It was the most oppressive silence imaginable.
Damien sat alone on the edge of the bed, the phone still clutched in his hand, staring at the screen as if the answers to every single question that had plagued him for the past few hours were there, just out of reach. The image Valeria had sent him burned in his mind, taunting him, but the stings of Isla’s departure… of the betrayal in her eyes… cut deeper than any message could.
He had been careless. Too lost in the past, in the ghosts that had always haunted him, to understand what was literally in front of him. Isla hadn’t only been a partner, she had been his lifeline. But for the moment Valeria had sent that image, something changed. And now he had lost Isla.
Damien suddenly stood and began pacing back and forth, his thoughts swirling
