Chapter 1 - THE THRESHOLD OF CHAOS
The heavy mahogany door of Ricardo Mendonza Albuquerque’s study closed softly behind Augusto, leaving Luía Oliveira standing alone with the billionaire. The room was vast, smelling faintly of expensive old leather and dry-aged oak, but it felt suffocatingly heavy, as if the walls themselves were absorbing the quiet grief of the household.
Ricardo sat behind a sleek, glass-topped executive desk that looked out over the sprawling Morumbi gardens. He didn't look like a tech mogul worth over a billion reais at that moment; he looked like a man who had been hollowed out from the inside, his shoulders rounded under an invisible weight, dark circles bruising the skin beneath his sharp eyes.
"Mr. Mendonza," Luía began, breaking the silence before it could curdle. Her voice was steady, grounded by years of navigating chaotic households across São Paulo. "Augusto explained the scope. I am here to clean. Kitchens, floors, bathrooms, laundry. I am not a nanny, and I have no intention of parenting your children."
Ricardo raised his eyes, fixing his gaze on her. There was an intense, desperate skepticism in his look, forged by thirty-seven consecutive failures. "Everyone says that before they meet them, Ms. Oliveira. The last woman lasted four hours before she was driven out the front gate screaming, with green hair dye dripping down her neck and tacks taped to her loafers."
Luía allowed a faint, humorless smile to touch her lips. "I am not looking to win any popularity contests, sir. I have night classes in child psychology to pay for, and my bus fare home isn't cheap. If the girls want to play pranks, they can waste their energy. I will simply sweep up whatever mess they make and keep working."
Ricardo let out a dry, exhausted breath that sounded like a laugh choked in his throat. "You have no idea what you're walking into. They aren't just misbehaving. They are at war. With me, with the world, and most of all, with anyone who crosses this threshold."
"Then I suggest you let me get started on the kitchen," Luía said smoothly, unzipping her worn canvas backpack and pulling out a pair of rubber cleaning gloves. "Because judging by the state of the hallway carpet, nobody has used a proper disinfectant in weeks."
May you like
With that, she turned and walked out of the study, leaving the billionaire staring after her in stunned silence.
She had no idea what waited for her down the long, winding corridor, but as she stepped into the massive, sterile kitchen, the real battle was about to begin.
