The scandal was unfolding before everyone’s eyes. Outside the church, in a limousine about to pull up, Isabela’s phone rang insistently. It was her father, Otávio.

“Dad? I’m almost there, the dress looks perfect!”

But the voice on the other end was trembling, strangled, desperate.

“Isabela, listen to me… don’t come. For God’s sake, don’t step foot inside that church.”

“What do you mean, don’t go in? That’s absurd!”

“Thor… Thor just shouted in front of everyone that he’s not getting married. He said he won’t live a lie. He loves that woman, daughter!” Otávio blurted out in one breath, as if he still couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed.

Isabela froze. For a moment, the phone slipped in her trembling hands, and the triumphant expression on her face twisted into raw terror.

“He… what?!”

“Daughter, listen to your father. Don’t go through this humiliation. The press is everywhere. It’s a scandal. Leave now. Please. I swear, I’ll destroy him and that woman. I promise you!”

Back at th