2 Karen?!

I woke up to the smell of coffee, looked at the kitchen and Marcelo was only in shorts, but what a body!! Dark, tall, well-defined muscles...

"You woke up. Good Morning! How was your night?" said Marcelo, taking me out of my thoughts.

"Good morning. It was good," I lied.

"I bought bread, made you some coffee, and borrowed some clothes from a friend for you. I think they'll fit you."

"Thanks, what time is it?" I murmured, still in awe of his excitement.

"It's 8:00 in the morning, and I'm about ready to leave for work. You can be my guest," he said, walking out the door.

I got up and went to the bathroom to splash water on my face and noticed that in the sink there was a closed toothbrush. 'How thoughtful,' I mused to myself. Looking at my face in the mirror I almost didn't recognize myself; my eyes were swollen from excessive crying last night. I splash water on my face and say to myself, "You're going to come back. You're a strong and brave woman and you're going to stand up."

I combed my blond hair and put on the clothes he brought. They fit me but they're different from what I usually wear, they're tighter. I always wear baggy clothes that don't wraps closely around my body, Fernando always put me down saying I was fat. I always believed him; I always thought he loved me. "How dumb I am..."

I headed towards the kitchen, had a coffee, and took a bite of bread. Once finished with that, I put a song to play on the radio and started tidying up Marcelo's house; I wasn't going to stay there and not help him. The music, instead of cheering me up, just made me sadder, so I turned it off.

Around 11:30 am Marcelo arrived for lunch with two lunchboxes.

"Sorry my cabinets are empty. I don't usually eat at home, so I brought food," he said, pointing to the lunchboxes.

"You didn't have to bother with me," I said awkwardly.

"Okay, but I like to help, and I won't let a guest go hungry," he said smiling.

"So what have you been doing with your life? What do you do?" I asked as I put the food on the plates.

"Well, I'm doing law school at night. During the day I work as an Uber driver."

"That's cool. It must be nice to work just driving around, not being locked between four walls."

"Yes, one of the parts I like the most is that. With the money I earn, I have managed to support myself and when I have some college work that requires more of my time, I don't need to satisfy anyone; after all, I am my own boss. And what do you intend to do? Because as I understand it, he can't do what he did to you. Do you remember signing some document that passed the stocks on to his brother?" he questioned me with interest.

"No, I would never do that! I don't know how he got those documents. I'd never even seen this brother," I said angrily.

"I haven't taken my bar exam yet, so I can't help you, but I have a teacher who can help you. If you want, I can take you to her."

"Of course, please," I spoke gratefully.

We finished eating. While I was washing the dishes and got ready, Marcelo finished a college project.

"Let's go to Doctor Cristina's office, it's right in the center of Florianopolis."

"Marcelo, I don't have the money to pay her right now," I vented, worried.

"Don't worry about it right now."

We entered the small office and Marcelo went up to Cristina and gave her a big hug. They looked pretty close. Cristina was an elegant woman, with honey-colored hair and eyes, and a toned body; she carried the general view of an independent woman.

"Cris, this is a friend of mine: Marina. She needs help. Her husband filed for divorce last night and informed her that she has nothing left. All her assets had also been transferred to his brother without her consent."

"Good afternoon Marina, I'm Doctor Cristina. Let's see what we can do for you. First: did he present the documents to you in his brother's name?"

"Yes, but I don't understand how he could have done it. Everything was all in my name and his, and I didn't sign anything. I didn't even know he had a brother!"

"Okay, I'll look into it. Do you have your documents?"

"No, everything stayed in the apartment. He wouldn't let me grab anything."

"Your personal belongings you have the right to take. If he refuses, you can call the police and accuse him of theft. Well, do you know your document number?"

"Yes, Doctor." I inform her of my document number.

"Let me see here, according to these files, on May 23, you passed the company and the house to Juliano Mendes."

"No!! It's fake, I didn't sign anything! I've never even seen this Juliano guy."

"Okay, we're going to file a lawsuit to ask for an expert to examine the signature and prove that they are false, but I warn you that this can take a long time; justice in Brazil is very slow."

"Ok doctor, I just want to get back what I fought so hard to acquire..."

"Alright, then, as soon as you have your documents, bring them to me so I can get the process started."

"Okay, I'm going there today to get my things."

"You can let me go with you," said Marcelo.

"Thanks, but you don't have to do this," I said, embarrassed. He'd already done so much for me.

"It will be better this way. If you show up alone, he might try to take advantage of you," said Marcelo.

"He's right. I'll leave everything ready here and with your documents I can start the process. See you on Monday, ok?"

"Okay Doctor, thank you!"

We left the office and went straight to my apartment, a very old apartment. It was very close to the island center in a luxury condominium.

I managed to get in calmly; he hadn't informed the doormen that I no longer lived here. I rang the bell and couldn't believe who opened the door.

"Karen?!" I ask in surprise. Karen, a redhead, 1.60m, skinny, and with big boobs, had been Fernando's secretary for years. What was she doing here? Since we opened the company, she had always been Fernando's right hand man. I remembered sometimes questioning their friendship, but he always told me it was all in my head.

"Love, who is it?" Fernando said to Karen.

"It's your slutty EX wife," said Karen.