My throat tightened.
« Why is the third child’s name hidden? »
Daniel hesitated.
His silence answered before his words did.
« Someone had the records sealed. »
« Who? »
He rubbed both hands across his face before finally speaking.
« Tessa Whitmore. »
« No. »
The word escaped before I could stop it.
Not because I trusted Tessa anymore.
Because accepting Daniel’s answer meant admitting something I wasn’t ready to face.
The woman I had planned to marry…
…might have been hiding my own child.
Daniel quietly placed another folder on the desk.
« When you hired me, » he said, « you weren’t looking for the truth anymore. »
I looked at him.
« You wanted someone to confirm what you already believed. »
His words hit harder than any accusation.
« You believed Maren betrayed you. »
« I remember. »
« You believed every photograph. »
« Every witness. »
« Every security recording. »
I closed my eyes.
I remembered every argument.
Every unanswered phone call.
Every message I ignored.
Maren had begged me to listen.
« Rowan… please… you’re believing the wrong person. »
I never listened.
Instead…
I convinced myself her tears were nothing more than guilt.
Daniel leaned forward.
« Back then, I thought I had done my job. »
« What changed? »
« I started reviewing the case after you asked me to investigate the hospital records. »
He slid several photographs across the desk.
« They bothered me. »
I looked down.
The surveillance photos that supposedly proved Maren was meeting another man.
At first glance…
They looked exactly the same.
Then Daniel pointed toward the timestamps.
« Look carefully. »
I did.
Every photograph had been taken within twelve minutes.
Different locations.
Different cameras.
Impossible.
« No one could physically travel between these places that fast. »
Daniel nodded.
« I checked every original security file. »
« And? »
« They’d been edited. »
A cold wave swept through my body.
« The originals had missing footage. »
« Entire sections were deleted. »
« The files you received were stitched together. »
I stared at him.
« Someone manufactured the evidence. »
« Yes. »
My hands slowly curled into fists.
« Who had access? »
Daniel didn’t answer immediately.
Then he quietly pushed one final document toward me.
A digital access log.
One name appeared again and again.
Tessa Whitmore.
I couldn’t breathe.
Every lie.
Every fake photograph.
Every manipulated recording.
Every piece of evidence that destroyed my marriage…
Led back to the same woman.
I stood so quickly my chair crashed backward.
« No… »
I whispered.
« This can’t be real. »
Daniel’s voice softened.
« I wish it weren’t. »
I turned away, staring out the office window without seeing the city below.
For the first time in years…
I allowed myself to imagine something impossible.
What if Maren had been telling the truth all along?
What if every tear had been real?
What if the only person I ever stopped believing…
…had been the only one who never lied to me?
Then another thought hit even harder.
I slowly turned back toward Daniel.
« My third child… »
His expression fell.
« I still don’t know where that baby is. »
The silence that followed was unbearable.
Because for the first time…
Neither of us had an answer.
