And the cruelest irony was that this invisible woman had known him completely, and had used that knowledge not to take from him but to search, patiently, for his lost brother.

She had seen him fully while he had not seen her at all.

That imbalance shamed him more than anything Vanessa had done, because Vanessa was simply a criminal, and this was something Daniel had done himself, quietly, for years, without once thinking of it as a wrong.

“What does Vanessa have to do with any of this?” Daniel asked.

And Maria’s grip tightened on the bedsheet.