He thought his employee was going to a warm house, but he found her sleeping on a bench in the rain. When he saw the three pale faces she was hiding under her coat, his life of luxury crumbled in an instant.

“Mr. Caio…” she stammered, her lips blue from the cold. “Please… don’t be angry. I’ll go to work early tomorrow, I swear. I just… I just needed to sit down for a moment. I… I have nowhere else to go.”

It was then that Caio saw something in that woman’s eyes that he had never seen in any boardroom: a despair so profound, so absolute, that it took his breath away. He was looking into the abyss. And he was about to discover that he had been walking on the edge of that abyss without ever looking down.

Caio felt his legs give way. He knelt on the wet pavement, not caring that his designer pants were ruined in the mud. He was on the same level as her now.

“Livia, for God’s sake…” her voice was a hoarse whisper. “What are you doing here? Whose children are these?”

Livia’s tears finally flowed, mingling with the rain that streamed down her cheeks. She no longer had the strength to maintain the facade. She broke down emotionally.

“They’re my nephews, sir,” she sobbed, hugging the little ones tighter. “My brother… my brother died in a motorcycle accident two weeks ago. And their mother… their mother just left the hospital. She left them there. She said she couldn’t handle three. She disappeared.”