Inside, Valerie took the documents and stared at the name. “I think about her every day,” she whispered. “At first I didn’t know. But when the memories started coming back, I wanted to find you.

Then I saw the broadcast of the one-year memorial for my death. Beatrice was crying on camera. You were holding her hand. Everyone was talking about me as if my death had made all your lives easier.”

Alexander couldn’t lift his head. “I failed you.”

“No,” she said. “Failing is forgetting a birthday. You handed my life over to people who wanted me gone.”

Marcus’s phone buzzed sharply. A headline was already circulating on financial gossip blogs: Billionaire Alexander Sterling targeted by impostor claiming to be deceased daughter. Below it was a cropped photo of Valerie at her graduation, highlighting the faint scar on her brow.

Valerie read it without a tear. “Beatrice is trying to kill me again. Just without a car this time.”