Elena's POV
"You look like you haven't slept in a week."
Mia's voice crackled through the phone, background noise humming faintly behind her, and I pressed it closer to my ear as I climbed into bed, the day's exhaustion finally catching up with every unresolved thread still tangled in my chest. "I haven't, really."
"Wedding stress or mystery-family-drama stress?"
"Can it be both?"
"With you, it's always both." Mia's laugh was warm, familiar, a small anchor in the middle of everything still unsettled. "Get some rest, okay? You sound like you need it more than you're admitting."
We said our goodnights, and I set the phone on my nightstand, the unnamed photograph still propped against the lamp exactly where I'd left it three nights ago, watching me with its stranger's face every time I
