Chapter 1 — The Door She Should Never Have Opened
Camila had imagined this moment a hundred times.
She would slip into Thiago’s hotel room the night before their wedding, carrying the little velvet box she had spent months preparing. Inside was not jewelry. Not money. Just a handwritten letter, folded beside a tiny silver airplane charm.
Because Thiago had once told her, years ago, that love should feel like flying.
So she came to surprise him.
The Millberg Hotel was glowing beneath the late afternoon sun. Downstairs, two hundred guests were already arriving for the rehearsal dinner. Her mother was checking flowers. His father was confirming seating arrangements. Phones buzzed with messages. Photographers waited in the lobby.
Everything looked perfect.
Until Camila opened Room 1704.
At first, her mind refused to understand what her eyes saw.
Thiago sat upright in the king-size bed, white sheets twisted around his waist. His face went pale. Beside him, a woman Camila had never met clutched the blanket to her chest, her lipstick smudged, her eyes wide with fear.
The room smelled like champagne and roses.
Camila stood in the doorway, still holding the gift bag.
“Camila,” Thiago whispered.
Her name sounded wrong in his mouth.
The woman looked away first.
Camila’s eyes moved slowly from the champagne glasses on the table… to Thiago’s wedding suit hanging by the window… to his engagement ring lying on the bedside table like something he had taken off because it was inconvenient.
Her fingers loosened.
The gift bag slipped from her hand and hit the floor softly.
Thiago climbed out of bed, grabbing his shirt. “Please. It’s not what it looks like.”
Camila gave a small, broken laugh.
But no tears came.
Not yet.
Because something colder than grief had entered her chest.
“What does it look like, Thiago?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Behind Camila, the hallway elevator dinged.
Voices approached.
Her bridesmaids.
His cousins.
A photographer.
The door was still open.
And within seconds, everyone would see exactly what she had seen.
Camila looked at Thiago one last time.
Then she stepped back into the hallway and said quietly:
“Don’t worry. I won’t ruin the wedding.”
May you like
Thiago froze.
Because the calm in her voice terrified him more than screaming ever could.
