"If you want to come up with something, then do it fast. Freya will soon be on her way here if I don't call her to put her mind at rest soon." Tessy said to Roman as she continued toward her phone and picked the device up from the floor.
Roman didn't move at first, still processing, still thinking, but then he spoke, his voice calm and calculated, like a man accustomed to navigating fires with his hands buried deep in his pockets.
"Tell her I showed you the original video, and it was not your mom on it. Rather, a different woman whose face, clothes and voice were professionally replaced with that of your mom," he said, then paused for the briefest of moments, just long enough for Tessy's breath to catch in her chest.
Then, he continued with a new note in his voice, something sharper, more decisive—an idea had sparked.
