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I look at the photograph on the screen. It’s Daniela, or the woman I’ve known by that name.

“Her real name is Alina Rusu,” Ronan continues. “Nash was right. She’s using the identity of a real woman named Daniela Norris.”

“And she’s related to Maria,” Colton adds.

“Related how?”

“They’re first cousins. Maria wasn’t who she told you she was either. Her real name was Maria Rusu. The Santoro identity was false. She came to the United States from Moldova and lived with her aunt and uncle, Ion and Elena Rusu, in Chicago before she ever came to Philadelphia.”

For a moment, I can only look at the information on the screen. Maria told me she had no family. She claimed she’d come to the United States on a boarding school scholarship and had spent most of her childhood alone. We investigated her before the wedding, but twenty-eight years ago we didn’t have anything close to the resources Ronan has now. Apparently, whatever we did find was exactly what she wanted us to find.

Colton moves farther down the timeline. “Alina is Ion and Elena’s daughter. We’re still working through everything, but nothing we’ve found makes Maria meeting you look accidental. If we’re right, she came to Philadelphia already knowing who you were.”

Declan has stopped looking at the screen. “What happened when she left? Do you know where she is?”

I look at my son and realize I can’t protect the five-year-old he used to be by lying to the twenty-seven-year-old man sitting in front of me. Whatever Alina is doing has already dragged Maria into public view, and if Declan is going to hear the truth, it needs to come from us.

“Everyone except Alessia and Kieran, give us a few minutes.”

Declan reaches for Xavier before anyone can move. “Xavier stays.”

I don’t argue. “Aye. Xavier stays.”

“Things were never good between your mother and me. We went out a few times, and then she told me she was pregnant with you. I married her because I thought it was the right thing to do.” Declan doesn’t interrupt, and I keep my attention on him as I continue. “A week before your sixth birthday, she poisoned both of us. Kieran found us and got us to the hospital before it was too late.”

Xavier’s hand closes around Declan’s, but Declan keeps looking at me. His expression barely changes, although I can see him trying to fit what I’ve said against a memory he was too young to understand at the time.

“The food poisoning,” he says after a moment.

“That’s what we told you. You were five years old and sick enough that the doctors weren’t certain what the poison had done to you yet. There was no reason to tell you your mother was responsible.”

“She poisoned me?”

The question is quieter this time. “Aye. Both of us.”

Alessia leaves her chair and sits on the coffee table in front of him. “By the time we knew you and Duncan were going to survive, Maria had already emptied several accounts and left Philadelphia. We realized afterward that she’d moved the money before either of you got sick, so leaving wasn’t something she decided to do when the poisoning failed. She had planned it.”

Declan finally looks at her. “You went after her.”

“I did. I couldn’t risk her coming back and trying again.”

He watches her for several seconds before asking, “You killed her?”

Alessia doesn’t soften the answer. “Yes.”

Xavier moves closer until his thigh is pressed against Declan’s, but he stays quiet while Alessia continues.

“I caught up with her the next day. She’d gone out of town to establish an alibi and intended to come back after you and Duncan were dead. She thought I’d found her because the poison had worked and that she could return as the grieving wife and mother without anyone questioning where she’d been.” Alessia keeps her eyes on Declan. “When I told her both of you had survived, she made it very clear that she wasn’t sorry for what she’d done. I wasn’t going to give her another opportunity to hurt you.”

Declan turns back to me. “Why didn’t you tell me when I was older?”

That question is harder because I don’t have an answer I can defend as easily. “At first, you were too young. Later, I kept telling myself there was no reason to make you live with the knowledge that your mother tried to kill you. You were happy with us, and Maria was gone. By the time you were old enough that I should have told you, the lie had been part of your life for years.” I shake my head. “I kept waiting for a better time, and there was always another reason to put it off.”

“Twenty-two years, Daidí.”

“Aye.” There’s nothing I can say that makes the number smaller. “I should have told you sooner.”

Declan looks down at his joined hands with Xavier before turning toward Alessia again. “So every time I asked about her, you knew.”