The morning after the wedding was supposed to be perfect. Soft light filtered through the curtains of the honeymoon suite at the Serra Alta Hotel, illuminating the plush carpet and the champagne tray from the night before. I imagined we would spend hours in bed, order breakfast, maybe walk through the gardens. Normal newlywed things.

But that didn’t last.

As soon as he woke up, Daniel went to the bathroom — and locked the door. Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen. At twenty, I started finding it strange. At thirty, I grew uneasy. By forty-five, my heart was pounding in my throat.

I knocked on the door.

“Daniel? Are you okay in there?”

Nothing.

Then, I heard it.

A voice.

A woman’s voice.

Low. Urgent. Whispering.

I pressed my ear to the door, my stomach twisting.

“…she doesn’t know… keep your voice down…”

My blood froze. It was our first day as husband and wife. And there was another woman in the bathroom?

I pounded on the door.

“Who’s in there? Daniel, open this door right now!”

The whispers stopped. For two seconds.

Then I heard:

“Lucia, wait—don’t come in—”

Too late.

I lifted my foot and kicked the door. The weak lock gave in.

The door flew open.

But what I found wasn’t what I expected.

Daniel was sitting on the floor, pale as if he’d seen a ghost. There was no woman in the bathroom. Only his phone, on speaker, showing the image of a young woman, desperate and crying.

“Daniel?” I muttered. “What… what’s going on?”

He tried to turn it off, nervous. “It’s not what you think.”

“Isn’t it? Because it looks like my brand-new husband locked himself in the bathroom to talk to some girl!”

“Lucia, please. Listen to me.”

Even with the audio muted, the girl on the screen kept talking. By reading her lips, I understood: They found…

A shiver ran through me.

Daniel rubbed his face, exhausted.

“Her name is Helena. She’s my sister.”

I froze.

“…You don’t have a sister.”

“I do. I just never told you.”

Those words hurt almost as much as betrayal.

I crossed my arms. “Then explain. Now.”

He took a deep breath.

“Helena has been hiding for months from a man named Ricardo. A dangerous guy. Violent. My father put her in a safe house last year. No one was supposed to know where she was.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”

“Because the fewer people knew, the safer she would be.”

The camera shook in Helena’s hands. She turned the phone and showed a broken window, a ripped mattress, muddy footprints on the floor.

My stomach flipped.

“Is that… is that where she lives now?” I asked.

“Used to live,” Daniel muttered. “She’s on the run. He found her.”

Without meaning to, the audio came back on.

“Daniel… he’s outside. I… I don’t know how. But he found me. Please… help me.”

Her desperation filled the bathroom.

Daniel jumped to his feet. “I need to go after her. Now.”

My heart raced. “But… we’re on our honeymoon!”

“Lucia… she’s my sister. If I don’t get there today, she might not survive.”

I looked at him. At the phone. At the broken window on the screen. At a truth I never imagined facing the day after my wedding.

And then I realized: this wasn’t a choice. It was a life.

I took a deep breath.

“I’m going with you.”

Daniel’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

“You’re not facing this alone. Not anymore.”

He held my hand — firm, as if clinging to his last hope.

We rushed out of the suite, ran down the hotel stairs, and got into the car. As the road stretched ahead of us, a mix of fear and determination grew inside me.

Our honeymoon had ended before it even began.

But at that moment, I realized that maybe our marriage was beginning right there — not with champagne and flowers, but with courage, loyalty, and a danger I still didn’t understand.

I only knew one thing:

If we want to save Helena, anything can happen.

And nothing — absolutely nothing — will be the same after this.