Henrique marched toward the stage, every step echoing across the ballroom like a warning.
Ana Clara froze when she saw him approaching.
For a second, she thought he was coming to pull the microphone from her hand too.
But he didn’t.
He walked straight past Stella.
Past the bridesmaids.
Past the guests holding up phones.
And stood beside Ana Clara while she sang the final line of the chorus.
Silence swallowed the room when the music stopped.
Henrique stared at her with disbelief in his eyes.
“Ana…” he whispered.
Stella blinked. “Wait… you know her?”
Henrique ignored her.
He looked at Ana Clara the way people look at ghosts from another life.
“You disappeared,” he said softly.
Ana Clara lowered her eyes. “I had no choice.”
The room shifted uncomfortably.
Stella laughed nervously into the microphone. “Okay… cute reunion. Can someone explain what’s happening?”
Henrique finally turned toward his bride.
“You humiliated her,” he said coldly.
“Oh please,” Stella scoffed. “I was joking. Everyone was enjoying it.”
“No,” Henrique replied. “You were enjoying it.”
The temperature in the ballroom seemed to drop.
Guests stopped recording.
Even Stella’s father looked uneasy.
Henrique turned back to Ana Clara.
Years earlier, before his family’s company exploded into one of São Paulo’s biggest investment firms, Henrique had studied music at a public arts conservatory.
That was where he met Ana Clara.
She was the best singer there.
Not because she wanted fame.
Because music lived inside her.
They were inseparable for almost two years.
Until Henrique’s father dragged him into the business empire and made one thing brutally clear:
“Love doesn’t build power.”
Henrique obeyed.
And Ana disappeared from his life shortly after.
He searched for her at first.
But she had changed numbers. Moved away. Vanished completely.
Now she stood in front of him again. Pregnant. Exhausted. Humiliated at his own wedding.
And Stella had treated her like trash for entertainment.
“Why are you working here?” Henrique asked quietly.
Ana Clara hesitated.
“My husband died seven months ago,” she said. “A motorcycle accident.”
A murmur spread across the ballroom.
“I’m trying to survive,” she continued. “That’s all.”
Henrique clenched his jaw so tightly a vein pulsed in his neck.
Stella rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Oh my God, Henrique, don’t turn this into a soap opera.”
He looked at her slowly.
And for the first time that night, Stella seemed unsure of herself.
“You threatened a pregnant woman with unemployment,” he said. “In front of hundreds of people.”
“She’s staff!”
“She’s human.”
continued on next page
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