Chapter 1-The Door I Should Never Have Opened

Camila Reed stood in front of Suite 302, clutching a small case as if it were a lifeline.

Inside the case was the ring that she would wear the next day, the day of her engagement to Adrian Blake.

According to what she had always believed, it would be the day that changed her life.

She took a deep breath and rehearsed the words for the tenth time.

"Tomorrow, we're getting engaged. I'm nervous. How do you feel?"

She wanted to sound lighthearted and sweet, like the perfect girl he always said she should be.

But when she pushed the door...

It wasn't locked.

A minor detail. Insignificant.

Still, it made her heart stumble inside her chest.

Then she heard it:

A soft sob.

It was a female voice she knew all too well.

"Adrian, stop. Let's talk first. We shouldn't do this, knowing that tomorrow is your engagement. I don't deserve to be by your side," whispered Dani.

Dani.

Her cousin.

The girl she had grown up with, studied with, and confided in.

Almost a sister.

Camila stood motionless, as if her feet were chained to the floor.

The air became thick, heavy, and unbreathable.

A silence cut through the atmosphere until Adrian's voice rang out loud and clear: “What do you mean I don't deserve you? You're the perfect woman. You listen to everything I say and take it as gospel. That's why I love you so much, my love."

Camila's eyes burned, but she didn't cry. Not yet.

"Besides," Adrian continued without a trace of shame, "the board prefers someone manageable with good sense. Camila doesn't do what I say. A strong woman doesn't get very far, not in a world run by men."

He laughed softly, almost amused.

"She's difficult to manage in every way." And in bed... God, she's worse than a piece of wood."

Dani let out a moan that Camila didn't want to interpret.

The ring box trembled between her fingers.

"But she's loved you since we were kids..." Dani cried, though Camila couldn't tell if it was from pleasure or defiance.

Adrian replied without hesitation:

"And what good is that? For the future of Blake Corp—or for mine—you're a better fit."

There was a heavy pause.

Silent.

Cruel.

Then, in her rehearsed victim voice, Dani asked, “So, who do you really love?”

Silence.

It burned more than any words could have.

Finally, Adrian spoke.

“It's not about wanting.

It's about choosing what's right."

In that moment, something inside Camila died.

She put the ring in her pocket.

“Enough. If they can betray me, I can rise again.

And this time, they’ll pay for underestimating me.”

With every step she took away from that room, the truth solidified:

“Adrian. Dani.

You just became my unfinished business.”