Chapter 3 — The Woman in Room 1704
The ballroom went silent.
No one laughed.
No one moved.
On the screen, the hotel room door opened just wide enough to show Thiago in bed with another woman.
A glass shattered somewhere near the front table.
Thiago’s father lowered his head.
His mother rushed toward the stage, shouting for someone to turn it off, but Marina stepped back and held the remote tightly.
Camila did not watch the screen.
She watched the guests.
Because betrayal was one thing.
The faces of people who had helped cover it up were another.
Then the woman from the hotel room appeared at the ballroom entrance.
Still in the champagne silk robe.
Her hair was messy. Her face was pale.
Every head turned.
Thiago looked like he might collapse.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed.
The woman walked forward slowly.
“My name is Isabela,” she said, voice shaking. “And I’m sorry, Camila. But you deserve to know the rest.”
Camila’s stomach tightened.
Thiago stepped toward her. “Don’t.”
Isabela looked at him with disgust.
“You told me the wedding was fake,” she said. “You told me Camila only wanted your money. You said your family forced you into it.”
Gasps spread across the room.
Camila’s mother covered her mouth.
Isabela lifted her phone.
“And when I found out that wasn’t true, I recorded everything.”
Thiago lunged for the phone, but two hotel security guards moved in front of him.
The recording played through the ballroom speakers.
Thiago’s voice filled the room.
“After the wedding, the company shares transfer. Then I can divorce her quietly. She’ll be too embarrassed to fight.”
Camila felt the floor shift beneath her.
This was no longer cheating.
This was a plan.
A contract.
A trap.
Thiago stared at her, desperate now. “I was angry. I didn’t mean it.”
Camila finally turned to him.
Her voice was soft.
“That’s the problem, Thiago.”
She removed her engagement ring.
“You meant all of it.”
May you like
Then she placed it into his champagne glass.
It sank to the bottom like a stone.
