Act One - City of the Damned — Chapter 15

Unable to write, David realizes he can no longer continue as Ignatius B. Samson. He burns the remaining pages of the serial, symbolically burying the persona and resolving to write in his own voice. The next day he confronts Barrido & Escobillas, declaring there will be no new Samson book.

At their office, David endures Barrido, Escobillas, and Herminia’s manipulations and reveals he destroyed the manuscript. Barrido offers time to write a “great novel” with no advance, which David rejects in spirit, leaving determined to change course.

David commits to a grueling plan: by day he continues rewriting Pedro Vidal’s novel for Cristina; by night he writes the first book to bear his name. He endures pain with codeine and isolates himself, seeing only the grocer’s daughter during weekly deliveries.

Cristina abruptly stops visiting. Pep arrives from Villa Helius with a sealed parcel: Cristina has left for Puigcerdà after her father, Manuel, suffers an aneurysm, and she secretly returns Vidal’s full manuscript to David. Vidal later visits, drinking and speaking about Manuel’s collapse and Cristina’s devotion.

With David’s revisions lying nearby, Vidal boasts that his book is finally “something big,” unaware of David’s role. He tries to confess an old secret but loses courage. At dusk, David escorts him to the car, where Pep, clumsy in Manuel’s uniform, struggles as the new driver. Vidal departs, burdened and fearful, leaving David to his double labor and concealed truths.