Chapter 16 – What I Didn’t Want to See

The phone screen read 7:50 a.m.

Adrián held it with both hands as if it were a sacred object. Behind him, the sound of water boiling for his father’s tea seemed to mock his anxiety. He stood in the kitchen of the family home, his shirt wrinkled, face unshaven, eyes bloodshot from a sleepless night.

He dialed his mother’s number. Isabel answered on the second ring.

“Mom? Were you able to talk to her? Did you convince her?”

The silence that followed spoke lo