“Isabella?” The voice on the phone asked again, this time more uncertain, more fragile. It was as if she could sense the tension on the other side. “Isabella, is that you?”
Isabella’s throat tightened, her breath coming in short gasps. She felt like she was drowning in a sea of confusion and pain. “This isn’t possible,” she whispered again, tears spilling down her cheeks. “You’re supposed to be dead. Angelo told me you died in a car accident.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line, then a soft sigh. “Oh, Isabella,” her mother’s voice said, filled with a sorrow that seemed to echo across the years. “I’m so sorry, my sweet girl. I never wanted you to find out like this. There’s so much you don’t know, so much I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid."
Isabella frowned as she l
