Valeria's POV

The sound of my phone ringing broke through the silence. I flinched. My hand was still raised, frozen in the same position it had been when the picture appeared on my screen. For several seconds, I did not understand what was happening. The room felt distant — Nico's voice, the sound of my own breathing, everything fading beneath the weight of what I had just seen.

Then the phone rang again. This time, the sound reached me. I blinked and finally looked down. Another ...