Josiah. He was clenching his jaw and furrowing his lower lip, as if he felt disgusted. Certainly, the disturbed words of the psychopath in front of us caused the purest repulsion in everyone, except Cristian, who probably understood that twisted way of being.

“You know what we loved doing, Aninha?” she asked, her eyes shining with excitement. “We loved getting you really drunk. That way, when Jonas wasn’t around, Lucah and I would tell you everything—how we made you and Josiah break up, how we were going to do everything to keep you apart. The next morning, you’d wake up, like a fool, and forget the whole damn thing…”
“Bitch!” Josiah roared, struggling not to lash out at her.
“Oh, don’t hate me!” she mocked, blowing a kiss into the air towards Josiah. “Your little girl only exists because I gave Ana an antihistamine instead of a morning-after pill,” she revealed, sending a shockwave through the room.
My heart raced even faster as I tried to recall the day Luana had handed me the pill and a glass of water. Damn it!
“Why?” I asked, as it made no sense. “Why give me a permanent link to Josiah if you wanted us separated, Luana?”
“Because the bastard Lucah was obsessed with you! He only fucked me calling out your name! He thought you two would fight more, maybe even break up for good if Josiah believed the baby wasn’t his, leaving space for Lucah to take his place.”
I felt bile rising in my throat and held my stomach, struggling to hold back my tears. Luana was watching us, looking for weaknesses to exploit with hurtful words. How could there be such awful people in the world?
“Ana, I can’t stand you. I hate that Lucah died because of you while he was going to see the birth of your daughter, you fucking bitch! I hate you because since you came into our lives, he didn’t see me the same way anymore. So, even when Lucah was gone, I decided to continue the plan to ruin your relationship, to stay close so you wouldn’t be okay.”
How did I let myself be deceived by the monster that was Lucah? He was as vile and dangerous as Luana. Marta was sobbing as she sank onto the couch. I didn’t want to be in her shoes. Despite the guilt I felt for doubting Josiah’s accounts, I knew the weight of it must be tripled on my mother-in-law’s shoulders.
“See, uncle? Lucah took after you…” Luana taunted, giving a victorious smile to the mayor. “You saw weakness in the wrong child.”
“No! You’re wrong, girl... I would never disrespect my blood ties, never be so depraved. I wouldn’t play games like this with random people. My interest is power. I’d never waste my energy in such a foolish way as you or my eldest son did. Good thing he died, or I would’ve killed him myself!” he spat with disdain. “And you’re a complete idiot, Luana. You were still keeping evidence against yourself in your own room…”
A heavy silence fell over the room after he said he would have killed his son, but even though those words were horrific coming from a father, no one contradicted him. It seemed like a relief for everyone that Lucah was dead. It was terrible to admit, but he got the end he deserved!
“It’s liberating to be able to say all this. I feel lighter…” Luana said, dramatically sighing and feigning a sense of relief. “Oh, you know what was really fun? Stirring up trouble for this little couple. After all, we broke you up, but the show was well worth it thanks to both of your fiery personalities. Oh, the way Ana cemented the beer bottle shards on the wall between your houses was divine.”
My mind drifted back to the day after Josiah moved into his house. I was almost six months pregnant. Lucah had hired a builder to replace the porch tiles that morning. Jow had thrown a party and, to mock me, had placed several beer bottles on the wall between our houses. Enraged, I grabbed a broom and knocked them all down. Some fell into his yard, others into mine. They shattered, scattering into countless shards. I went berserk, grabbed a ladder, a handful of cement with a trowel, and cemented several shards on top of the wall, right in the direction of our windows, even cutting my fingers on the sharp pieces left over from the bottles. Those glass fragments reminded me of the shards that were my heart, shattered by him so unjustly. I wanted to share with Josiah all the pieces of glass I felt tearing at my soul. I was at my limit, and that act made it clear.
That was the mark of our war. The glass shards were a message. That was what we had become, two sharp objects ready to tear each other apart. Every time we looked at each other’s houses, we saw the shards on the wall. We faced the reminder.
I shook my head, as if the movement could disperse the thoughts.