The following morning, I dragged Daniel’s old files from the closet.

If Rebecca wouldn’t give me answers, perhaps Daniel’s records would.

Tax returns.

Insurance policies.

Old business statements.

Receipts I couldn’t believe we’d saved.

Nothing carried Rebecca’s name.

That somehow made it worse.

For eighteen years, Daniel had apparently kept her entirely separate from our life.

But I had seen Lily’s name somewhere before.

Then I remembered.

The will.

“Jesus.”

I pulled it from the back of the filing cabinet.

Daniel had revised it six months before his death.

Almost everything was exactly as I remembered.

Me.

Ethan.

And near the bottom:

Lily.

A separate amount had been placed in trust for her.

I’d asked about it after Daniel died.

And I remembered the explanation.

His mother.

I called her.

She answered on the third ring.

“Laura?”

“Who was Lily?”

Silence.

“Daniel’s will. You told me she was a relative.”

“A cousin, I think.”

“You think?”

“It was four years ago.”

“What was her last name?”

“I don’t remember.”

“But you were certain enough to tell me she was Daniel’s cousin.”

She sighed.

“What is this about?”

“Ethan found eighteen years of payments to Lily’s mother.”

Another silence.

“Did you know?”

“No.”

“But you know something.”

“Laura, I don’t want to do this over the phone.”

“Then tell me who Lily was.”

“I don’t know. But there was someone Daniel knew when he was young.”

“Who?”

“A friend. Michael.”

The name stirred a faint memory.

Daniel had mentioned Michael only a few times, never fondly.

“He stole from Daniel.”

She went silent.

“Didn’t he?”

“I don’t know what happened between them.”

Whatever she knew, she had hidden it for a reason.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I’ve told you what I know.”

“No. Four years ago, you told me Lily was his cousin because you wanted me to stop asking questions.”

“I didn’t know what else to say.”

There it was.

An admission.

“Why?”

“I have to go.”

“Who was Michael?”

She hung up.

I stared at my phone.

Daniel’s mother and I had never been close, but this went beyond that.

Why would she help hide Daniel’s affair?

And where did Michael fit?

Was he Rebecca’s brother?

Had he helped Daniel conceal everything?

I reopened my laptop.

Nearly an hour later, an old article finally gave me Michael’s surname.

Michael H.

Daniel C.

Business partners.

Another article said their company had closed following a “financial dispute between its founders.”

“What did you do, Daniel?”

I searched Michael H.

His obituary appeared.

Then I saw the date.

“No. That’s not possible.”

Daniel had always told me Michael died before we met.

According to the obituary, Michael died eight months after our first date.

Same name.

Age.

Town.

Same man.

“So you lied about that too.”

I continued searching.

A car accident.

Several business filings.

Then an archived document stopped me.

Rebecca H.

“Wait.”

I read it again.

“Rebecca…?”

She wasn’t some distant relative.

She had been Michael’s wife.

“So that’s why the company fell apart.”

I stared at Daniel’s name on the screen.

“You were sleeping with your partner’s wife? God, Daniel. That’s disgusting.”

I searched their names together.

An old address appeared.

Then a newer one.

“Found you.”

I grabbed my keys.

—

Rebecca lived forty minutes away.

She opened the door and froze when she saw me.

“Laura?”

“So this is where you disappeared to.”

Her face went pale.

“How did you find me?”

“Michael.”

For the first time, fear crossed Rebecca’s face.

“Who told you that name?”

“Daniel’s mother.”

She shut her eyes.

“Of course.”

“What does that mean?”

Rebecca glanced behind her, then moved aside.

“You should come in.”

That frightened me more than having the door slammed in my face.

And what I discovered inside would prove almost everything I’d assumed was wrong.

She led me into the living room.

I remained standing.

I dropped the transfer records onto the coffee table.

“Eighteen years.”

“Laura…”

“Three hundred. Five hundred. A thousand. Sometimes more. Almost every month.”

“Yes.”

“And Lily was in Daniel’s will.”

Her eyes rose.

“I saw her name after he died. His mother told me she was some distant cousin.”

“She told you that?”

“You sound surprised.”

“I didn’t know what Daniel had told his family.”

“Well, I believed her. Until Ethan’s letter.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing and answer me.”

I pushed the will toward her.

“Was Lily Daniel’s daughter?”

Rebecca became silent.

“Ethan wrote that Lily was Daniel’s daughter.”

Her gaze dropped to the letter.

“I know.”

“So tell me he was right.”

“He knew she wasn’t.”

I stared at her.

“What?”

“By the time he wrote that letter, Ethan knew the truth.”