VANESSA
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Bianca's words hung in the air between us, reshaping everything I thought I knew about my life.
"I saved Roman?" My voice came out as a whisper, barely audible over the hum of the fluorescent lights.
Bianca nodded slowly, chains clinking as she shifted in her seat. "You were just a child. So was he."
Roman stood rigid beside me, his hand still gripping mine so tightly I could feel my pulse throbbing against his fingers.
"How?" I demanded. "Tell me exactly what happened."
"You need to see the memory card first," Bianca insisted. "There's proof—"
"No," Roman's voice was sharp as steel. "Tell us now. All of it."
Bianca looked between us, resignation settling over her features. "It was winter. You were visiting your grandmother near Silver Ridge territory with your family. You wandered off—always the curious one, even then."
Images flickered at the edges of my consciousness. Snow crunching underfoot. The sharp scent of pine.
