Because Santiago was looking now, really looking, and her stomach tightened painfully. Not from fear of Valentina anymore but from something worse. What if he connected it? What if the resemblance reminded him of the photograph? What if all those hidden pieces surrounding her mother suddenly stopped being separate coincidences? Daniella's fingers unconsciously curled tighter against her sleeves.
Meanwhile Valentina looked increasingly uncomfortable beneath Santiago's silence. "I know how this sounds," she muttered defensively now, "but the resemblance is genuinely strange."
Santiago remained quiet for another moment. Then finally he said, "It is."
The answer stunned everyone slightly, especially Daniella, because Santiago rarely acknowledged things openly unless he truly meant them. Thiago looked between both women again with growing concern now that even Santiago had admitted it aloud.
