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I don’t ask him to try harder. Whatever put Duncan and his five-year-old son in the hospital belongs to them, and if Duncan wants me to know, I want to hear it from him. I asked Zee to find Maria, so I move into the files he pulled on her instead.

The history immediately makes the family photographs left in my bedroom feel even more calculated. Maria was already pregnant when she married Duncan, and a few years later she disappeared. Duncan filed for divorce citing abandonment, but there’s no clear record of Maria building another life after she left Philadelphia. Zee didn’t stop at her disappearance. He went backward.

The deeper records start poking holes in Maria Santoro’s identity until another name appears beneath it: Maria Rusu, born in Moldova in 1981. Zee traced her entry into the United States to her aunt and uncle, Ion and Elena Rusu, and once I open the family records attached to their names, the rest starts moving fast. Ion and Elena have a daughter. Alina Rusu.

I pull up the photograph of the woman Duncan knows as Daniela and place it beside the records Zee found on Alina. The age matches. Then I start comparing photographs, dates, and everything Ronan’s investigation uncovered about the point where the real Daniela Norris’s history stopped matching the woman using her name.

Maria Rusu came to the United States as Maria Santoro. Twenty-two years later, Maria’s cousin Alina Rusu is here using the identity of a real woman named Daniela Norris. No wonder Ronan’s original background check worked. The records were real; the woman using them wasn’t.

I go back through Zee’s files, checking the connection again because I don’t want to jump from a matching age and family name to a conclusion this big. The photographs and dates keep leading me to the same place. The woman who got close to Duncan isn’t Daniela Norris, she’s Alina Rusu. And she isn’t some random woman who decided to target a billionaire. She’s Maria’s cousin.

Whatever Alina wants from Duncan reaches back beyond the accusations and the photographer, through Maria and the family Duncan never knew she had. Too many questions remain, including what happened to the real Daniela Norris and why Alina waited more than two decades to come after Duncan. But at least now I know who I’m looking for. I grab my phone and message Ronan.

Nash: Zee found her. Daniela is Alina Rusu. Maria’s cousin. I’m sending you everything now.

I forward the files, then bring Alina’s photograph up beside the one I’ve known as Daniela and study them side by side.

“Hello, Alina.”

Chapter 29 Duncan

The attorney slides another stack of papers across the conference table, adding them to the ones we’ve already spent most of the morning going through. Statements from the women. Employment records. Timelines. The same questions asked in slightly different ways to make sure I give the same answer every time. I understand why it’s necessary, but understanding it doesn’t make me hate the process any less.

The truth should be simple. I never touched these women, propositioned them or used my position to pressure them into anything. According to the attorneys, saying only that isn’t enough. Every word has to be considered against how it might sound in court, how the media might interpret it and what opposing counsel could turn it into later. Outside this room, people who have never met me are already deciding whether I’m guilty based on whichever headline they read first.

“You need to read the statement again, Duncan.” One of the attorneys taps the page in front of me. “You’ll be standing in front of cameras in fifteen minutes, and how you handle this matters.”

I pick it up and read the opening for what has to be the fifth time. I am innocent of these allegations and look forward to the truth coming to light through the proper legal process. The statement continues for another paragraph without saying much more than that, which I assume is the point.

“Stick to what we wrote. Don’t answer anything outside the statement. I’ll handle the questions.” He checks his watch as he closes his briefcase. “Media room in thirteen minutes.”

The door closes behind him, and Kieran continues the pacing he’s been doing since the attorneys arrived. “This is such bullshit.”

“Ronan has information for us, but it’ll have to wait until afterward.” Alessia comes over and wraps her arms around me. I return the hug, holding her for a moment before she pulls away. “Get through the press conference first. Then we deal with everything else.”

Thirteen minutes later, I understand why the attorneys spent the morning telling me not to answer questions.

The media room is packed. Camera flashes start the moment I reach the podium, and reporters call over one another while microphones are pushed toward the stage. My family stands behind me as I read the statement exactly as it was written, then step back so the attorney can take over.

The first question isn’t about any of the women accusing me.

“Mr. Murphy, where is your ex-wife?”

Another reporter calls out before the attorney can respond. “Did Maria Murphy disappear under suspicious circumstances?”

“Were there allegations of abuse during your marriage?”

More questions follow, all phrased differently but leading to the same place. Someone has taken the allegations against me and connected them to Maria’s disappearance, exactly the way the article Nash found did this morning. By the time the attorney ends the press conference, there’s no question what story they want the public discussing.

This isn’t only about accusing me of hurting women now. Someone wants people asking what I did to my wife twenty-two years ago.

My family returns to my office with me, where Ronan and Colton are already waiting. Declan stood beside me through the entire press conference, close enough that I could see his expression change every time someone mentioned his mother. He was five when Maria disappeared, and as far as he knows, she abandoned both of us. I’ve spent more than twenty-two years telling myself there was no reason to burden him with what actually happened when he was too young to remember most of it.

I always intended to tell him eventually. Every year that passed made finding the right time more difficult, until eventually became more than two decades.

Declan looks directly at me. “Why were they asking about Mother?”

Before I can answer, Ronan turns his laptop toward us. “Nash sent me something Zee found this morning. I’ve been verifying it with Colton.”