Because Ricardo Bittencourt had no idea.

No idea that the woman he had just humiliated was no longer the fragile Emília he abandoned years ago. She was now Emília Camargo Sterling — the wife of one of the country’s most powerful billionaires, heir to a global empire of technology and philanthropy.

He didn’t know that the man she loved now never missed a doctor’s appointment, spoke to their unborn child every night, and had restored everything Ricardo tried to destroy: her safety, her confidence, her sense of worth.

Days later, during a business gala broadcast live, Ricardo nearly dropped his glass when he saw her enter the hall — poised, radiant, pregnant, her husband beside her. A name announced that made the entire room rise in respect.

Happy. Secure. Untouchable.

That was the moment Ricardo finally understood.

The mud he threw at her that day didn’t stain her.

It only exposed who he had always been.

And who Emília had become.